This is nothing but today.

This weekend is a medley of do nothing and nap, with the exception of getting Seanan safely to the airport, by way of Espionage Cosmetics, through a maze of twisty passages, all in Tacoma, to pick up Kickstarter bonuses. So excited about the nail wraps! Well, as excited as one can be when unable to breathe fully.

But before nail wraps must come SUPERB OWL MANICURES. Torrey is from Colorado Springs, you see, and I'm from Seattle, and so although I have never in my life watched a Super Bowl game, we decided it would be fun to watch together and sit around pretending to go RAAR RAAR RAAR at each other, since going RAAR RAAR RAAR at the other team's fans is largely the fun of sports. So we gave ourselves the appropriate team color manicures (this was partly the idea of some Colorado co-workers of Torrey's; I believe the losers have to wear the winners' colors for a week) and are getting ready to watch football and eat chips and dip and go YERMOM a lot. I need to re-do my green nail pen; it accidentally mixed with/faded into the grey and also rubbed off some. I don't own any Seahawks clothing, but am wearing grey yoga pants (WITH POCKETS) and a navy blue t-shirt (Disney) which is as close as I can get, really.

Fishy may or may not find his loyalties divided, being from Spokane, as the Seahawks do technically represent Washington state, but Eastern Washington has always held a certain animosity for Western Washington. Or he may just welcome an excuse to make nachos. I think Tony's planning to stay upstairs and snuggle his guitar. 

Okay, new rule: Vixy is no longer allowed to purchase clothing at cons.

At the *very* least, Vixy is no longer allowed to purchase clothing at cons without trying them on first.

I've just spent an extremely depressing evening with the contents of my closet. I have waaaayyy too many things that I bought because they seemed like a good idea at the time, and have subsequently never worn. And I have waaaaaayyy to many things that I keep putting on, being unhappy with how they look on me, getting frustrated, and putting back in the closet.

I've kinda realized something. Somewhere along the line I decided that a certain aesthetic was what I considered "con wear". Then I got the idea that this was what I considered performing wear.

Except... *nearly* all the things I own in this particular aesthetic, I don't think look very good on me. I try dozens of things on and angst and get frustrated and burst into tears about how terrible I look, and usually finally settle on *something*, if I can make myself forget the image in the mirror long enough to get out of the house.

But really... I don't quite know when I started trying to cram myself into an aesthetic that didn't suit me. Maybe it's that it used to suit the body I used to have, and not the one I have now, but I kept on thinking this was the way it had to be. I came up with several outfits tonight that look *really* cute on me, and, more importantly, that make me feel really confident, and they were *totally* different from what I have been by default thinking of as "con wear" and "performing wear" for *years*. And even as I decided to go with those things, I *still* kept catching myself going "but but but... all these other pretty things over here! I should wear those! I should..." *sigh* So many pretty things that look great on the hangers, and not really very great on my person.

So... dear Vixy: quit that.

Because why wait for Thursday?

I had a most wonderful and delightful weekend, filled with music and love and shiny and yummy.

( How I spent my weekend, by Vixy, age 7. )

So there's this meme where you post eight days of something that made you happy that day.

Why only eight, I wonder? I'm sure someone had a reason. The Beatles, maybe. Anyway, I think I'll do it for the rest of 2008. :)

Things that have made me happy today:

* Waking up in loving arms.
* Purple stripey over-the-knee socks, which I bought on a whim last month and forgot until today, but today I remembered them and thought they'd be nice and toasty under jeans. I definitely need more most-of-my-leg socks.
* Torrey exclaiming "You have Cheshire Cat socks!"
* My biggest thickest men's department sweater.
* Walking in the cold sunshine. (We have it here too.) Icy sidewalks that have railings.
* My iPod on shuffle. Dancing on street corners while waiting for lights to change.
* My warmest fleece scarf, what my sister gave me, and doubled-up fleece gloves.
* Adding Cheshire Cat floor mats to my wish list. STOP LAUGHING. The car's floors are threadbare and stained and these are adorable.

