ahead

of the game, for once!  So, here’s what I’ve been up to:

Dark Helena, from the awesome movie Mirrormask, by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (minus the utterly vertical hair, as my hair product was not epic enough).  I went with a Valentine, but I don’t have pictures of us 😦  You can check my Facebook page and see if someone’s tagged me in a pic… *is too lazy to do so herself*  Dress: basic black with sleeves chopped off; add layers of soft tulle and chiffon/sheer fabric with a zigzagged edge to prevent fraying; neckband same.  Gauntlets: thin faux-suede (satin-backed) with velvet ribbon stitched on (at each ribbon edge for stability), and loops of ribbon stitched down each long edge with elastic laced through them.  Add copious amounts of grey eyeshadow and attempt to make your hair stand straight up.  Use epic gel or pomade!

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, let me say right off the bat that I like Ranna’s portrait better than Mosrael’s, but that may be because I actually took the time to pencil Ranna, and just started doodling Mosrael, who, consequently, has some anatomical issues…  These journal entries are somewhat random, and sometimes rather oblique.  The bell portraits, for example, come from a question my counselor asked me about my “dual nature” (we talked about my hallowe’en costume, and I expressed that I thought Dark Helena/Helena was so interesting because of her dual nature as two separate entities and the powerful visual contrast between them).  Ranna is my passive, contemplative, sleepy, peaceful side.  Mosrael is energetic, productive, sometimes anxious, but always doing something.  Ranna is, Mosrael does.  At least, that’s my interpretation.  Oh, and go read Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy if you haven’t already (you can search this blog for a synopsis of the first book, Sabriel, since I’ve written about it quite a bit!) because it is fantastic.  I’ve left all of my writing intact, so you can read the entries if you like.

 

Aqua Dew necklace/earring set: glass, plastic (metallic and “miracle” beads, silver tone wire and earwires, silver-plated clasp.

Lucky Cat makes sure you don’t drop your cellphone.  Well, not really.

I gave these three to my sis, who just turned 13!!!  It’s crazy, how fast she’s growing up (we’re all crossing our fingers that she’s got the tall gene from my mom’s side of the family).  My little sis… not so little, now that she’s a true teen-ager!

Oh, FYI: my company does it better!  And by “my company,” I mean the one I work at, not the one I own, as Emilyrose Studios doesn’t waterproof iPods.  Underwater Audio does!  Go learn more about our product and why it’s better than the competition! /shameless plug  I’m really pleased with the water droplets on the left, by the way… I think they came out well.

My latest reads: Rosamunde Pilcher (good, character-driven romances, very compelling once you get into the meat of the story!), Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man’s Fear; EPIC SUPERMEGAFOXYAWESOMEFANTASTICSDHFJGRIEUHFDCVBSKJFWEYSJDKUFHD… just go read them; you’ll see what I’m raving about!), and, online, The Abominable Charles Christopher ❤  gorgeous art and incredible story!

And I got an iPhone.  It’s white, and my sis and I named it Pearl.  I love it already, but it has calendar sync issues… I manually sync-unsync it, and mess with the visible calendars…  And I have hopes that I might be getting an adorable case for MY birthday (my quarter-centennial, as it were… yikes!)… who knows?

AND my roomie got ANOTHER cat!  His name is Indiana Jones, and he’s gorgeous!  We think he’s part bengal (as in the tiger, but several generations closer toward domesticity).  We all love him, and the cats… are getting to know him.  SLOWLY!  Buddy in particular is very shy!  Pepper has met him and been in the same room, but Buddy won’t go in.

In other news, I’ve had a resurgence of back pain, and my doc says to give trail running a break for at least a week and see if that helps.  Goodbye, Saddle! 😦

Thanks for reading! ❤