Dulcissime

Things here are good. The Autumn update went up, and now I'm focusing on marketing and expanding my base. I have the most amazing repeat customers, but in order to expand, I need to target new people as well. So I'm doing some FB advertising, with mixed results. If you're someone who has good tips on this sort of thing, I'd love to hear them. I wear so many hats re: my company, and marketing is still something I'm a bit mystified by.

Verve was supposed to perform at this month's Tribal Cafe, but Flissy broke her ankle two days ago, which is a bummer for all involved. I was really looking forward to some swordwork we've been planning, and I'm certain that being laid up for a bit is not her idea of super fun times, either. But! Considering the other two artists on the bill are soloists, Bella and Mavi were totally cool with me calling in reinforcements from Transcendence to do a 4-person set. So I will still be performing. What, I'm not exactly sure. Considering I will be on vacation for a week between now and September 28th, it's a damn good thing we specialize in improv. We're brainstorming ideas, which is good-- but they still don't have a venue locked down since Reef's abrupt closure, which is bad, because we have no idea about the layout we'll be walking into. Will it be a long, thin hallway like Mellow Mushroom or Asylum? A larger open spot, like Reef? Will there be room for props, or to safely bring in a sword? I don't know any of that. So. Improv. Yay for improv.

Or apparently not, because scheduling clusterfuckery that I should probably not publicly discuss. Grumble. But this means Verve will be back in the lineup when Flissy heals.

Side note: the 28th, I'm planning on being at Faire. Because Baebes.

Also, I turn 30 in 8 days omgwtf how did this happen in my brain I'm still roughly 22 omg.

I dyed my hair and added more purple. The result was a darker magenta. Which is fine, I guess. At some point, I'm going to have to use some bleach on it to lift the color a bit, but I haven't put bleach on my hair for over two years, and it's really in fantastic condition right now. It still needs a few washes until the color really settles into whatever it's going to be (Virgin Rose tends to shift from blue-based magenta to red-based fuchsia after about a week or so), and I'll assess then. My hair has also gotten ridiculously long. It's past bra length now. Next year, it'll be at my elbows, if I don't succumb to the whim to cut it first. It's also gotten a lot of natural wave back-- I'm sure that's because I finally got all the damaged bits cut out.

Autumn collections are coming out. I want approximately 30 things on Modcloth (the skull cardigan! I DIE) but I must abstain until after the October trip, where all my money lives. I keep telling myself that I'm going to have a good time and that saving is worth it. But really-- a skull cardigan. That might be worth pulling out the credit card.

Both of my care packages for the swap were sent out early, because I just can't afford to be last minute with all the stuff I have going on right now. That's a relief!

Frustratingly, this week I have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get a new ID before I travel. The Certificate of Birth that my mother was given at my birth (issued by the state, not the hospital), is no longer valid enough for me to use it to get a new state-issued ID. Apparently, after 9/11, some regulation changed, and now people in my generation in MD need a different birth certificate and we have to pay $30 for it. Because of course we do. Thanks, bureaucracy. (Also, a Certificate of Birth, Social Security Card, 2 proofs of address, and my marriage licence, in addition to my last photo ID from MD is not enough for them to issue me a new valid ID. I need the different Birth certificate that I have to pay for. Because of course I do.)

That's all I've got for the moment. Orders must be packed!

It's raining. Not even good, cleansing rain. Or a thunderstorm. It's humid, sticky rain.

My water is turned off for "routine maintenance" until noon. I have neither showered nor had coffee. My dryer finally got fixed yesterday (it was actually the ducts, not the dryer), and so I have a literal mountain of household things to wash that have piled up over two weeks. But I cannot wash them 'til noon. I am grumpier than GrumpyCat.