And, it goes without saying, the friends and loves in my life. But they make me happy *every* day, and that would get old for memetic purposes, and isn't quite what this meme is intended for, and anyway I would owe Lauren a whole lot of quarters by New Year's. :D

I forgot to crow about my new shiny thing! :)

I read the illustrators community, and not too long ago came across a post advertising Razorberries' awesome Etsy store.

What caught my eye, of course, was this shiny little mirror.

Was that not just made for me? :) :) :) (Okay, strictly speaking you can make out *more* than thirteen corvids on there. But still!)

Naturally I ordered it. Not only did it show up really quickly and safely intact, it also came with its own li'l velvet pouch and a little free button too. :)

Shiny things!


Vixy & Tony's Schedule

Greetings from Canadia! Specifically, Vancouver. Another pleasant and uneventful bus ride up (finished a book, yay reading lights) and a nice relaxing weekend with my Fishy. :)

Today is brunch with hsifyppah and then a nice day of lounging; tomorrow is breakfast with cow and then off to ogle the Chinese New Year Parade! Woot! I brought red clothing to wear just for the occasion. And red ribbons for my hair. I might even do odango if I decide I won't look like a *complete* dork.

What's new with you?

Greetings from Vancouver BC, where I'm visiting gfish for the weekend. :)

I meant to make a big long post, but I am DEAD TIRED. We walked for ages today. I have seen much of the UBC campus, which is pretty and neatokeen. I have seen the office and lounge where Fishy will be spending the vast majority of his time (and if it were me, I'd probably ride up and down playing with the elevator security token far more than would be good for me. *swipe* BEEP "Heeheehee! *swipe* BEEP "Heeheehee!") I have also seen some more of Vancouver, and I've seen a very very big mall.

The bus ride up (courtesy Amtrak-- my round trip ticket got me a bus ride up, a train ride home-- wish they ran more trains) was pleasant enough. Nice comfy seats, plush and clean, and the whole thing vaguely reminiscent of an airplane, enough so that for the first few minutes my hindbrain kept going AIGH WE HAVE NO SEATBELT ON WE'LL FALL FORWARD AND DIEEEEE. My only real complaint: no reading lights. Also the guy in back who seemed to have bought some Fizzy Lifting Drinks at the duty-free shop when we stopped at the border. I have never heard that many burps in that short a space in my entire life. Not even in college.

Anyway, I'm still sort of in what the UBC guide for international students calls the honeymoon phase-- everything is NEW! And shiny! And CANADIAN! There are extra u's in EVERYTHING! Waitress, some extra u's for my drink, please!

It's worn off a little since I'm dead freakin exhausted. Partly from just having generally gotten myself so wound up in anticipation and nervousness (taking Amtrak and actually finding the station via Metro was a new experience for me), partly from popping up like a prairie dog over most of the bus and SkyTrain rides because OMG SO MUCH TO LOOK AT, and partly for walking roughly 1000 miles kilometers over the course of today. We were going to go back out to have dinner at this nearby little restaurant but I'm too tired to be hungry (though probably I shouldn't have eaten the entire candy bar we got on the way home. But they had the Ritter chocolate-and-corn-flakes stuff! How could I resist?)

Tomorrow is the Vancouver Art Gallery, where we've both been wanting to see the Monet to Dali exhibit, and a bookstore which we tried in vain to find today (but now know where to go), and then probably that's about it, just back here to get my shtuff together and get me on the train. Oh, and tea. I want some good loose tea. (Any recommendations, locals? We'll be in the downtown area. Edit: Oh, there's a Murchie's. Say no more!) (Funny and annoying: Amtrak and all it's many different pages and domains say NOTHING about customs, or that VAC has one of those pre-screening customs things in the station, and doesn't advise getting there any earlier to go through that. We had to find out that it exists via Wikipedia.)

