Gaia Henna

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I know the coolest people.

My adorable friend Candice is seriously cool.

She is a belly dancer and she does henna art. She's got three kids and a husband, yet she still manages to teach belly dancing, perform, and paint beautiful designs on people! She makes it look easy! (Of course, we all know it's not!)

Part of my Summertime tradition is to visit the Ogden Farmers Market as often as I can and I always stop by and see Candice in her henna tent. If I have the funds I get some henna done for myself. I like to just let Candice do her thing and she's always done something gorgeous.

Candice put up a call on Facebook for volunteers to get free henna if they let her do bridal hands, wrap it properly, and document the first few days for her. She's trying to build up her portfolio and of course I jumped at the chance!

I went over to her house back at the beginning of October and she spent hours painting my hands. When she was done my arms looked like this:

It's traditional in Bridal Henna to hide the groom's name somewhere in the design, you can see that Candice did "Eric" right where my wedding ring goes! 

 To make the design last as long as possible Candice made a concoction of warm lemon juice and sugar, applied it to my arms and hands, then put paper towels down, and wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap.

I felt like a mummy!

I kept the plastic on all night and the next morning I got to peel all the dried henna paste off to reveal the staining underneath. That part is a lot of fun!

The day I peeled it off it was a little light, but by the next day it had darkened beautifully.

I after that it slowly faded over the next few weeks. I got so many compliments! Everybody thought it was very pretty and really interesting. I'm not one to shy away from conversations with strangers, and having beautifully decorated arms was definitely an ice breaker!

Over Spring Break I took Betty over to see Candice and we both got a little henna. Candice wanted to show us how much darker the henna is on parts of the body with thicker skin, so she did the back of our right hands and the palms of our lefts.

On my right she did a design based on an Art Nouveau enameled brooch.

My left was more traditional.

Betty's right: 

On her left she asked for something "Steampunk" and Candice rose to the occasion! How cool is this?!

Candice's company is called Gaia Henna. She's available all the time, not just at the Farmers Market. You can hire her for parties, bridal showers, or just to have something pretty done. (She does amazing work on pregnant bellies that look great in pregnancy photo shoots!)

For more information you can find Gaia Henna on Facebook and Instagram. Candice is also trying to raise money to get her business off the ground, if you feel like supporting her you can donate here.

Sunflowers

I got a hole in my dish washing gloves and so my nails have been mangled.

Since I have nothing else to show you, I give you pictures I took of some sunflowers.

I was driving home from dropping my kids off at school and the light was so perfect and the sky was so pretty. I just couldn't resist. I pulled over and took some pictures with my phone. I'm sure I looked like a crazy person, crouched on the side of the road wearing sweat pants and a hoodie, but the pictures are worth it.

This one is sized to be the desktop on my Chromebook. 

This is the sky looking East. The other pictures are facing West. 

All of these pictures were taken at about 8:30 this morning in West Weber, Utah. I used my phone, a Samsung Galaxy s5. I only say this because some people really care about those kind of details.

Frenemy

It's been a year now, and I'm ready to talk about it.

I got dumped.

Friend Dumped that is.

First of all, I'd like to say that this is my point of view. Obviously I only have one side of the story. I will readily admit that I have huge faults, this story is just my account of what happened.

In January of 2012 I was introduced to a local blog that was looking for contributors. I went to an introductory meeting and met a lot of great people. I didn't start writing articles right away, but I started contributing photos and volunteering for events. I thought this time I spent made me not only a contributor but also a friend of the editors. Especially the Main Editor.

Main Editor has a child who is a similar age to my youngest, and we had some similarities in our backgrounds. After we became friends on Facebook I started spending a lot of time with her. She'd post things on Facebook, asking for rides or a babysitter so she could take care of blog business. She had neither a car or a drivers license. Since I was a stay at home mom with Joe not in school I had lots of time, a car, and no job. I volunteered a lot for these tasks.

We'd also meet up for playdates with other moms and kids, sometimes we'd meet at a park and sometimes I'd pick her up and drive. Over the months I became friends with the other two editors and started getting invited to more social events. Birthday parties, karaoke nights, barbecues. I was always happy to be a designated driver, since I was driving a huge Suburban and don't drink.

In June I started writing articles. In October I was put on "probation". I still don't really know why.

Now, just to set the record straight, I really thought we were friends. She confided in me. She invited me to things. Not everything was "Can anybody [give me a ride, watch my kid, help out]!?!" and I just happened to be able to do it.  She specifically contacted me too. I was there to listen to her personal problems. I was there to be supportive during her pregnancy. I took her to prenatal appointments in another town and watched her daughter for her so she could go alone. Another of the editors and I threw her a baby shower.

All this time I was also contributing and volunteering for her local blog. I was a friend and an employee. Only, I worked for free.

Once, she watched Joe so I could go to my Female Doctor alone. Once, she gave me $5 in gas money. Once, she gave me leftover brownies.

At the baby shower the other hostess provided Thank You notes, we had everyone address their own envelopes so that the new mom just had to write them and mail them. I did get a thank you note. In it she called me a "crafty such-and-such". I don't even know what that means.

That was all the thanks I got. Ever.

In May of 2013 I received an email from "the Editors" listing all the things I was doing wrong for the blog. Listing how horrible and embarrassing I'd been. The email came out of the blue and I was dumbstruck.

I was devastated.

I literally cried for a whole weekend.

