Archive for Clothing
Gaming, Misc Projects, Jobs, and Media (a.k.a. I Suck At Making Relevant Post Titles)
My current site project right now involves bunches of icons, and I wish I had more time for it. I’m also trying to get myself in gear with the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. I’ve never written a pitch before and it’s a tough slog at this point. My writing tendencies are entirely too stream-of-consciousness for their own good, and I need to focus more on a decent packaged whole when I write. In other news, I’ve eaten Mexican food every day this week except yesterday.
I finally beat Oasis on Insane. Were this 2004, when the game actually came out, it would likely be much more exciting. Nonetheless, Oasis has provided me with months of gameplay, and was totally worth the $6 I paid for it. On a similar note, rumors have it that a version of Civilization will be coming to Facebook this June. Aside from my occasional Scrabble obsession (and whenever someone flings a Pathwords invite at me), I’m not a big Facebook gamer. Yoville got tedious, and I haven’t logged into my account in months now. There’s a bunch of others (Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc.) I signed up for, played once, and then promptly forgot about. I think a problem with these games is that they’re mostly about doing the same thing over and over to acquire more stuff and build your character. None of which is all that interesting to me. One thing that is immensely interesting, however, is Civilization.
Job prospects = still slow. Didn’t get the job I interviewed for this past Friday. They might have a temporary use for me for a project that may or may not happen, however, which would be nice. I’d like to get more hours at Liberty, as though the pay is meager, it’s actually pretty fun to jump around by the side of the road all day long. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this healthy in the middle of winter before.
I wish another Chick-fil-a would open up out here. This is because I want to do another First 100. Preferably without the blizzard this time around. I also really just want to eat chicken constantly, because it is so freaking good.
I finished reading “Jonathan Norrell & Mr. Strange” by Susanna Clarke recently. It was fabulous, a very British early 1800’s take on magicians and magic, quite long and involving with quirky characters, I highly recommend it. I’m currently reading “Nature Girl” by Carl Hiaasen, which is quite funny.
Finished watching Evangelion. Apparently the ending was poorly executed due to budget issues, and I thus need to see a movie called “The End of Evangelion” for proper fulfillment. I really liked the concept behind the ending, and we can hopefully get our paws on the movie sometime soon. Started watching Bleach, am enjoying it but with mixed feelings. The more it veers away from the “I need to kill this giant Hollow” plots, the more I like it.
Oh yeah, I totally scored some free fabric off of Craigslist. Giant bag, some scraps and some decent-sized pieces. I’ve got a pair of black shorts with a drawstring that never really fit me right, and I’ve got this great idea to convert it into a skirt, adding some fabric to the bottom in ruffles or something. I’ve got plenty of fabric to do this, now it’s simply the matter of locating said shorts. There’s this black hole that follows me sometimes, and likes eating things I’d prefer not to have eaten. I picked up a tank top from Old Navy with the final dregs of my gift card, and as a tank top it’s entirely too long, but with some fabric on the bottom it would make an awesome dress. I need to find a fabric really similar to the tank top’a fabric to execute this, however. Now, once I have made these items, I need to find or create circumstances where I would actually wear a skirt or a dress. Pants are just such a nice default, but it’s a shame that I keep making all of this crap and never wear it anywhere for the most part.
Oh yeah, crispy chocolate in my near future. Old Towne Arvada is having some sort of chocolate festival, whereupon I will enter items into their cookie contest and, with any luck, will win a giant pile of chocolate. Which would be good timing, as our Christmas chocolate is slowly running out!
Shameless Plug + Yay, Jeans!
So I made bacon sushi. It was awesome enough that I feel this strange urge to cross-post the blog I wrote about it pretty much everyplace I can. There are pictures and details located here!
Also, thank you to whoever advised me try the Old Navy “Sweetheart” jeans. They fit and are really comfortable, despite how ridiculous their name is!
Grocery Stores, Delicious Juices, etc
Safeway is weird. The one in Fountain is all fru-fru, and our first visit there lead us to believe that grocery prices out here were godawfully expensive. But no, it was just that Safeway, as the Walmart down the street had the same prices as places in VA. So we’re up in Arvada now, and after driving in circles for awhile last night looking for a grocery store, we finally came to a Safeway. Looked more like a regular grocery store and less like a magical fru-fru (frou-frou?) money sucking locale. Some of the prices were still, err, pricey, but they were for the most part reasonable. I’m thinking the disparity between the two is because in Fountain, there’s that Safeway, and that’s about it, unless you want to drive several miles away to the Walmart. So they’ve got the market pretty much covered, and make the store look more fru-fru as a thinky veiled justification for charging twice as much. My guess at their tagline is “Safeway: at least we’re cheaper then Whole Foods”.
We’re pretty sure there are other grocery stores around here, thus why the Safeway here has cheaper prices. I want to find the local King Soopers. This is because “King Soopers” sounds like a completely ridiculous name for a grocery store. Also, because they’re apparently owned by Kroger, and so I’m hoping they carry the Kroger Private Selection ice cream.
Also, I have finally been in a Whole Foods. $21.00/lb tuna, eek! Lots of free samples, though. And that aisle with all of the bulk food like Elwood Thompson has is useful. I’m not too keen on going back though: waay too expensive, and waay too much conspicuous consumption. Too bad there’s not a Trader Joe’s out here. I want chocolate granola bars and $1 garlic pizza dough, dangit!
Anyhow, I’m drinking $1 discount kosher grape juice from Safeway. It’s pretty good, might have to go back and get more.
And here’s a desperate question: where does one go to find women’s jeans that *aren’t* narrow in the thigh/knee area but are also lower cut? Lower cut pants fit me so much better then regular cut, but they all seem to be of the skinny jeans and/or stretch and/or boot-cut variety. All I want is a pair of pants that fit me and doesn’t convert my thighs into sausages!
