The Ariel Costume

So, last Tuesday, Josh came over to finish up some stuff on his Once Upon A Time-Hook costume that ended up looking like this:

We added the red satin panels, trim, and buttons to an old vest and gave the jacket some cuffs, buttons, and collar patches.

Since we were doing this for his & Andrew's Halloween party taking place that Saturday, Josh asked me if I knew what I'd be dressing up as.  I gave him a hesitant but thoughtful sigh and said, "No clue."

Matthew and I had kicked around a handful of ideas, but a decision hadn't been made.

Since he was out of town and had everything he needed for his costume options, I quickly made a decision a little later that night after remembering this awesome mermaid scale fabric I'd seen at Joann the other day.  I did up a quick sketch and got my measurements and ordered the corset & gloves from Amazon.  The corset looked like this before:

Which was too goth for Ariel...so when it came in on Thursday, I took all the black lace off and covered the remaining black trim with this rad silver trim and relaced the back with a metallic silver ribbon.

The tail skirt was an interesting experiment.  I wasn't working off a pattern or anything and the scale fabric was stretchy and my first attempt at a hem turned out awful because I'd used the wrong stitch setting on the machine.  My side seams are where I figured shit out and it was smoother sailing.

Tulle is a bitch.  I say that lovingly because it made excellent fins and my "make-it-up-as-you-go-along" way of getting things done was totally on track, but it's not my favorite fabric to work with.  I did a loose hand-stitch along the top to gather and then bunched that shit up before I ran it through the sewing machine.

Also, it was glittery and the entire house still looks like a unicorn farted up a storm.  The girl at Joann gave me the awesome advice of spraying it down with hairspray. That helped some but my vacuum cleaner has an interesting layer of mermaid fin glitter mixed with cat litter.

To hide the stitching where the fin meets the tail, I trimmed it with a glittery green ribbon.

Can I just tell you how much I love Liquid Stitch?  That stuff is amazing.*

Ariel needed accessories so I dug around the house and found a dinglehopper (plastic fork painted with silver glitter) for my hair, a thingamabob pendant (old corkscrew painted up and on plastic pearl beads), and a snarfblatt (belt buckle pipe I wore on an arm strap).

When I finished it on Friday, everything looked like this:

When I wore it on Saturday, I looked like this:

And for the majority of the night, ran around yelling "I'M A MERMAID!!"

______________________________

* Josh, can I get an Amen?

We Went To Hawaii Pt. 2.

After our stargazing at LAX, we received umbrella drinks when we got to our seats on the plane.
Matthew took a nap.
I caught up on Justified season 2.

At the Honolulu airport, I was smacked in the face by a flowery smell that reminded me of when I was 10 on a family hawaii trip.  It was a flower that was in the leis that folks were being welcomed with.
I kept walking behind them with my nose in the air huffing their flowers.
If you can tell me what this is, I'll find one to plant at home so I can huff it all the time.  I think its a jasmine or something.

Want.

We got the Jeep rental with a peppering of bickering while trying to map our destination, but we met up with our Party at this place to pick up some grub to make us less cranky.

Once back at the accommodations, we poked around the house, made up our beds, vowed to not turn on the tv during our stay, cracked open some brews, and munched on our take out foods.

I believe shortly after that, we sat on the back porch listening to the breeze & finished our beers before we called it a night.

The next morning, we woke up to coffee and this view:

After bagels and some general milling about, the boys decided it was time to go to Sandy's for some skimming & sunning.

 Me & Steph (look how white I am.)

 Flags mark the 'dangerous shore breaks'

 Random hot guy.

Random hot guy's dog.

 Chad.

 Exploring the lava rocks & tidal pools.

 Difficult to see, but there's a sea urchin hiding in there.

 Bob.

 Chad.

 Lifeguard talking to a random film crew.

Random actors being filmed.

We all discussed our theories on what they were shooting.

I believe we settled on 'Brazilian Porn'.

After we hung out there for a bit, we headed back to the house to chill by the pool & hot tub.

There were some fishing poles in the Fun Shed and I tried my luck sittin' on the dock of the bay.

The girls came down to join me and while we were chatting, a giant puffer fish swam up & was trollin' the nearby rocks.

For sunset, we drove out to this place with a bag full of beer and hung out.

 The Sunset Party.

Here's what my first-day-of-vacation sunburn looked like at the end of the day.

Wasn't even the worst burn I've ever had but it sure did get a lot of attention over the course of the following days.  Apparently people don't ever see sunburns anymore.  Certainly not in Hawaii.  Buncha friggin' weirdos.

Don't fret, pets - I'm completely white again.

We finished off the day with cocktails and 90s Trivial Pursuit.

Girls vs Guys...and the guys won.  Cuz they're older than us.

WTH Weds - Key West Faves

Here are some of my favorite pics from Matthew's birthday trip:

Detox Day 5

This experiment has been kinda boring to post about.

So I haven't.

Here's an example of what I eat during the day.....everyday....for the past 5 so far:

Breakfast: oatmeal & blueberries

MidMorning: apple or hard boiled egg white

Lunch: grilled fish & steamed or raw veggies - sometimes with brown rice

Mid Afternoon: apple or carrot sticks

Dinner: grilled fish & steamed or raw veggies

3-3.5litres of water throughout the day.

See? Boring.

The first day was the toughest. I was focused on it all day to the point where it was distracting and frustrating. I packed a bunch of food with me but not anything of any real substance and by 5:00pm I was whooped.

So, lesson learned - lunches should be grilled fish, brown rice, & veg instead of just the can of tuna & raw veg I had that day.

I poo'ed like 4 times the 2nd day.

Progressively less since then.

The 3rd day there was an interesting digestive track rumble that sounded like a toilet flushing and moved the whole left side of my torso including my elbow leaning against while typing.

I just gave you a demonstration, but you can't see it.

Going out to eat wasn't too bad. Went out with mom to Jeremiah's in Mt. Dora & ordered grilled mahi and some veg. Just had to be sure they didn't drop a thing of butter on the veggies or cook with it.

Overall - I feel damn good and only get little brief cravings that don't last very long.

WAKE UP!!

I told you this stuff was boring.

ANYWAY - I took the day off today to tackle this rubble of a room:

What a friggin' mess.

Went to IKEA last night to help reorganize things in there.

Right, then.

Off we go.

I've Been DUPED!!

Not really.
Just found out that the cleanse program is a pyramid scheme.

Hadn't heard of it before and Trainer Brian failed to mention that part....that nerd.

Always after my money.
Not that it matters if the shit works.
If this doesn't work, at the end of the 24 days, then I'll punch him in the neck.

But I'm excited about it & either way, it'll still be good for me.

Here's what my grocery shopping looked like today. Look at all the pretty colors!!

This Fish Is Not Dead

Seriously, its just sleeping.

It sleeps upside down and I always have to check to see if its still breathing.

Upon which, my movement wakes up its eyelidless slumber and it does its tweaked out tail waggle to get away from my curiosity warped face.

And shut up....

I'm aware the water needs to be cleaned.

It'll have to wait until after Jersey Shore Bachelorette Party in Miami this weekend.

FIST PUMP!!!