Stacyverb

Camp NaNoWriMo

So, all of a sudden I'm writing a novel.  Which is really weird, because as of about 21 hours ago, writing a novel was not in my immediate plans at all.

It's all Carrie's fault.  She casually posted something about Camp NaNoWriMo (something like, "This is cool.  You should do it."), and even though she made it clear she wasn't going to participate herself, suddenly a bunch of our mutual friends and I are signed up to do it.  That Carrie--such a sorceress she is! 

Anyway.  Maybe you've heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an event that takes place every November.  The idea is that you sign up, and you write 50,000 words (about 175 pages) in one month.  The site helps you keep track of your word count and cheers you on.  Last year, more than 256,000 people participated.

Camp NaNoWriMo (motto: "An Idyllic Writers Retreat, Smack-Dab In The Middle Of Your Crazy Life") is the new summer version of that.  In theory, I'll have 50,000 words of a novel finished by 11:59:59 on June 30.  Let's be clear--I expect this novel to be a big steaming pile of crap.  But the idea is to get words on paper (or screen, really), then worry about editing and all that stuff later.  Even if I don't reach the word count goal, I'm hoping I'll still be pleased with my attempt and will be able to build on it from there.  We'll see.  I honestly have no idea what will happen!  I'll keep you posted.

Kudzu Antiques

I love poking around in junk stores.  Whether I buy anything or not, it's just fun to look at random crap.  Places that have "antique" in their name generally intimidate me, though.  They sound like they're full of old, valuable stuff that I can't afford and will probably break.  But I do love visiting Kudzu Antiques, just for fun.

This lady greets you as you approach from the west...

 

...and this one welcomes you if you're coming from the east.

 

One of my favorite sections is their salt and pepper shaker area.  I don't know why--I have no interest in collecting salt and pepper shakers--but they're fun to look at.  (I must admit, the Fonzie set did tempt me briefly.  It would go great with the diner theme we have going in the kitchen of Boogaloo Acres!  I resisted.  It is cute, though.  The juke box is for pepper and Fonzie gets the salt.)

 

Kudzu doesn't take itself too seriously.  There are crazy tableaux like these everywhere.  Some are using the word "antique" rather loosely, I'd say.

 

Some of the items are no doubt actually quite valuable, like this old shoe-shine chair.  When I see stuff like this, I get curious about so many things: Who will buy it?  What will they do with it?  I want to follow this chair home and see what happens.

 

How cute is this turquoise fridge?  And I can't believe I almost missed the fact that there was a small plane above my head.

 

This visit wasn't really about buying, just exploring.  We did make some purchases from the vintage beverage area before heading home, though.  These are all bottled by a company in Washington state, using the original formulas (real cane sugar! no high fructose corn syrup or nutra-sweet!).  Anthony chose his old favorite, Frostie Root Beer, and I couldn't resist trying the "private label" cola.  De-lish! 

Next time you're on the east side of the ATL, stop by Kudzu to shop, gawk around, or just pick up a tasty drink!

Lawn chair dress revisited

Lest you think I'm getting a big head from this recent sewing triumph and the huge increase in blog traffic that has resulted from it (thanks especially to Sally, for sending lots of new visitors my way!), don't worry.  There are several less-than-stellar projects tucked away in various corners of my house to keep me humble.

 

This dress--oh boy.  I'm so crazy about this fabric, and it's perfect for the swishy summery shape of New Look 6886.   But...the construction of this dress led to a teeny nervous breakdown one day last summer.  Later, I did rally and finish it.  I was thrilled!  So proud to have overcome adversity to complete the project!  Excited to wear the dress!  There was just one problem: it. does. not. fit.

 

Um, not even close.  Having no clue how to fix it, I threw a small tantrum (fellow sewists, I see you nodding your heads--we've all been there, haven't we?) and stuffed this dress into the closet.  Only in the past few days have I been able to look at it again.  I'm hoping that some of my many readers who sew might have some ideas. 

So, what went wrong?  A combination of things, I think.  First, I think I cut the sleeves in too big of a size for my narrow back and shoulders (and really, this wide neckline style probably isn't the best choice for anyone who has these fitting issues anyway).  Then, I messed up the elastic.  Because yes, there is elastic in there, which is supposed to help hold the sleeves in place.  But I suck at sewing elastic (this isn't the first time I've had to learn that lesson), and now it's sewn into the sleeve in the permanently stretched-out position, with no way to undo it.  So the sleeves are ridiculously floppy, as you can see.