I composed myself and sent an email back. I apologized for everything and tried to explain myself. I never heard back.

I could see that the email was sent from the Main Editor and that the other two editors had only been cc'd on it. I contacted them and they were just as surprised as I was.

I continued doing what I'd been doing, writing articles and volunteering for events, but I started to watch things a little more closely. Main Editor still asked for favors, still made empty promises of reciprocation, but I stopped volunteering. I noticed that whenever anyone else needed help she never stepped up. Ever.

Then, I noticed that I wasn't seeing her many, many self-promoting Facebook statuses any more. I noticed that when I volunteered for things for the local blog they were handed to other people unless there was nobody else to do it. All the perks went to other people. Never to me. In my year and a half of volunteering I got free tickets to one show, and the only reason I managed that was because the original person couldn't go. I had been with the blog longer than anyone (other than the editors) and I was constantly and consistently passed over. The new people were more important to her than I was.

In July I realized that she'd "unfriended" me.

I was never fired, I was passive-aggressively pushed out.

In August 2013 I asked one of the other editors to remove my material from the local blog and I left the blog's Facebook group.

Some time after that she blocked me on Facebook. I'm still blocked. I only know this because we have mutual friends and sometimes I see them reply to her in their posts.

I never posted publicly about this before now. I discussed it with the other editors, and I chatted about things with a few friends. That's it.

I still don't know what I did wrong.

Honestly, I don't care.

I know that I was a good friend. I spent my time, money, and emotions on a relationship that was one sided. I promoted her and her projects with enthusiasm. I was never anything but friendly and supportive. I gave and gave.

I got used up. When I had nothing more to give I was dumped and she moved on to other willing targets.

This has been a lesson to me. I've learned to look at my relationships. I've learned to be a little more selfish. I now know that any relationship is only good if it's balanced.

That doesn't mean that I expect payback for every little thing. It means that friendships are supposed to be mutually beneficial. I get just as much out of it as I put into it.

I've found that I have a lot of surface friends. People who are willing to turn up when there's going to be fun but are nowhere to be found when I just need somebody to listen to me cry for a while.

I also found have a few deeper friends. People who will come sit and chat with me while I do housework because I'll go crazy otherwise. People who will remember my birthday without Facebook reminding them. People who actually care about me. People who appreciate me.

******

Joe still sometimes asks to play with her little girl. It breaks my heart every time I have to tell him that her mom doesn't like me any more, so his friend can't come over and play.

Root Beer Bottle Cozy

My husband likes to drink his root beer out of a bottle. I don't blame him, it tastes better that way! I wanted to make him a cozy to help him keep it cool and to keep his hands dry in this humid weather. Yesterday the Root Beer Bottle Cozy was born!

My husband doesn't drink anything stronger than root beer, so I thought it would be funny to make it look like an old-timey whiskey jug. Call me an ironic hipster if you want. I'll own it.

I wrote down the pattern while I was making knitting it up. I haven't test knit it so let me know if there are any problems! This is the first pattern I've submitted to Ravelry.

Root Beer Bottle Cozy

Supplies:
Small amount of Brown Worsted Weight Yarn (MC) (I used a Heather Brown color Lion Brand Wool-Ease from my stash. It lost its label a long time ago, but I think the color was called Mink.)
Small amount of Cream Worsted Weight Yarn (CC) (Again, I know this is Wool-Ease and I think it's called Wheat but it's also from my stash and without a label.)
Size 6 DPNs or long circular needle for working Magic Loop (I prefer Magic Loop.)
Stitch Marker (optional)
Blunt Yarn Needle

Instructions:

Cast on 10 stitches in MC and join for working in the round. Place the stitch marker to mark the beginning if you'd like.

Round 1: *(K1, KFB) repeat from * (15 stitches)
Round 2: *(K2, KFB) repeat from * (20 stitches)
Round 3: *(K3, KFB) repeat from * (25 stitches)
Round 4: *(K4, KFB) repeat from * (30 stitches)
Round 5: *(K5, KFB) repeat from * (35 stitches)
Round 6: Purl across
Rounds 7-20: K across

Switch to CC

Rounds 21-27: K across

Switch back to MC

Rounds 28-30: K across
Round 31: K 1, SSK, K 11, K2tog, K 2, SSK, K 12, K2tog, K 1 (31 stitches)
Round 32: K 1, SSK, K 9, K2tog, K 2, SSK, K 10, K2tog, K1 (27 stitches)
Rounds 33-34: K across
Round 35: K1, SSK, K 7, K2tog, K 2, SSK, K 8, K2tog, K 1(23 stitches)
Round 36: K across
Round 37: K 1, SSK, K across (22 stitches)
Rounds 38-39: K2 P2 across (You'll end up with a K2 at the beginning and the end.)
Round 40: SSK, P2 K2 to the last two stitches, K2tog (20 stitches)
Rounds 41-50: K1, P2 K2 to the last stitch, K1.

Bind off with a super stretchy bind off. I kind of made something up but any stretchy sock bind off should work. Just be sure the bottom of the bottle you want to use will fit.

Weave in the ends and use MC to embroider the three "X"s in the middle of the cream section.


Abbreviations:

MC = Main Color
CC = Contrast Color
K = Knit
KFB = Knit into the front and the back of the stitch
SSK = Slip, Slip, Knit. Slip two stitches as if to knit and then knit these stitches together
K2Tog = Knit two stitches together
P = Purl


*Please let me know if there are any mistakes in this pattern!!