Vancouver is gorgeous and interesting and dense. And did I ever think Seattle was international? Lordy! Okay, so, Seattlites, take your favorite parts of Fremont, Ballard, and Broadway. Y'know, the stretches with all the cool shops and the cute shops and the favorite charming shops, all the cool small businesses and neat food places. Now add the International district, and all the cool shops and neat food places with the titles you can't read (or maybe you can). Now stir it up really, really thoroughly, so everything's all just anywhere in any order, not confined to one section of the city. Now multiply it by, like, an order of magnitude or something. That's what nearly every part of Vancouver I've been through today was like. Fascinating!

Bed now. Must bed. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed. Sleep. Zed zed zed zed zed.

G'night!

(PS: the icon is my little fox icon wearing my adventure hat, which is my Tilley hemp hat. I thought that appropriate on several levels.)

Today I am wearing my new happy little bear t-shirt. This way, he says! The path is this way! I'll help! I am totally not leading you to a trap where my fellow bears will eat you! Really!

Either Saturday or Sunday at the con, I plan to wear my other new shirt from Threadless, which I had to buy despite the fact that I rarely wear orange, because it made me laugh out loud. And which I guess I bought just in time, 'cause weirdly I couldn't find it in their catalog, I could only find it by googling.

Raar. Stay on the path, kids.

Edit: It's so cute it needed to be its own userpic.

I am bouncingly excited for OVFF!

I have acquired a little black dress suitable for Seanan's concert, which will not only serve me nicely as Super Backup Singer, but will also, with the aid of a few simple accessories, transform successfully into Pretty Little Dead Backup Singer.

I have acquired a gorgeous red gown for the banquet, slinky and flowy and plunged-neckline-y and rather thirties-ish and guaranteed to weaken a few knees. tfabris is a man of good taste. (He spotted it first.) :)

I have acquired the necessary accessories.

Macy's gave me a one-day coupon for buying a wrap (a huge scarf, really) to go with the gown. I was a good girl and did not use it on Frangos. Instead I used it on a glittery red necklace and earrings. I've *always* wanted one of those glittery necklaces with the Austrian crystal and the scrolly swirly old-fashioned-looking wirework setting. Always always always. And it looks *great* with the gown.

I had thought myself, in my grown-up-ness, in my no-longer-a-teenage-girl-ness, long immune to the power of Claire's. I just needed two scarves for Pretty Little Dead Girl. Really! That's all I was going to get! I had not counted on the siren song of shimmery velvety scrunchies in colors I didn't have yet. Shimmery velvety scrunchies! *sigh* Also I had not counted on their devious stocking of hair sticks. They didn't use to have hair sticks! Nobody used to have hair sticks! Suddenly everyone has hair sticks. I was weak. At least I escaped without stuffed animals. Or tiaras. (Tiarae?)

I have tried everything on all together to make sure it all works and goes well and fits and smooths. It mostly does.

I have signed the original of Wings, put a new label on it (since it was labeled with my maiden name), and sent it express overnight mail to tarkrai for safekeeping and non-smushed-in-suitcase type transport.

I have checked our flight information 1000 times. tfabris is also a man of saintly patience. (I do tend to latch on to those. I wonder why?) ;)

There's still stuff to do, like laundry, and packing, and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE-ing, but I have completed just about everything that needed buying or borrowing or going-out-and-doing. I feel accomplished. I actually do not feel frantic.

Not *too* frantic. :)

Oh yeah, so the dye job. I went back to Ric, because as cool as Rachel was, she didn't make the color last as long as Ric does.

Experienced hair dyers among you will know that the color you want to end up with is very rarely the color of the actual dye goop. Browns, for instance, tend to look purple. Some reds look purple, too, or a dark maroon.

This dye, Ric had never used on me before. He did forwarn me before I saw it.
This dye, is hot pink. Really really hot pink. BRIGHT FUCKIN' FUSCHIA.

Experienced hair dyers among you will also know that dye tends to stain skin.

So. I have really lovely coppery-red hair. Ric calls it "rusty cranberry." He mixes a blue-red and an orange-red, but not in equal amounts (or the effect would cancel out). It's nice.

I have lovely red hair. And a HOT PINK SCALP. :)