What should I do, readers?  I'm determined to salvage this dress, but I'm at a loss.  I tried sort of gathering the sleeve, but that didn't work.  Or maybe I just don't have the skills to make it work.  I don't know.  Honestly, I'm considering just taking it to a tailor and paying a professional to fix it somehow (which pains my pride, but I might just have to admit that I'm in over my head here).  I'm good at sewing, but clueless about alterations (obviously).

HELP!

Snapshot: Garden lettuce

Fresh from Anthony's mom's garden in Tennessee.

Summer: it turns me upside-down

Somehow it sort of crept up on me, but apparently summer is pretty much here now.  Although my mixed emotions about the season have been well-documented on this blog, right now I find myself daydreaming mostly about the fun aspects of summer.  The seasons keep turning whether we're ready for it or not, so we might as well try to enjoy the ride, am I right?

What are you looking forward to this summer?  I'm excited about popcorn-worthy movies, both at the drive-in and in the cool of an air-conditioned theater.  Plentiful fresh produce.  Baseball games.  Frosty beverages, popsicles, and ice cream.  Picnics.  Fireworks.  Adventures big and small.

Summer and adventure seem to go together, don't they?  No matter how long we've been out of school, summer makes us think of freedom, of lazy days and endless unstructured stretches of time.  Whether that's the reality or not is another matter, of course!  Things aren't looking too promising for a real vacation this summer, but I'm hoping Anthony and I can get our free time and spare cash to align enough to take at least a little mini-break or two. 

I'm not hard to please, really.  Sure, I wouldn't say no to a swanky bed and breakfast or a week at the beach, but I'm the kind of gal who can also have fun just cruising down the highway with my head out the window (optional: tongue flapping in the breeze like a big dog on a joy ride), stopping to take pictures of weird signs and statues.  And if nothing else, there is always, always, some sort of silliness to get up to here in the ATL. 

Whatever summer adventures I find myself in, you can be sure I'll post about it all (or at least the not-so-incriminating parts...) here on the blog.

Here's a video that takes me back to those carefree summers of yore, when I was still too young to have a job, and spent those long hot days hanging out with my friends, either at the pool or in somebody's air-conditioned living room watching MTV.  Hee.

 

Glider fix-up, phase one

When I was a kid, my grandparents had a metal porch glider that I loved to sit and "swing" on.  When I got old enough to think about things I would like to have for my own home, I always thought about a glider like that. 

The day we came to look at the house where we live now, guess what was on the porch--yup, an old metal glider.  Even better, the people who were moving out of the house didn't plan on taking it with them.  It was destiny!  I immediately wanted to live here based on the glider alone.  (That's a little bit of an exaggeration, but not much.)

When the glider first came into my possession, it was mostly light yellow but also quite rusty.  I sanded it a bit and painted it a rich wine color.

Well, that was quite a few years ago, and by now the glider needs another refresher.  I started tackling this project over the weekend.  Here's what I'm dealing with:

I started by scraping off areas where the paint was already peeling, and then used a power sander to get everything smoothed out.

 

Poor thing.  It's been well-loved, but needs some TLC.

 

"What have I gotten myself into??"

Phase one took several hours of sweat and elbow grease, by which point I was tired and rain clouds were starting to roll in. 

Coming soon: primer!

St. Vincent at Variety Playhouse

Last night some friends and I went to the St. Vincent show at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points. 

We've had these tickets since January.  It had been a long time since I'd bought tickets to an event way in advance and then waited for the night to arrive.  The anticipation of something like that adds an extra layer of excitement, I think.

St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) is a ridiculously talented guitarist, songwriter and singer.  Her music can be plaintive and lovely, and it can be visceral and aggressive.  She's also very stylish (bonus!).

I totally stole borrowed this photo from Wikipedia.  But by coincidence, this is the outfit she was wearing at our show!  How convenient. :)

The show was really thrilling, with Annie and her band playing songs from all three of her albums.  So much energy and creativity and skill--what an awe-inspiring way to spend a late spring evening.