Weeping Angels and Rainbows

I haven't been feeling very well the last few weeks. My depression is acting up, and I think I got some accidental gluten.

That doesn't mean I haven't kept busy! When I was feeling really down I somehow managed to convince my husband to go to the local yarn store, The Needlepoint Joint, and pick out some yarn for me. Reason #545 why my husband is the best, he hates yarn stores.

It worked! I was cheered up and I turned that yarn into a hat and mittens.

They're very soft and very cheerful. I haven't blocked anything yet, when I do the lacy pattern will show up better. I found the patterns on Ravelry, they're called the Cafe Au Lait Tam and the Cafe Au Lait Mittens (expanded from the Cafe Au Lait Mitts.)

I call them my Rainbow Tam and Rainbow Mittens. You can check here for the project page on my hat, and here for the mittens. I'm not 100% done with the mittens yet. I am going to knit a lining for them so that they're extra warm. I plan to use them for driving the kids to school on cold winter mornings.

I've also managed to do my nails. I trimmed them super short again, and wasn't up for being super creative. I decided to just swatch the Weeping Angel polish I got from A'dor Beauty Supply when I bought the other two polishes that I love.

This one didn't disappoint!!

I couldn't help but use my new hat as a background. 

It's got a grainy texture reminiscent of stone (just like a real Weeping Angel) in a pretty silver color. There are also some subtly iridescent flecks of glitter. Not nearly enough to be overwhelming, just enough to be fun! This is another polish I bought for my daughter but fell in love with!

Pictured is two coats (I probably could have gotten away with one, but two looks better) over my normal base coat. I didn't do a top coat because I didn't want to ruin the texture. It's been a few days since I polished them and so far I haven't had any chipping.

Show & Tell

Monday and Tuesday's mail brought fun stuff!!

First I got my new glasses from Zenni! Two new pairs of sunglasses and a pair of regular glasses. Zenni was having a sale, buy two get one free. That's why I was able to get three pairs, the total came to about $35!

Regular Glasses:

They have a stained glass look. I like them a lot. I think they're more subtle than the black frames I usually wear.

Blue "Wayfarer" Sunglasses:

A nice, traditional pair of sunglasses in a dusty blue color. When I smile my cheeks lift them up a little.

Black Cats Eye Sunglasses:

These are my favorites! The style would be way too over-the-top for me to wear as everyday glasses, but I think they are just perfection as sunglasses! I love them!! I don't want to take them off!



Tuesday's fun delivery was my Ipsy bag for July! Lots of goodies this month!

Left to right: bareMinerals 5in1 Cream Eyeshadow in Barely Nude, Pur~lisse Essential Daily Moisturizer spf 30, Models Own Nail Polish in Red Sea, Pixi Beauty Mini Tinted Brilliance Balm in Unique Pink, and Clear Clinic Laboratories Vanished Clear Spot Treatment.


I also wanted to show off my henna. It got better looking, and I wanted to capture it before it starts to fade.

This is what it looked like on Saturday night when the henna fell off:

This is what it looks like today, nice and brown:

I love how it looks! Candice really outdid herself this time.

Polish Removal and a Shopping Spree

After my nail disaster I painted my nails with another $1 WalMart polish L.A. Colors Color Craze NP541 Candy Sprinkles. I thought it was fun and since it was a dollar I just had to get it.

I knew I'd be redoing things pretty quickly so I didn't bother with a top coat, just one coat of my normal base and two coats of the polish. It's a jelly or gelish, whatever they call it. A semi-sheer color with glitter in it. I didn't do the normal daubing technique like I usually would with a glitter, I just brushed this one on like a normal polish. It worked fine that way, and I am pleased with the polish. It didn't last very long before chipping, but without a top coat I don't know if it's the polish that's the problem or just lack of top coats. 

Speaking of glitter polishes, they are a giant pain in the butt to remove. The polish remover can't penetrate the polish under the metal flakes, so it just doesn't come off as easily. Pinterest (the place I love) is full of pictures of people wrapping their hands in aluminum foil to remove gel and glitter polishes. I thought I might as well give it a try!

You can see how well it took the polish off my thumb and forefinger, pretty much one swipe and it was gone. 

It works great!

It feels a little weird to have alien-robot hands, and I only do one hand at a time so I can still do things. It also gets weirdly warm. I'm not sure if it's the chemicals in the polish remover or just the cotton and foil insulating things. It doesn't hurt, it's just weird. 

First, I tear five strips of aluminum foil and get five cotton balls. I apply polish remover to a cotton ball, put the remover side to my nail, then wrap the foil around it all. I've started with my thumb and I've started with my pinkie, there really doesn't seem to be a difference. I just have to keep it on long enough. I keep forgetting to time how long I leave it on, but I'd say it's between 5 and 10 minutes. 

Now, the reason I didn't post all this earlier is because Tuesday was a bit of a crazy day. 

First, I met up with my friend Tiia Lin at Ulta. Where my weakness is nail polish, Tiia's is makeup. Unlike me, however, she has actual training. I highly recommend you check out her Facebook, her blog and her videos. 

Tiia helped me pick out colors, let me hold her adorable baby, and as we were checking out she said she had a present for me! When we went out to her car she handed me a bag full of nail polish!! I love this woman!! 