Still, dancing happened this past weekend. The Dance Your Heart Out Hafla was on the smallish side, but the stage was very nice. Flissy and I did Natacha Atlas's gorgeous cover of "It's A Man's World" followed by a turbo-fast Raquy drum solo. Then we had to run to our second show with Transcendence completely on the other side of Baltimore, at Stadium Playground. It was a very warm, receptive crowd. However: hardest to dance on surface I've ever been on. It's that recycled tire stuff that they use so kids don't hurt themselves when they fall down. Its whole purpose is to absorb shock. Guess what that does to shimmies? You feel like you're shimmying in quicksand. It was mildly hilarious when we circled up and a brief look of "oh shit" passed our faces. Also given the 97 degree heat and humidity, I felt a bit like a wilted flower after that set, but the audience really loved it.

Also, there's this.



We never did get a chance to get a picture of all of Transcendence on the swings, but at least J got one of me throwing up the horns and scream-swinging.

Also:

 

Today I work on earring wardrobes. I'm still waiting on supplies to pour my next batch of resin, and then I get into heavy wirework. So today it's a lot of straightforward, perfunctory stuff. And making more rose copper headpins.

But! Sale at Sihaya Designs. Through Sunday night, use coupon code RAINYDAY20 at checkout for 20% off your order.

Art of the Belly was pretty great. I stayed in an amazing condo with my Transcendence troupies, took leg-melting workshops from the incredible Jill Parker, and performed with both of my troupes. TT's set was an homage to the roots of tribal in the US, with a very Bal Anat-ish feel. Video will be up soon. Verve did sword and a lightning fast Raquy drum solo. Like seriously, so so fast. Very challenging for me, personally, but I love the song and want to perform it again.

I scored some swag from the vendors, too-- I got a dress and a pair of dance pants from Willow, a biiiiiiig medallion to start my medallion belt (am still searching for heart-shaped ones like FCBD's Kae has on hers), bought Belladonna's advanced sword technique DVD (and an "I'm With The Dancer" tee for J), and a preeeetty striped assuit hip scarf. All told, I spent too much, but I am thrilled with my purchases.

The performances were largely wonderful. Even most of the "baby" dancer troupes that got up there were entertaining and looked like they were having a great time. Artemis brought the house to the ground, Ebony's troupe was absolutely perfect, Sera Solstice's troupe piece damn near made me cry, and I loved Shakra's haunting duet piece. Autumn Ward's drum solo piece was also a favorite. Of course there are so many performances that I'm not even mentioning, but I wanted to give special props to lapinetrose for her live set with Ishtar, which had a level of polish that I greatly envy. Overall, it seemed to me that the gimmicky bs that we've seen too damn much of was much reduced this year, which was a relief. I saw a lot more dances that wanted to say something, and far fewer ones that relied on whacky props (though, sadly, I did see one props-ridden performance that I felt was wholly inappropriate).

Going forward, I can't wait to break into the new sword DVD and see if it helps me improve a solo sword piece I'm currently working on to an SJ Tucker song. Verve is scheming, too-- I think it will be incredibly challenging and rewarding for us to work on a theatrical set that tells a story and forces us to dance as characters. And then TT is doing Spoutwood, so we've gotta get our sets down for that on Saturday and Sunday.

Time to start going into full production on the wings at the start of next week. The remainder of this week is custom work and pearl stringing assignments. Then the assembly line starts.

Can't wait to get home to the furbabies tonight. Last night, Nox was running around like an absolute nutcase and collided with a wall pretty hard. J said he ate just fine this morning, but when I got up, I noticed he was really sleepy and felt extra-warm in his ears and belly area. It's probably nothing-- I did a full check over and he didn't seem to be in pain anywhere particular, but he's my kitty soulmate, so of course I'm gonna worry and fuss over him.

Many things! In bullet points!

-- Mainly, I worked a bunch. It took me 4 hours to pack orders on Saturday. So many steps, omg. I also did some pearl knotting work, ordered supplies, and did preliminary work on custom orders.

-- Saw ParaNorman. Full disclosure: I tend not to be too into animated films. I don't think they're inferior or childish by any means, but they just don't often grab me like live-action films do. Anyway, I loved ParaNorman. I think it should be required viewing for all schoolkids AND their parents. Parable-ness aside, the animation was... interesting. Definitely a gorgeous film, but in a lot of ways reminiscent of old-school stop-motion, even though it had a distinctly new-school Coraline stop-motion vibe. Anywhoo, it was a good movie.