Finished: Sleeveless Simplicity 2501

Thank you to everyone who weighed in on my sleeve dilemma.  Based on the feedback I got here and from friends on Facebook, I felt overwhelming support to make this top sleeveless.  Which was great, because that saved me the trouble of making and attaching sleeves.  So double thanks for giving me an excuse to be lazy!

This fabric is so fabulous.  It's been aging in my stash since I bought it on my trip to SFO in 2009.  The print is kind of edgy mod.  It makes me think of this:

Andy Warhol's portrait of Debbie Harry

Which in turn reminds me of this:

Debbie Harry circa 1970.  Photo from Getty Images.

Debbie really rocks that black and white look.  Style-wise, the MTV article where I found these photos said of her, "she can look badass while looking sweet and NEVER appearing costumey."  That's no mean feat.  I'm a petite woman who uses a wheelchair--I get saddled with the "sweet" expectation by strangers all the time.  Meanwhile, I and those who know me well, know the truth: I am actually badass.  But dressing badass can come across as costumey, because unsuspecting people perceive me as too sweet for that.  (Oh please.)  Debbie, I could learn so much from you!

 

It would be awesome to have the gorgeous gams to wear shorts like Debbie's.  But I don't.  What I do have is nice arms (on display sans sleeves).  And a small waist (highlighted by the peplum).  And a sewing machine.

Blogging the Bloggess

You know what's one of my favorite things to do in the whole world?  Laugh my face off.  And one person who consistently brings that kind of funny is Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess.

If you've never read The Bloggess, and you need to inject some absurd humor into your life, go there as soon as you're done reading this.  Laugh.  Cry.  (Frequently at the same time.)  That is, unless you're squeamish about profanity.  Or you have a thing against taxidermy-related shenanigans.  Or for some unfathomable reason you hate giant metal chickens. 

Jenny made a stop in Atlanta last night, promoting her book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, which just came out a few weeks ago and has been burning up the NYT best seller list.  I was so excited about this book coming out, I pre-ordered a copy (and you KNOW what a library-using girl I normally am, so that's really saying something).  It's just as funny as I expected it to be.  Even the sad parts are funny.  THAT'S how funny this woman is.

 

Terrible picture.  The color is wack.  And all the shots I took during her reading and Q&A came out blurry because I was shaking with laughter, but this was the least blurry.

 

Yes, Bloggess fans, be jealous.  That's me not only meeting Jenny herself (she said she loved my dress--we're practically BFFs now!) and getting her to sign my book, but also petting Copernicus the Homicidal Monkey.  Talk about a celebrity encounter! 

Go read The Bloggess now.  Buy Jenny's book.  Tell your friends.  Go on now.

Random stuff from my brain (#1)*

I was a little under the weather last weekend (literally--I got caught in the rain at Piedmont Park).  As I settled my feverish, snot-filled head onto my pillow to get some sleep, I had a sudden, vivid memory of this:

Anybody else know what I'm talking about?  This was a science film my classmates and I were shown pretty much every year in elementary school.  I hadn't thought of it in a long time, but it decided to bubble up to the surface of my consciousness for some reason.

Doing some quick internet research, I've learned that this movie was made by Bell Telephone as "one of a series of programs on science to understand nature's laws" (direct, poorly worded quote from the film's dramatic intro).  It was produced in 1956, which begs the question, why were they still showing it to us in the late 70s?  Was our school system just that out of date?  Or was it because this movie was so timeless and awesome?

Our Mr. Sun was directed by none other than Frank Capra.  It starred Eddie Albert, and featured the cartoon voice of Lionel Barrymore.  This was no small-budget school science flick!  It's pretty impressive, actually, and I remember loving it the first few times I saw it (by sixth grade we were all like, "Our Mr. Sun AGAIN? {groan}").  I also recall another Bell Systems movie called Hemo the Magnificent, which was all about the circulatory system.  I don't remember that one as clearly, although I know I saw it mutliple times also.

In case you had a deprived elementary education and never had the chance to see Our Mr. Sun yourself (over and over again), I have good news: you can watch the whole thing on YouTube!

 

 

* I've titled this post "RSFMB (#1)" because this seems like a good idea for a series.  Arbitrary mental detritus pops into my head out of nowhere all the time, so look for more of this kind of crap in the future.  When?  How often?  I don't know.  It's random, folks.