Not too tired to be inspired, but too lazy to do anything about it

There is The Westin Hotel across the street from my building at work. Occasionally, you will see naked people hanging out (literally) in their rooms. You would think that they would realize that there is a very large building across the street with windows, so someone can probably see them in their birthday suit. I guess they don't care.

The mood I am in today is just so wonderfully weird.

I read on a blog somewhere that there is a tag you can get online (as in "tag, your it!") where you grab the book that is closest to you, turn to page 28, and post the third paragraph on your blog. Sounds interesting. Of course, the closest book to me is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll because I am re-reading it for inspiration. Page 28, paragraph 3; here it goes:

"I'm sure I'm not Ada, " she said, "for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I can't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, oh, she knows such a very little! Besides, she's she, and I'm I, and - oh dear, how puzzling it all is! I'll try if I know all the things I used to know. Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is - oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate! However, the Multiplication - Table doesn't signify: let's try Geography. London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the Capital of Rome, and Rome - no, that's all wrong, I'm certain! I must have been changed for Mabel! I'll try and say 'How doth the little - ' " and she crossed her hands on her lap, as if she were saying lessons, and began to repeat it, but her voice sounded hoarse and strange, and the words did not come the same as they used to do: -

Well, that's all of paragraph 3. But I bet you're curious as to what she was about to recite. Would you like to hear the rest? Okay, here you go:

"How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

"How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!"

I love this book. It's full of nonsense. Yay!!!! Tag!! You're it!

Last night Jess and I went to his haunted house (he had the night off) and went through it with our friend John. He comes out here every October to work at the Asylum. He is leaving tomorrow to go back home to the U.K. so we wanted to hang out with him before he leaves.

We also went to another haunted house called Frightmare (where, incidentally, Jess used to work); I realized how much better the acting at the Asylum is than Frightmare. The guys at the Asylum (including Jess and John) emphasize the importance of the actor's performance and not just rely on props and weapons. Frightmare's setup was awesome, but (some of) the actors just seemed really lethargic. No energy; I didn't even pretend to be scared. No pity scream for you!

Afterwards, we went and saw "Quarantine" at the Promenade. I really shouldn't have stayed up that late, but the movie was awesome. I'm just really mad at the people who made the previews, though, because they showed a vital part in the freaking preview! You're not supposed to show too much. It gives the end of the movie away! Jerks!!

Now I am tired. And my mind is wandering.

Ah, crap! I just spilled water on myself.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was greeted by crepe paper streamers and balloons. Jess had stayed up late after working the haunted house to decorate for my birthday! He is irreplaceable. And I'm pretty lucky, even though sometimes I want to shoot him with my point-of-view gun (watch "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). It was very sweet, but the next day he was very sleep-deprived. Poor thing!

I only have two years till I am 30. I got up out of my chair a second ago to get some water and my hips and both knees popped all at once. I feel old.

Is it 5:00 yet? I really want to go home and take a nap.

I really, really despise the phone. I know that is horrible, considering I am a receptionist. But I don't care. All day long, the phone keeps ringing, usually while I am in the middle of something, and nine times out of ten it is some solicitor or person who hardly speaks any english and I can't understand a word they are saying. I wish I had a device that only allowed "real" calls to come through. It would save me so much trouble.

I have made (as in crocheted) quite a few friends and am anxious to make some more, possibly from my own designs. If they are popular at all, I will have to make quite a lot. I should make some for me as well, because I can't give them all away. I should probably make some scary ones, because Jess has said he doesn't want the wedding to be too girly. Hence, scary stuff. Of course, I have to admit that I don't find my little vampires that scary.


Argh!!! There goes the phone again.

I am so tempted to go in to the empty conference room and take a nap under the table. I wish I could, but I think I would be missed. Especially if the phone keeps ringing and I don't answer it. Meh.

It's 4:00!!! Tea time!!

I really feel like I should be doing something right now. But I don't really have a lot to do. Expect this stack of files to be proofed that Juli told me to take my time with. What's that you say? Don't worry about doing it right now? Go ahead and goof off on your blog? Well, Ok. If you insist. My job is so hard sometimes *giggle giggle* That is until the phone rings for the millionth time.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.' - Lewis Carroll

I have been inspired by a five-year-old's birthday party.

I came across this the other day:http://www.jessicaclaire.net/index.cfm?postID=134

That is the cutest thing I have ever seen! It makes me want to kidnap a small child and throw her a birthday party. But I won't, I promise.

Unfortunately, I don't have a child and all the little ones in my life are of the male persuasion. But I can always combine an "Alice In Wonderland"-esque element with my home made wedding. Why not, I have some Harry Potter elements in there too.

I don't want to go too overboard, though. It can't be too girly because it is Jess's wedding too. I still want to stick with the purple and green theme (or rather lavender and sage), but maybe add a tea party in there with some finger sandwiches and other treats. Jess likes tea. Maybe some cookies that say, "Eat Me."

Hmmm... That sounds bad.