(I was glad that Laika didn't end up making a Tim Burton-esque film, considering the horror elements. I mean, I like Tim Burton and all, but his last five years of movies have been so tired and repetitive, both in terms of aesthetic and theme, to the point where he's treading water and not making any new headway. I have no desire to see Frankenweenie because it looks SO stereotypically Burtonesque.)

-- Went on a mini shopping spree. It's been a while since I had any fun money, so I did splurge a little bit for myself. I took advantage of the $5 for $15 antibacterial soap sale at Bath & Body Works (Warm Apple Cider smells amaaaaazing) and picked up some Autumn Leaves oil from Yankee along with a handful of Pumpkin Apple votives. I now have a handful of home oils (including Slatkin & Co's Leaves, Cider Lane, and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, plus BPAL's Samhain is WONDERFUL as a home oil) that I use to re-up scent in my wax tart burner... it's like getting two tarts for the price of one. Picked out a few nail polishes at Ulta... their house brand's Sun Of A Gun (a non-fluorescent orange creme, the closest I could find to a pumpkin spice in a creme finish), Shag by Butter London (a bronzey foil), and Every Month Is Oktoberfest from OPI's Germany collection (a pretty wine purple). I still need to find new riding boots for fall, but so far, nothing has struck my fancy.

-- In the realm of Stuff Adults Do, we steam cleaned the carpet. Ahhhh, stain-free carpet makes my inner Virgo VERY happy. It even got up a stubborn stain I've scrubbed many times. Very happy with the result.

-- TV Sunday: True Blood and Breaking Bad. Two of my favorite shows, but for completely different reasons. Anywho, while watching True Blood, I simultaneously heard millions of people scream "OMG IT'S BILLITH" at the same time. And a minute later, it was trending on twitter. Haha.

-- Today's plan: I have two pearl knotting assignments to do, I have to run the piece Verve is doing for the Inappropriate Hafla, and then I am curling up with a book. Maybe I'll finally get through the last 1/3 of Outlander.

-- Speaking of the Inappropriate Hafla... it's Sept 8th this year. I will be vending again, as will Minxes's Trinkets, Belle Nova, and Venus Out Of Bounds. If you're coming, bring $$$. There will be shinies to suit EVERYONE.

It's alllllmost August! August 1st is Lammas / Lughnasadh, the first of the three harvests in many Pagans' calendars. While it's not as Autumn-specific as say, Mabon or Samhain, the second and third harvests, it is about that time when I start to work on my Aututmn collection, to be released late August to early September. Actually, I've already started working on prototypes, seeing how various sealants work on real pressed autumn leaves for use in resin. It's been interesting looking at a pendant day after day to check for very subtle changes-- basically what I've seen so far is that the colors deepen and get more purpley, which is a cool effect. I just want to know for sure that the colors won't get gunky after I put something up for sale, so: pre-testing.

There is, however, an update coming later this week with Earring Wardrobes, Elven Tears, wings, and a few labradorite pieces, as well as a SLEW of earrings I made with my patina inks. And I got a new camera for work-only stuff, so hopefully the pictures will be awesome. I hope to have the update up on Friday-- there is a viewing on Thursday I must attend and possibly a funeral on Friday, so my timeline is a bit up in the air.

Anyway, I find that it really helps the creative process to think Autumn even in the sweltering Baltimore summer (because really, it's like a sauna out there with that humidity). I've been wearing some of my favorite fall perfumes while I work, so that includes BPAL's Shub Niggurath (GC-- I have a precious little of the original LE left and I don't want to squander it), Arcana's Sleepy Hollow (which performs wonderfully in the summer-- it's more of a light apple and pumpkin cream than something heavy and spicy... I *always* get compliments on it), and now Haunt's Cinnamon Girl, which smells like Villainess's GingerSnapped's softer, snugglier cousin with extra brown sugar.