L to R: Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Whirlwind White, Color Club Dark'n Stormy, Color Club Mod In Manhattan, and Nail Rock Nail Velvet Navy

In addition to those polishes Tiia gave me, I bought a bunch of my own. With the sale going on and the coupon I got 5 polishes for under $9!! It was great!! 

L to R: Essence Colour & Go 147 Miss Universe, Ulta Salon Formula Diva, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear 481 Breezy Blue, Ulta Salon Formula Indigo-Go Girl, Pixel 233 Oh Golly Gee!!

I'm already working on a new look with my new polishes, I'll post more soon!

The other thing that kept me busy is that we welcomed a new addition to our family. 

She's still scared and spends most of her time hiding. We've seen her out to eat and drink though, so that's good. 

This little lady is named Summer, and she belongs to my middle kid Joshua. He's been working his butt off this summer, helping his dad with side work and helping me here at the house. We ask a lot of him, and he rises to the challenge. 

My husband and I decided that he's shown enough responsibility to be in charge of another life, so we agreed he could get a guinea pig. I had guinea piggies growing up, so I know what kind of challenges he's likely to face. He did a lot of research and decided that he wanted a female and a baby. He thought about adopting, but he really wants to train it and the sites he visited told him that starting with a baby is easier. 

He's doing really well so far, and going very slowly with her. He had me scoop her out of the carrying box and into her cage so that she won't associate him with anything negative. He left her completely alone for 24 hours and even then all he did was lay his hand in her cage with a treat for a few minutes. For an 11 year old kid with ADHD, this shows a remarkable amount of restraint! I am completely proud of him! 

A little SNAFU

I messed up.

I'm just figuring out the Google Pictures thing and how it relates to my new phone.

I thought I was just cleaning up my pictures, but it turns out I was deleting everything from my posts.

I had a minor freak out and had to delete a few posts with pictures that were completely irreplaceable.

I also had to recreate a TON of pictures.

This means that some of the links in my posts might lead to nowhere and there may be a couple of posts that don't have pictures at all any more. I'm still going through my old files and trying to find some pictures, so you may see some older posts still missing stuff. Please be patient with me!

Donuts

I was recently chatting with a good friend of mine who was having a rough time. She mentioned a person who went through similar problems but who chose to just roll over and give up.

In a moment of unusual brilliance I came up with an analogy that I want to share with the wider world.

Some people are cupcakes. Then they get a big hole punched in their lives. When this happens there are two things they can do. Either they can give up and live their lives as a squashed pastry or they can stand up, brush themselves off, raise their middle finger to the world and say,

  "Screw you all, I'm a donut now!!"

Normally I'm not one for vulgarity, but sometimes it's needed. This is one of those times. It's about taking back your power.

Things are going to happen. Good things and bad things. Nobody can change that. The only thing we can change is how we react. You aren't less because of what's happened to you, you're just different.


Picture source: http://www.vinylpulse.com/2012/08/drop-dead-clothing-gonuts-vinyl-toy-release-0811.html

The Addiction is Over

As much as I love it, I've come to realize that I just can't do it any more.

Picture via Wikimedia Commons

I am giving up Dr. Pepper.

It's that time of year where I've got to work to stay hydrated and I've noticed that if I get a Dr. Pepper in the morning I don't drink enough water the rest of the day. I just can't do that and be healthy. I've got to cut the DP out of my life. Not only am I giving up Dr. Pepper, I am giving up all soda. All of it.

I've gone Cold Turkey. No weaning myself off. I have ripped the Bandaid off quickly. My name is Heather and it's been 5 days since my last Dr. Pepper.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

More Royal Stalking

I'm trying not to jinx it, but on September 10, 2015 Queen Elizabeth II will match Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch. Then she'll beat the record.

Her Majesty is fighting fit, and just had her 88th birthday. She's already outlived Queen Victoria, who died at 81. The Queen Mother lived to 102! I think it's safe to say that we've got many more years of this new Elizabethan Era to look forward to.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the Queen. She's giggling at Prince Philip in his uniform!

The Queen has begun delegating more and more responsibilities to her children and isn't taking any more long trips. I'd say she's earned it. She still works awfully hard, not just for a lady who is twenty years past retirement age, but for anyone!

Part of that delegating was sending Prince William and Duchess Catherine to New Zealand and Australia. I was really looking forward to seeing and reading about this trip. Mostly I was excited because Prince George would be in the spotlight and I'm super curious about him.

The little cutie completely stole the show!!

If you remember my last post about the Royals you'll note that I was on the fence in my opinions on the Duchess. This trip has completely changed my mind. The Duchess of Cambridge totally won me over.

The three week trip had a grueling schedule of visits and appearances. The Duke and Duchess were magnificent. Especially the Duchess. She looked beautiful in every single picture, she chatted with everyone, she accepted gifts with gratitude, she hugged children and puppies, basically she was amazing.

After following the schedule and seeing all the pictures, especially the ones with her and Price George, I have a new found respect for Catherine. You can definitely call me her fan now!!

By the way, my favorite place to follow the tour was a blog called Duchess Kate. Every day it was updated with not only all the events and pictures, but it gave a rundown on what she was wearing, who designed it, and where to get it! I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about HRH Duchess of Cambridge.

April Showers Nail Art

I'm pretty proud of this nail design.

Yesterday was a rainy day, so I did my nails a day early and realized how appropriate it was to the weather.