In defense of scrunchies!
So I’m wasting time, as I am want to do when I sit down in front of this computer, and I end up reading some article regarding 90’s fashion making a comeback. It mentions scrunchies, and how they’re totally coming back. And here I am thinking, “They went away at some point?” See, my hair is massive. It officially reaches my waist now, and is thick in an obnoxious way. I cannot wear many hair accessories as much more then accessories, as they’re either too cheap (I’ve broken many a crappy plastic hairstick in my day) or too insufficient (I’ve about given up on most clips to do anything major on my head). The same is true for elastic hair bands – not only do they not hold my hair particularly well, but they tend to pull in rather uncomfortable ways. Scrunchies, on the other hand, are stretchy and soft and supportive and super comfortable on my hair. Their elastic is thick and is up to the task of restraining any size mane, as it were.
In any case, I have scrunchies in all sorts of colors, to match whatever outfit I happen to be wearing, and I look forward to wearing them for the next 50-60 years or so.
And now for something completely different: Turbo Heather!
I wish I had one when I was a kid!
Salami Day T-Shirts!
It’s the moment that you all have been waiting for…Salami Day shirts are finally available to the public! There’s two designs at the moment (and hopefully two more to come in the near future), available in a select variety of shirt styles and colors. September’s just around the corner, so get your Salami Day t-shirt now!
SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the economy.
I am super excited about the snow. It has been years since I’ve seen snow in this glorious of a quantity. The inches keep piling up, and it’s still going strong! I have a recipe for snow pudding that I found which I’m going to attempt, as I’ve never made it before and it would be fun. I’m also gonna drag Drew to a random flat area with me so I can build snow things. I’m thinking somewhere on Monument where there’s the large grassy area in the middle. This way I can make some sort of glorious sculpture that will stare at all the suckers driving to work tomorrow.
In other news, I stimulated the economy today. Everything I got was on sale, but that’s pretty standard these days. — the power is flickering, crap. I hope I finish this before it gets bored and dies — Anyhow, I got hookups from Christine for some sweet sparkly shoes with her 40% discount from Journeys. Also got a few shirts and 4 pairs of underwear from JC Penney. Technically two pairs were free, as they had a “spend $50 get $10 off” deal going on, and I added on the extra two pairs just so I could make $50 worth of stuff. Can’t have too many pairs of underwear, though! I also finally got to spend my Michaels gift card. I love craft stores, there’s so much junk to look at that is neat. I got a set of 8″ round cake pans, which I hope to put to good use soon, as well as some red dye, so I can finish off a few shirts I managed to dye a bad salmon rather then red not too long ago.
When I left the mall, the snow was falling all around me. It was magical and glorious and took forever to get home because I and everyone else around me were barely doing 40 in the 65mph zone. Did I mention that I’m super excited by the snow?
I may have found a solution to the “where to go in a week or so?” dilemma. I’ve never been to Asheville, NC, and was thinking about going there to get some serious hiking in, as I’ve heard it’s a really neat town. I found a really cheap hostel there, I think I can manage $15 a night! Might be taking Christine with me for company, depending on what her job situation’s looking like at that point. Mind you, if the weather in a week is still like it is now, my plans may change to someplace a little further south. Then again, maybe not, hiking in snow could be pretty awesome.
New Bras Ahoy! Plus Bonus Clothing Babble!
I got my figleaves shipment today, yay! Ordering clothing from the internet is always tricky business, unless you a.) are getting something pretty basic like a t-shirt or b.) you already know the item fits. So I took my chances based on the fact that everything that I bought was 90% off. I got a black bra that actually fits me really well. The beige bra I got fits a little tighter then I’d like, but as I range from size to size, I suspect it will be fine in the long run. Albeit, I’ll need to swing by the ole Ben Franklin to see if they carry any bra extenders, as the band size is truly meant for someone a bit narrower then me. No returns for clearance items, so it’s not like I have the option to return it for a larger size. Nonetheless, I can’t complain too much as the bra was $4. I also got another swimsuit top, so I now have two. It’s a bit more, err, revealing then I was expecting, but Drew approves, so I’ll just have to be strategic in where I wear it, or something like that.
Then come the clothes! So, clothes are really tricky, especially when they’re all sized with S, M, L. One brand’s S is another’s L, it’s no good at all! Anyhow, I got a tank top and squishy pants set, both size L, which based on the sizing chart seemed like they’d work. The tank top fits me perfectly. Ideally, in fact. The pants? You could fit two of me in it (well, more like 1.5 of me, but that’d be bloodier). I might try to pawn them off on my mom, or something.
I’ve recently realised that there is a conspiracy at work, here. See, according to what I’ve read on the Internets lately, there’s apparently two basic body types, ‘apple’ shapes and ‘pear’ shapes. Apple shapes gain weight around their torso, in the abdomen and chest area. Pears tend to gain weight in the hips and butt. The conspiracy is that most women’s clothing companies seem like they’re designing clothing for pear shapes. See, when I gain weight, my proportions change completely. My butt stays the same, and my gut and chest balloon out. All of which is very complicated if you want to buy pants. Meaning that when I buy pants, they’re either low-rise (to avoid the waist issue entirely) or men’s pants (to handle my beer gut).
In any case, someone desperately needs to start designing women’s clothing like men’s dress shirts are designed. Have there be separate sizings for the waist and the hips, or separate sizings for different bust sizes. Anyhow who’s not ‘average’ in the chest knows the horror of trying to find a dress that fits when they’re all designed to fit a certain set of proportions. No good at all!
Or we could all just wear sweatpants and spandex all the time. And eat donuts. Copious amounts of donuts. Sounds like a plan!