I also have been burning Autumn-y candles-- right now, I have a pillar from Magickal Cupboard burning with Ember votives from Pier One on either side. It's time to do the yearly re-stock on Yankee's Autumn Leaves. When money starts rolling in again (as summer is always slow in the jewelry biz), I think I might just splurge on ReWined's Merlot candle. Pomegranate, plum, violet, rose & vanilla-- my toes CURLED when I smelled it in Trohv. Actually, I liked their entire line, not a single solitary stinker or single-note. The downside is that they're really expensive, even though I love their recycled aesthetic. So we'll see.

Oh! And also!



Flissy and I will be performing as Verve-- a sword improv and a re-worked choreography. We spent some good time with the video for the "Touched" choreo we performed at CCT, and I think we have something stronger and more dynamic after a firm editorial hand. Plus this event also supports House of Ruth.

“The House Of Ruth Maryland is one of the nation's leading domestic violence centers, helping thousands of battered women and their children find the safety and security that so many of us take for granted.” Please visit their website to learn more: http://www.hruth.org/

If you're local and free on Saturday, you should come. Flissy & I are doing a rare choreography, some sword improv, and a drum-based improv. Plus I love the other ladies (and gent) on the lineup.

Dancing: The big thing in my world this week was the Art of the Belly festival in Ocean City. I was there to dance with Transcendence & also to shop and watch others dance. I had planned on a superchill day. Flissy & I left at around 5:30am to get down to Carousel in time for her morning workshop-- we were greeted at the door by Naimah, who asked us to dance a fill-in slot because one of her students had to drop out. The cool thing about improv: it makes filling in SO easy, because I can dance to literally any ATS-able song I know at a moment's notice. So we performed twice: once as Transcendence and once as Verve. We were sandwiched between some of the best dancers around, too-- I was too busy watching from the wings to get real stage fright. So that was awesome.

Here's Transcendence's set:

Transcendence Tribal at Art of the Belly from Spiral on Vimeo.

( Other highlights & dance bits. )

Hair: My hair is now suuuuper bright. I let Jason pick out my haircolor-- a true red-- that, once on my hair, looked like a $5 Bozo the clown wig, no lie. It a flat ketchup red that made my skin look yellow. I went over it with an auburn demipermanent and now I have a still super bright red, but more of an orangey red-- kind of like the little girl in the Brave trailer. This I can live with.

Cats: ( Mim is ridiculous. )

The Hunger Games: I saw it! I mostly loved it! Discussion in another post, probably tomorrow.

Retail stuffs:

-- After I saw it on Vampy Varnish, I decided to give the Physician's Formula Youthful Wear Foundation a try. Touted as sort of a BB cream, with SPF and a lightweight formula, it's definitely appealing for warm weather. I don't really need it for the youthful aspects, as I don't have many wrinkles, but I have to say: I love it. It blends in velvety smooth and then you can't feel it at all. It looks very natural, and evened my color out with a minimum of additional concealer needed. It's sheer so it blends with your natural coloring, but unfortunately (as usual, sadly) darker skintones are SOL here.

-- I also tried Revlon's new Falsies Flared mascara formula, because I was out of my regular mascara and ready to try something else. Another winner! Apparently, this is a definite improvement over the original Falsies formula, because I didn't get spider lashes-- just very long and defined but still natural ones. Very happy.

-- Oh Beautyblender, how much do I love you? Let me count the ways. It makes my face look airbrushed. Amazeballs. Other big rec? Orofluido hair elixir. Makes my hair smell amazing, and delivers on shine big-time without looking greasy. And volume! Overall I love it. I just acquired some of the conditioner by the same brand & will report back. Both of those, by the way, were Birchbox finds. This month's Birchbox had Essie nail polish, a full sized Tarte lippie, another hair oil, and a few other things. I am seriously digging my Birchbox subscription, dude. For $10 a month, I've gotten to sample some pretty awesome stuff.