French tips done with two coats of Wet 'N' Wild Wild Shine 443D Bijou Blue using Nailene Perfect Tips French Polish Guides. Then I painted one coat of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear 180 Disco Ball. 

To get the glitter fade I painted one coat of A'dor Beauty Supply Tears of an Angel over the top 3/4 of my nails.

The stickers I use to get the curved line for a French Tip tend to peel up any polish underneath, so this look has no base coat. I did do one layer of OPI Top Coat, but I think I'll probably add at least one more for durability.

I'm really pleased with myself for this look. I've been looking at lots of nail art on Pinterest, and I think this looks at least as good as most of the professional stuff I've seen! Not to toot my own horn or anything. Oh, and my right hand looks just as good as my left!!

I think I'm going to do a similar look for my daughter later today, if I can pin her down! If I manage I'll be sure to post more pictures.

Respect for the Past, Part 2

Corsets.

They bring to mind medieval torture devices and extra super tiny waists. Pain and female repression. You might have even seen old X-rays of deformed ribs and squashed lungs.

Picture from French doctor Ludovic O’Followell’s Le Corset (1908)

I'm here to tell you that corsets are actually completely awesome.

Completely.

First of all, let's just get the wasp waist look out of your head. That look only came into vogue late in the Victorian Era and it didn't last very long. It was also a more extreme trend that not everyone participated in. Just like not every woman today wears stilletto nails, not every woman went in for the teeny tiny corsets.

For most of the centuries that women wore corsets and stays they were meant to support a woman's natural assets and make her dresses fit better.

Picture from www.MetMuseum.org

There were many variations of corsets over those many centuries, but I'm going to talk about the mid 1800's since that's the time that I have experience in.

Let's begin with children. Yes, children wore corsets. Sort of. 

Mid Victorian babies wore dresses. Even the boys. One thing we know about babies is that they have diapers. Diapers are messy. Victorians didn't have disposable or plastic diapers, so they dressed their babies in a lot of layers. The diaper layer, then a wool "soaker" to keep some of the wet in, then lots and lots of petticoats. You see, if you have lots of petticoats they'll absorb any leakage before it can get to the outer dress, or leak all over Mom.

If you're picturing all these petticoats you can probably imagine that there would be a lot of bulk. A baby or toddler doesn't have a defined waist to hold up all these petticoats. Instead they would wear stays that had buttons at the waist. The petticoats would have button holes in their waist bands and they'd button together. The stays were usually more like little vests than the corset that a grown woman would wear. There were no bones and there would be straps to go over the shoulders.

As a child grew up their stays would change. Boys would be "breeched", that means they'd start wearing pants, and stop wearing petticoats. Girls would keep similar stays until they were nearing puberty. That's when their stays would start to resemble corsets.

As a girl started to develop a figure she would need more supportive stays. The first way to add support would be to add quilting. Wool would be added thinly between the two layers and quilted nicely.

As the girl grew out of the quilting she might add firmer support with straw, this was also a popular support in the 1700s.

Once she was ready for a full corset, she'd upgrade to whale baleen. Not bone, baleen.

Of course there were different styles for corsets over the years, but during the 1850s and 1860s the idea shape was for a girl to have a torso like an inverted triangle and bell like skirts.

That's where the hoops came in! Hoops weren't patented until the late 1850s, before then women wore corded petticoats. These were petticoats with row after row of cording sewn in to help them stand out. Then the beautiful steel hoops came around and women were able to achieve the glorious wide skirts of their dreams.

As you can probably imagine, these corded petticoats and steel hoops were not light weight. Add the yards and yards of fabric required for a proper bell skirt and we're talking pounds of weight.

Trying to wear that much weight only supported by your hip bones would really be a pain. Literally. A pain in your back.

That's what's so great about a corset! All that weight gets distributed up and down the torso, allowing much more comfort. I know this one from first hand experience. I thought I could get away with wearing all those petticoats without a corset... It was not pretty.

A corset also kept the line of a lady's bodice nice. No unsightly bumps or terrible "muffin top"!

As for the comfort of a corset, I was pleasantly surprised. A good fitting corset is kind of like wearing a long sports bra. I bought my corset from Treadle Treasures on Etsy. It's a "working" corset, which means that it has a hook and eye closure on the front instead of a metal busk. This allows for a little more movement at my waist.

The only hindrance about a corset is that I can't drink any soda. Fizzy drinks that make one even slightly bloated lead to a lot of discomfort. It's also hard to eat a large meal. Smaller meals and snacks are all that I could do, I felt full very quickly. I've been told that smaller meals are healthier, so maybe this is a benefit!

My corset is so comfortable that I've actually put it on to do housework. Didn't really work well for bending down, but doing dishes was great! Wearing a corset to do my daily work really gave me more respect for my fore-mothers. They really did know what they were doing. Far from being some kind of torture device, it really was a support. I can see how women would rebel against the late Victorian wasp-waist styles, but the corset itself had a long life and in my opinion it lasted so long because it had a real value.

Geek.

I'm a geek.

If you've read this blog at all then you know this to be a fact.

Part of Geekdom is the Gathering of Geeks known as Comic Con. From what I can tell this is a convention where many people from all the many fandoms come together to celebrate their geekiness with like-minded geeks, meet the people who create the subject of their geek-love, and attend panel discussions about different geeky subjects. 2013 was the first year that such a convention was held in my area.

