Loving what I do

I just listed this cute little Lovestruck Crystal Bracelet over on Etsy. In thinking about how to theme today's blog post around it, I was reminded that lately this blog has become really commercial and that I don't really talk about my life at all anymore. So now that we've got that shameless self-promotion out of the way, let's talk about something other than what is in my Etsy shop.

Dancing remains my primary obsession. I'm in classes 4 days a week, and practicing almost every day at home. Later this month I will be performing a solo with a live band, which is a pretty big step for me. I am also still performing with Fire & Gold Bellydance, my teacher's student troupe. My goal is to eventually go pro. You can of course read more about all of that at Confessions of a Dance Pants Addict.

Lately I have been killing time playing Guild Wars 2, a video game which came out last month. Probably not the best use of my time, but it's been a really long time since Chris and I had a video game that we enjoyed playing together. The game has a crafting system, so of course I am a jeweler in game, just like in real life. Unlike real life, my jewelry in GW2 has magical powers.

A less frivolous use of my time is my new blog Politely Worded! For a while now, people have come to me when they wanted a little help writing a difficult response to someone. I decided to spin that off into a blog, so more people could enjoy my writing hobby. It updates once a week currently, but I may switch to 2-3 times a week if I get enough letters to answer.

Lastly, for those of you who care about my four-legged companions, they are all in good health. Lira continues to be very spry for her age, no one ever believes that she is 16ish years old now! Topher has also crossed over into what pet food manufacturers consider senior, but I am in denial about that. He will always be my kitten! My 18 pound fluffmonster of a kitten. Daisy and Maggie are in the prime of their doggie lives and remain convinced that every human was put on this earth to give them belly rubs. I think I'll go back to doing weekend updates with pet pictures.

Because I'm a geek, that's why!

What did I spend my long weekend doing? Mostly playing Guild Wars, working on this huge multi-part quest to get a mini-pet. At this rate, I'll finish the quest right about in time for Guild Wars 2 to come out at the end of the year.

I also read my last issue of SteamPunk Magazine. I don't really agree with all of the viewpoints put forward in their articles, but I really enjoy the how-tos and most of the fiction -- especially the serials. I'm a sucker for serial fiction, I guess it comes from growing up with comic books. Issue #4 also had a great article on the interactions and overlapping between Gothic and Steampunk subcultures. Since I'm sort of Goth, and leaning towards Steampunk, it was very informative and thought-provoking for me. Anyway, now I'm sad because I read all the issues. Chris wants me to read some astrophysics book next. Do I have the only husband in the world who finds reading science nerd books sexy? Probably not, but I'm sure he's in a minority. A really tiny minority.

And another thing is that we finally watched The Mist. My reaction was a resounding "meh." I expected a little more tension, but I never felt suspenseful at all. I have a feeling that it functioned better as a novella (which I've never read, my Stephen King experience is pretty spotty, based on which of his books have been within reach when I've been bored and sick and had nothing else to read). I couldn't help but think, though, that the really large monster near the end moved and sounded a lot like the one in Cloverfield. Maybe they're related.

Tomorrow it's back to lots of packing and cleaning. I'm having a bit of trouble with Guild Wars on this machine, so Chris is going to give me his desktop (he does everything on his laptop now), but that means a lot of desk-rearranging and also transferring of files. Fun.

How do you like them apples?

Last night, instead of our usual roleplaying, six of us played a rousing game of Apples to Apples. Much fun was had by everyone! It's good to get together with a group of friends and be silly, especially since I've had to spend so much time being mature and responsible with the whole housing thing.

Speaking of that, it looks like everything is going great, and we'll be closing on June 11th. I spent some time this week packing, and now I've filled up all the boxes I had (I didn't have very many). One problem with packing early is that I now have to deal with stacks of boxes for the next month and a half. For now they all fit under my beadroom desk, but it's gonna get ugly soon!

In anticipation of my new home, I bought myself a beautiful print by Meredith Dillman. It's called Throne of Ravens. I love ravens and crows and pretty winged ladies, so I just had to have it. I purchased it on Monday and it arrived today, so I'm very impressed with her speedy shipping! I'll definitely be buying more from her in the future.

Best Laid Plans.

Well, I didn't get to work on my book or my gem show necklace last night! Instead, my brother and his best friend came over, and we stayed up way too late playing Apples to Apples. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I'd actually been wanting to play the game lately, and there's no way to play it with only 2 people. Even though Apples to Apples is best with a lot of people, the four of us still had a great time.

I did manage to get all of my housework done yesterday while waiting for Chris to get home, so today I have more time to bead. And by bead, I mean sleep. I expected to get up at 8:30am with Chris (who had a phone call scheduled then), but instead I kept falling back asleep until almost noon. This doesn't bode well for my ability to get up early for gem show! I hope my boss doesn't mind having a zombie booth slave.

Have I mentioned how excited I am that it's almost gem show time? WEEEEE! It's all going to start on Saturday or Sunday, when I'll go to Gem Mall to stock up on crystals and say "Hi" to a few favorite vendors. Saying "Hi" involves buying beads, by the way. I can't wait to get my vintage fix from East of Oz and snag some pressed glass leaves from Raven's Journey! If you're hitting Gem Mall, and you're not already familiar with either of these vendors, I highly suggest that you seek out their tables and check out their awesome wares.

My iPod is driving me crazy. It keeps playing all this awesome music that makes me want to dance. And the living room is actually de-cluttered enough to dance in. And it's not too cold to put on a skirt. And I haven't danced in a couple of weeks. And I know I'll be too tired to dance during gem show. I really need to make a playlist called "Music to hold still by" so I don't sit here doing ab and arm isolations at my desk like I'm under the effects of "Otto's Irresistible Dance." By the way? My rib circles ROCK! My teacher would be so impressed. When she first tried to teach me how to do rib slides and circles, I was convinced that my ribcage could not move from it's usual position of being aligned with my hips.

That's it... I'm gonna go dance!

Oh, hey, look... a blog!

I've been back since Wednesday night, and I am just now sitting down to blog. The past week has been busy, busy, busy! I had a great time dogsitting and a wonderful visit with family in CA. It was especially nice to reconnect with my aunt and uncle whom I hadn't seen in over 10 years. And weird to see my cousins, who are now all grown up with kids of their own. They're all older than me, so I don't think of them as kids, per se, but it's still weird when almost all of your cousins are parents. Better them than me!

On the way home from CA, we stopped at a bead store in Quartzite... It was disappointingly overpriced, so I didn't get any beady souvenirs of my trip. At least my Dad and little brother brought me back a plush dragon from Magic Mountain, so I'm not entirely souvenir-less.

Wednesday night was spent at our friend Alex's new place, playing Apples to Apples with our friends and his friends who were in town for the holidays. Good times all around -- we had so much fun that we went and bought our own box of Apples to Apples.

Yesterday was errands, and lots of them. Late holiday shopping, grocery shopping, that sort of thing. I indulged in my not-so-secret addiction... Wrapping supplies. I just love wrapping paper, ribbon, bows and tags. The artist in me delights in coming up with different combinations when I wrap. That's what I've been up to today! My family celebrates on New Year's Day, and we're hosting... So I figured I'd better do all the wrapping today so I could have time to clean up all the mess before Tuesday! Of course, I also have to wrap all the late Channukah/Christmas presents for Chris's family. I still have 7 gifties to wrap (and one more to buy and wrap for Chris!), but I desperately needed a break. Only so long I can bend over the table cutting paper.

Aside from the ornaments, I have barely beaded at all this past week... blah. Gotta remedy that this weekend!