Wednesday, September 27, 2006

I win!

(from Danny)
I am a winner of the preliminary round of Drum Off
2006 at the Guitar center in Henrietta. I was the last
of 10 drummers to play a 3min solo.

Yes yes. I crushed thoses ninnys like eggs.

Round two will consist of 6 total contestants on
october tenth.

rock on.

I knew i won when the guy said "and let me get this
name right....."
dead giveaway.

(A says)
Cool! Of course, seems pretty obvious to us that you could do it...

Saturday, September 23, 2006

salt water fishing

Today I went on a boat and I fished but all I caught was (and this is at one time, one reel-in) two spider crabs and a clam.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

ny times

hey everybody, if you have an extra $5 this sunday, maybe pick up the new york times and look in the magazine at the humor page. just sayin..

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Origami envelopes

OK, here are the steps to make an origami envelope.
I used an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet to get an envelope that keeps the same postage rate as normal. You may want to use a heavier stock.

1 - Fold paper in half so that short end meets short end. Crease and unfold.

2 - Take opposite corners and fold them at 45-degrees, so that the inside edges lie along the center crease.
100_1061

3 - Fold 2 leaves "open" slices at upper right and lower left (rectangle shaped). Fold these in so that the outer edge meets inner edge (you can see the creases from this fold in the picture above (I went too far and had to go back)

4 - Take one of the flat corners created by fold 3 (lower left/ upper right) and again fold at 45-degrees to lay along center line. Repeat for opposite side.
100_1062

5 - Tuck the corners you just folded in under the lip they're now on top of.
The invitation - minus the sticker seal

I sealed the diagonal with a sticker seal - but it may not even be needed if your folds are tight and you use a good stock. These mail very well, with no issues from USPS.

Book#16 - The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon. A quick glance at the Amazon reviews makes me think I missed something in the book. It's a fast and compelling read in some ways. You want to know what happens with the story. But it had a bad aftertaste for me. I was left unsatisfied. Disappointed that what had such rich possibilities ended up being really superficial. The narrator puts such emphasis on appearances, primarily describing characters and their moods by their clothes. When he tells the background of his friends, you get a sense that there's the potential for something deep. You're dangling in anticipation and end up with what's basically a belch in the face. A let down. It leads nowhere. Despite the potential, the narrator doesn't care, leaves it and moves on. I need to find a book that I feel really accurately portrays college life in a way I care about and feel is well written because this left me hungry.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Invitations

Now that we're closing in on the actual date, I can share more about details. I'm very excited because several people have commented on the invitations, which we did entirely ourselves (with Jenny's help for the design, of course).

Early on, I found an origami envelope design. This is a bit different, but no extra cost to mail...
The invitation - minus the sticker seal

Inside, we had our invitation card, an RSVP, and a couple of smaller inserts with maps and hotel info. One plus was that the museum had a map of the campus on their website with pics of the buildings, so people should be able to find the ceremony and reception locations.
Contents

I loved the way it all came together, maple leaves, fall colored papers, Jenny's design.
Close of our ljc design

The night of the final assembly, I bent my thumb backwards working out. It's fun to fold things into origami shapes sans 1 thumb! ;)
Invitation stuffing

Book #15 (read in Maine): The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. I didn't enjoy this reread as much as the others and maybe that's why, back in the day, this was the last book (of the original ordering) that I bought. The kids from our world weren't as likeable. Eustace has some ties to the Pevensy children (cousin), but even with his improved attitude following Dawn Treader he's still tiring. And the other chic, Jill, is way too ditzy and squeamish.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Lucky

As Sonny quickly synopsized, Maine was wonderful. Labor Day weekend Mom and I camped Sunday night (mostly dry) and Dad and J joined us Monday for more belated birthday festivities. J got me an awesome “Learn Italian” kit – we’ll start learning together and maybe one day we can get to Sicily to see where my great-grandparents came from! Many other awesome and beautiful things. I’m so lucky.

BTW, Sonny makes some killer cupcakes.

Yesterday marked ONE MONTH until the wedding! Busy busy taking care of lots of little details. Made a massively bulk purchase at a crafts store for favors. Responses are trickling in. It’s getting more and more real!!! This is going to be incredible.

Read several books on vacation, but will just trickle them here, as I’m not in danger of finishing else real soon.
Book #14 – Cirque du Freak – The Vampire Prince by Darren Shan. Really more of a YA book, but cute. A good distraction that lasted just long enough for the flights to Portland. Not a ton of character definition, though. Was going to say that’s the tradeoff, but just because something is a quick read doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice depth.