This year I really wanted to go. I started following the 2014 Comic Con Fan Xperience on Facebook, I was plotting what kind of Cosplay I would do, dreaming about who I'd meet, generally geeking out over the whole thing.

Then in December it seemed all my dreams would come true! I won a free pass!! I cannot tell you how excited I was.

Then I got sick. This winter was a bad one for illness, so I didn't get any kind of costume done. I was a little bummed, but I just thought I'd make myself a Deathly Hallows shirt and still have fun.

The closer it got to the big days, the more information I was getting. Wonderful news about what stars would be there, what the panels would be about, great things.

Then I started to realize that the logistics of actually going were pretty difficult. The day I wanted to go, to see the people I wanted to see, was today: Friday, April 18. This is, of course, a school day. I spend most school days commuting back and forth to my kids' school which is 15 minutes away in each direction. Half-day Kindergarten is the bane of my existence. In order for me to use my free ticket I'd have to make my husband take the day off work. Not only would that mean I'd have to go to Comic Con alone, it means that we'd lose the money he would have made by working. We're po' folk, we can't afford to be losing pay like that!

Then I started looking at the prices. These people are asking quite the chunk of change for an autograph and even more for a photo op. I'm the kind of person who wants photographic proof, so I'd need lots of money. Add in my transportation costs, food (if there was anything gluten free I could eat), and the physical issues I'm having.... Well, it all adds up to a great big Nope. 

I ended up taking that free ticket and transferring it to my cousin's name. I get to cuddle her puppies while she's away and Eric says he'll take me on a trip to IKEA to ease my disappointment.

Of course, there's always next year! Now I have lots of time to save up and really plan an excellent costume!

Respect For the Past, Part 1

I am a History Geek. As George Santayana so famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I love seeing the patterns emerge when I look back at the big picture.

I love trying to put myself in the shoes of those who lived before me. I like to try and see both sides of a story. I love the gossip and the intrigue, who needs modern soap operas when I can read about King Henry VIII and his wives or Marie Antoinette and her jewels?

Curiosity is a constant state of being for me. I always want to learn more. Who did that? Why did they do this? Where did they live? What was that like? How would my life compare?

One of the stops on my journey of History Geekdom was spending some time as a Civil War Civilian and a volunteer at a Living History farm set in 1858.

Now when it came to living history and teaching it, I am very serious. I do a lot of research. Hours and hours of reading about what people during that time wore, what they ate, how they lived, how they played, how they worked. I looked at thousands of pictures and joined many sites to learn from other people.

I researched for three months before I even started sewing my dress. I sewed all my own underclothes, only using appropriate materials and techniques. I did purchase a corset, because sewing one was too far out of my comfort zone. I also bought a hoop skirt because the cost and skill to make one was also out of my league. The hoop wasn't authentic since it was made out of plastic instead of steel, but otherwise my outfit was very, very close to what a working class woman would have worn in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

I learned a lot, not just by doing the research, but by actually wearing the clothes and going about daily tasks.

I'm going to do a series of posts about all the things I learned, this is only the beginning.

First of all, I think there is an attitude that people back then were somehow dumber than we are now. I really disagree with that. We have it easier now, that doesn't make us smarter. We rely so much on our modern conveniences, we don't know how to live without them.

Take the way we dress. So much of what we wear is made from synthetic materials because it's cheaper and that's what they style is. The thing about cheap synthetics is that they will hold in heat and moisture. When it's a hot and muggy day you want air circulation. Natural materials will give you that. Hoop skirts actually kind of give the wearer their own little climate zone. A few shakes of your skirts and you get quite a nice breeze in your nether regions!

We also tend to wear less clothing in the heat, this makes sense to us. The hotter it gets the shorter our shorts get. Well, I learned that covering up your skin with loose, breathable natural materials is actually cooler than wearing less.

Covering up also gave me sun protection. Wearing a hat, gloves, and long sleeves might seem like it would make me roast alive, but in reality the sun wasn't touching a bit of my skin. I felt so much cooler when my natural sweat was wicked away to evaporate instead of puddling. The only part of my body that wasn't covered was my face, and I spent all day in 90+ degree weather feeling warm, but not overheated.

As long as I stayed hydrated and in the shade I was really quite comfortable.

One more note on hoop skirts. They are fun!! It takes a little practice to get the hang of sitting, and split drawers really help when it comes to using the potty, but they are so much fun to wear and walk around in. I can't even properly put it into words! If you ever have the opportunity to wear a hoop, I highly recommend it!


Next time: Corsets

Ogden Bucket List (A work in progress.)

My cousin Shanon just moved here to Ogden. I've been driving her around bombarding her with "You should eat here!" "You need to try this!" "This place is so cool!" and she suggested that I put it all down in a blog post. (Probably in an effort to get me to shut up and pay attention to the road while I'm driving.)

This is partially a love letter to my town and partially a list of things I want Shanon to check out. I will probably update it more than once.

Things to see:

The Ogden River Parkway. Great for a little exercise or just a little fresh air.

Historic 25th Street. Just walking it is fun, but it's good for shopping and eating as well.

Ogden Union Station. If you feel like a museum, they have a couple. I think you'll have fun just taking pictures of the trains that are outside and free to explore.

Pineview Reservoir. Technically it isn't in Ogden, but I claim it any way.