Okay then, the beverages will say "Drink Me." That's better, right?

I've been on the lookout for different shaped tea pots (hopefully in my color scheme) and cheap bone china-looking tea cups online and at thrift stores. As long as I can get a few teacups for decoration, I'll be happy. It would be nice to have a lot of tea cups for an actual tea party but, call me crazy, I have a feeling that most people would rather drink alcohol than tea.

If only I could have a petting zoo! Awwww! That would be awesome to have little rabbits, pigs, and sheep running around. Damn. Maybe for my birthday ;)

In the process of trying to get ideas, I've been reading up on the "Alice" books and also the author, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson a.k.a. Lewis Carroll. It's pretty interesting stuff if you've got some time to kill: http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/.

Contrary to popular belief, Lewis Carroll was not on drugs when he wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," he just had an overactive imagination. And I was interested to find out that "Alice" is based off of one of Charles Dodgson's favorite "child friend" as he was fond of calling them. He made up the story as a way to entertain Alice and her sisters.

Anyway, I'm starting to get more and more busy at work. Not as much time to do wedding planning. The receptionist has left and I have taken over for her. There is so much that she should have shown me. It's kind of scary. And she's not very good at explaining things.

I was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out the pattern for the "I Do" shrug and might try this instead:

From the book:

Lace Style
by Pam Allen and Ann Budd

http://www.amazon.com/Lace-Style-Traditional-Innovative-Inspired/dp/1596680288/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221588413&sr=8-1

I probably won't need long sleeves in June anyway. This is so much easier to knit. And I'm using bamboo yarn which I've never used before. It's so soft! Yay!

I bought some Alice in Wonderland playing cards that have the original illustrations by John Tenniel and some quotes from the book. I'll have to figure out some way to incorporate them in the decorations.

I have made an inspiration board. Some of it are things that I have already done and some things are just what I would like to incorporate. It's an easy way to kind of give people and idea of what you were thinking for your wedding theme. It's pretty random, I know, but I like it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26415444@N07/2889780133/

I might go to a yarn store in Arvada on Saturday. There is going to be a crochet designer there named Robyn Chachula who will be teaching a class. I am excited to meet her because she's designed some pretty cool things, like my favorite shrug:

Crochet Me: Designs to Fuel the Crochet Revolution

by Kim Werker

http://www.amazon.com/Crochet-Me-Designs-Fuel-Revolution/dp/159668044X

I have almost finished a pair of leg warmers, so I'll have to take a picture of them when I am finished. I also want to start on a crocheted skirt.

So much I want to do and not enough time to do it. I should just quit my job and become a full time designer. That would be freaking awesome. Too bad it could never work out. Oh well. Back to knitting and crocheting on my lunch hour and after work.

Tonight I think I'll paint me some tea pots. And take pictures, because I really need to get my save the dates (std - hee hee) done.

You've got red on you

The summer has it in for me.

I've never liked summer except when I was in school (summer break! Woo Hoo!) but I usually hid in my air conditioned abode, working on one craft or another and watching movies and MTV, you know, when they actually played videos. Wow, imagine that.

I can't stand the heat, so I got out of the kitchen.

I don't know how anyone can enjoy 90 - 100 degree weather, unless the heat has made them so delirious that they think they are standing in a vat filled with vanilla pudding.

But that's just me. In 90 degree weather, I (used to) get hives from sunburns, excruciating headaches, have an enormous lack of energy, and am just plain sweaty. But now summer has decided to add another component to the equation: now the heat is dehydrating me to the point where I am getting bladder infections from it. What The Hell? That's just not fair! I recently acquired a bladder infection and when I went to the doctor, she informed me that it was a year, almost to the day, since I had my last bladder infection. Strange.

She concluded that since it happens in the summer and since I admitted that I haven't really been drinking as much water as I should, I am probably dehydrated and that has caused my infection. Well, crap. Now I hate summer even more. Especially since I don't get summer vacations anymore.

Needless to say, I haven't really been getting much crafting done. I was hoping to work on a bunch of flowers on Tuesday because I took the day off of work but ended up just sleeping the whole time. How dare my body catch up on sleep! I guess I needed it since I was up all night being uncomfortable.

I've been drinking gallons of water and I have to pee every 10 minutes. Now my pills are making me nauseous. Great.

Oh well, what can I do?

Make pygmy puffs, that's what!!

I ordered some more eyes for my pygmy puffs and decided to get some noses too. That way they will look even more adorable. I ordered them from this fine lady:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6661

She also has another shop:

http://www.suncatchereyes.net/

I know, I know. I get way too excited over little things. But I don't care, they're adorable.

This is a pattern you can buy off of her website:

I also decided to go with this instead of the flower shawl thingy:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTido.html

Purty. Now if only I could figure out the damn pattern.

And now for something completely different...

Here's a video for your enjoyment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEUwYtabecQ

I love this movie. I wonder if I could make a "Shaun of the Dead" doll. Hmm...