Things to do:

Alleged. It's a club but they have Geeks Who Drink every Thursday. I will happily introduce you to people who will let you join in the fun. You might even be able to convince me to go some time.

Ogden Nature Center. It's not just for little kids. Sure they'll educate you if you want, but just wandering around is peaceful and sometimes you can get pictures of the wildlife.

Ogden Mustangs Hockey. The season is over for now, but isn't it nice to know we have a team!? YAY HOCKEY!!

Peery's Egyptian Theater. Lots of different kinds of performances. They even get some of the Sundance shows!

The Zigfeld Theater. This is where I saw Spamalot and Rent. Very fun.

Sasquatch Cowboy. Woo! Improv Comedy! Woo!!

Ogden City Dog Park. To let the pups run! While you're in the area you can also look at..

Ft. Buenaventura. Totally cool that it's an old (reconstructed...) fort in the middle of the city. When you're there it feels like a forest in the middle of nowhere.


Places to eat: 
Slackwater*

Lucky Slice Pizza This one is my favorite because they have awesome gluten free pizza too!

Kneaders*

Dragon Restaurant

Tona Sushi (I can't remember if you like sushi and sashimi, but they have other good foods there.)

Sonora Grill. I make Eric take me here on dates!

Sweet Pop'n Cafe. Okay, they only have different awesome sweets and popcorns but hey, you eat it! I'm addicted to their Kettle Corn.

*Places that I have not personally eaten at because of stupid Celiac Disease. I recommend them because they have been recommended to me. Or, like Slackwater, it's just an awesome place. 

Shopping!!

Only in Ogden. This is where you can go to get local things to send to your out of state friends to make them jealous that you live her now and they don't!

The Queen Bee. Chocolate. They have other stuff, but chocolate.

Things Shanon might not actually like but I have to write them down anyway because they are awesome: 

Sandtrap. Karaoke with Jackson the Karaoke Dude on Wednesdays. Very fun crowd. I've also been told the food there is pretty darn tasty.

Cooper

My husband Eric volunteers with the local Sheriff's department doing radio support. He really wants to volunteer with Search & Rescue, so when the opportunity to adopt a Hound/Lab mix came along we thought it sounded like the perfect dog!

Unfortunately, Eric doesn't have a whole lot of spare time so instead of a working dog for him we got a pet for me. 

This is Cooper. Eric named him after the font Cooper Black. (If I had my way he'd be named Sirius.) 

He's a super sweet dog, but he's also a pain in the butt. Let me tell you all about him. 

First of all, we had to kennel train him. He is a chewer. He also gets separation anxiety. Even with the kennel, we can't even leave the room without him getting upset. When it's bed time I either have to kennel them right as I'm going to bed or put one of the kids in my bed or he will freak out. 

He's very vocal. That's the hound in him. He knows when it's time to get up and he will whine until we let him out of the kennel. There is no such thing as sleeping in. If somebody gets up and lets him out then I can grab a few more hours, otherwise I'm up at 6:00 every morning. Oh, and he doesn't understand Daylight Savings Time. It takes him a few weeks every fall to adjust. Not fun for me. 

Did I mention he's a chewer? Oh yeah. Anything left down is fair game. He rips apart normal dog toys. Even ones made for "Power Chewers". The only thing we found that he can't completely destroy is deer antlers. They're pricey, but worth it. We have a hard time keeping him out of the garbage. If he isn't right next to me then it's a good bet he's gotten something out of the trash and he's hiding somewhere trying to eat it. 

He has an affinity for rocks. I can't even begin to understand this one. Every once in a while he'll come in from outside carrying a rock about the size of my fist. 

This is one of his smaller ones.

He'll just carry it around the house. Sometimes he brings it to me. When I'm knitting he'll try and bury it in my lap. Usually he curls up next to it. Eric hates it, but I actually like when he's rock obsessed. It keeps him from getting into other kinds of mischief. When he's got a rock in his mouth it means he isn't eating something else! Oddly, he doesn't chew on the rocks. Thankfully! I don't know we could afford to deal with broken teeth.

Lately we've been having a problem with Cooper's ears. He shakes his head so hard that the tips of his ears split and bleed. I keep finding blood splatters all over the walls. Dexter would have a field day analyzing this place. (We've taken him to the vet and there isn't much we can do about it.) 

We clean his ears, then bandage them. Unfortunately the bandages don't stay on their own. Either he shakes them off or sits down and scratches them off. We have to lay his ears down and wrap them against his head. 

First we started with an elastic bandage, but he would rub his head against the floor until it scooted down his head far enough to let his ears out. Now we use athletic tape. 

I feel so bad for him, but it's the only way to get his ears to heal! 

He's a major pain, but he's also great to have around. He's a world class cuddler. If I let him, he sleeps right on top of me. If not on top, then as close as he can get. 

This was a day when Joey was home sick from school. 

He's great with the kids. He'll fetch a ball until I'm scared he's getting heat exhaustion. When we take him to the dog park he becomes a dog possessed. All we have to do is turn the corner heading towards the dog park and he starts going nuts. We have to muzzle him when we're in the car. He just gets so excited!

Basically that sums him up. He's just so excited. All the time! 

Pubbies!!

No really. I do. All the time. I frequently interrupt myself to point out a dog. I have been known to pull my car over just so I can stop some poor, innocent person who is out walking their dog.

The last dog I pulled over to meet was an adorable gray poodle named Velvet Blue. She is a certified therapy dog, so I guess she's used to crazy people. She was a doll and put up with my baby talk and cooing with great poise.

Yes, I am one of those people. I remember the name of a person's dog and forget the name of that person. I have friends on Facebook who I only know because I fell in love with their dog. I started a Facebook group for the local dog park. I make playdates for my dogs with strangers. I go to PetSmart or Petco with the flimsiest excuses just in the hopes that I might meet more dogs.

I have a few breeds that I love more than others, but that just means I'm more likely to gush over that dog and spend more time asking questions to the owner. If it's remotely canine and on a leash I will ask to pet it. (Of course I always ask first. I have no problem standing back and baby talking to a dog that the owner doesn't want petted.)



Note: The art for this post came from the tumblr Nation of Amanda. This is the link for her store. 

Nails

Hi.

My name is Heather and I have an addiction.

I am obsessed with nail polish.

I've always liked my hands, and I consider them by far my best feature. They're small and dainty, but my fingers are nice and slim. Usually though, I just leave my nails bare or paint them clear. If I was feeling particularly sassy I might go for a light pink or off white. My nails are kind of soft and polish chips really easily. Chipped nail polish is one of my pet peeves, so I stuck with things that don't show chips easily.

Now that has all changed.

It started with my darling friend Kristin raving about Nail Thins on her Facebook page. I'd seen them on Etsy and even had some saved in my favorites, but wasn't sure about actually buying them. Once I got the endorsement from Kristin (my make-up guru) I just knew I had to try them.

Nail Thins are these little decals that go over your nail polish and come in about a kagillion different designs. I was immediately sucked in with the Harry Potter set. I mean, come on... I had to have those. They are super easy to use, and they look amazing.

Remember how I said my hands are small and dainty? Well, freakishly tiny would also be accurate. The Nail Thins I got were too big for all but my thumbs. (Insert sad face here.) This is not where the story ends though, no way. I messaged Jenny, the Nail Thins lady and mentioned that I thought it would be cool if she offered smaller sizes for little girls and people like me. Not only did she agree that it was a good idea, she also sent me smaller replacements FOR FREE!! Seriously, you guys need to go get some of these.

Anywhoo... The nail thins look cool on their own but they really "pop" when they're applied over polish. The Harry Potter decals got me thinking, and I thought it would be super cool to get blue and bronze so I could have Ravenclaw nails. (Because Pottermore put me in Ravenclaw and we all know that Pottermore is the authority on such things.) One thing led to another and I found myself collecting enough shades to have all the Hogwarts houses. I don't have a picture of my first attempt, because it was such a complete disaster, but I am undaunted and will try again!

The next step to my complete addiction came in the form of more peer pressure. My friend Bethany (who I met through Kristin!) posted on her Facebook about a site called Ipsy.

Ipsy is a really cool subscription beauty service. You fill out a profile on their site, and for $10 a month they will send you a cute little make-up bag with 4-5 different beauty products. I'm going to dedicate a whole blog post to them in the future, so stay tuned for that. The part that's relevant to this post is that in my first bag I got a bottle of purple polish, Odette by Zoya. It's completely unlike something I'd normally buy, but it looked really good with my skin tone. One more step on the road to addiction.

I also invested in some decent base coat and top coat. They definitely add to how long it takes to do my nails, but my manicure now lasts at least a week. When I was just using two coats of polish I'd be lucky if I got two days! Spending time doing my nails doesn't seem like such a waste when I can get it to last so much longer! Plus, having so many coats of polish on my nails makes them stronger. I have far fewer rips and breaks. Such a nice bonus!

Add in all the cute nail ideas I've been finding on Pinterest and you end up with a full blown obsession. I've been to Ulta more times than I'd like to admit, and my polish collection has grown to alarming proportions. I've been having a lot of fun coming up with new polish combinations! I plan to post new pictures when I'm particularly proud of my creations, consider yourself warned. My addiction has also affected my children. Today I forced Betty to sit and let me do her nails! Is there rehab for cosmetic addictions? (I'm actually updating this while she's drying between coats. If her nails turn out cute I'll try and get a picture.)

Even Joey is getting in on the action. He wanted blue nails, so he got blue nails. For the record, I didn't force this on him. He practically begged me to paint his nails while I was doing mine.

This is what my nails look like today. I started with one coat of OPI Natural Nail Strengthener as a base coat. I then did two coats of Essence Color & Go in 146 That's What I Mint! (It might look blue in the picture, but it's actually pale green.)

When that finally dried I did two coats of OPI Let's Do Anything We Want! (Muppets Collection! Woo! Love those Muppets!) This particular glitter polish was rather hard to deal with. There are large white pieces that want to settle to the bottom of the bottle. I had to shake up the bottle between every nail. You can see those white chunks best on my pointer finger in the picture.

The Cardinal Rule of glitter polish is that you want to dab on the first layer of glitter. If you brush it on like regular polish you won't get an even distribution of glitter. So, that's what I did. Once the first, incredibly thick layer was dry I added another layer.

This all took hours. Letting things dry between coats is a total pain, but at least smudges don't show with glitter polish! My normal M.O. is to surf Pinterest while I'm letting coats dry. Thank goodness I can still work my mouse with wet nails!! I waited until the next day to add two layers of OPI Top Coat.

I really like the mint green and pink sparkle. It's got a cheerful, Sprintime-y look that I'm kind of craving right now.