-- I got a Soapbox Co order today! All of the soaps in my soap pantry are winter leftovers, and I am so ready for light, fresh, spring-y. Went with Villainess's Sol Baccio, Arcana's Ambrosia, Sweet Olive's Satsuma & Mint salt bar, and Paintbox Soapworks' The Olive Branch. Will report back. Also tried a Wicked Soaps rollerbar of Morgana Le Fay perfume... I can't tell if I mildly like it or not. When first applied, it smells weird, like shampoo or something, but after a moment there's a strong hit of citrus. Which is nice, it's just not at all what I'd pictured. Three hours later, it's almost gone. Meh. I do have one big soap rec for you though: Paintbox Soapworks' The Englishman. Soft leathery deliciousness, omg. I love it.

-- Also, I need to rave about a peacock feather headband I bought from The Faerie Market on Etsy. It's iridescent, which I did not expect but LOVE. It is also SO well made, and the packaging was nothing short of stunning. A+++.

-- To finish up, The Fable Tribe (formerly Glamourkin) did an Etsy update today. Go forth and browse!

1. I ate a breakfast that was totally bad for me, and I don't care.
2. I slept in.
3. I am about to clean the bathroom and take a decadent, glittery bath.
4. Then I am going to write overdue emails and thank yous for Holiday cards (& a Glamourkin!).
5. Then I might take a nap. Emails are strenuous.
6. And then Jason and I are doing couple-y stuff tonight.
7. Check it out. I did do a tiny bit of wizardry here, though: my left eye was beginning to blink in the original, and through the wonders of photoshop, it is much better. This is how you know I am a Virgo.

Home Life: Pretty good. Nothing substantial to report.

Schedule: OMG. The next two months are gearing up to be very, very busy. Still trying to see if J can get off of work for a wedding at the end of Sept, and I need to schedule the annual Hocus Pocus viewing party. Am going to miss out on lapinetrose's spooky tea party because I will be in Gettysburg on Halloween weekend. Very sad about this.

Kittens: Finally sucked it up and ordered cloth diapers for Olive. She's become very, very incontinent as her muscles weaken. I figure diapers with disposable liners will be preferable to steam cleaning our carpet twice a month and constantly following her around with a bottle of Nature's Miracle. Plus then she'll be allowed back in bed at night, which is her favorite thing ever. They should arrive in the next three weeks or so, and until then, I will be jury-rigging some baby diapers for her. Also, we're contacting the vet about getting anxiety meds for her. As her incontinence increases, so does the likelihood we'll have to bathe her more frequently, and she gets really worked up. If anxiety meds pre-bathtime will increase her quality of life, that's what we're gonna do.

Renfest: Oh man, it's upon us! I'd really like to go Sept 3rd to see the Baebes, but time (and budgets) are in short supply right now. So we'll see.

Earthquake: So, we had one. My first! I was in the bathroom, cleaning and waiting for belladonnastrap's arrival, and everything started violently shaking. It's a mark of East Coast apartment living that my first thought was "our noisy upstairs neighbors finally got a Wii," and then when the cats ran and hid, I walked outside and watched the windows on the buildings shake. Considering no one actually got hurt, I'd say it was kind of a fun experience, though it was alarming at the time, 'cause I had no idea what was going on. Now I know what it feels like. I got a chuckle out of an NPR story that detailed six geologists were having a conference at the time of the earthquake, and even they didn't initially realize what happened, considering how rare quakes are over here.

Dancing: Danced at the Inappropriate Hafla! Flissy and I were robots. We danced to Daft Punk. We have vowed not to do choreography next year. ( PEEKTURES. ) I also guested in Kallisti's number as none other than Carolena Nericcio herself... Kallisti's piece was poking fun at one of the current debates in bellydance right now. Oneira was the super gothy bellydancer. Flissy was the neo-Victorian/circus-y one. And Amy was the steampunk one. The joke was that they were all doing the same choreography, just in different clothing. Which is, you know, exactly what 99.99% of bellydancers who claim to be goth/steampunk/whatever dancers do. The clothes are an aesthetic, and though you may be fusing elements of other dances (ie, strobing, pop & lock, umm.... crazy aunt dancing, etc), you're basically just performing fusion bellydance, not some Brand New Style. I show up as Carolena, dole out the skirts and zills, and they become Kallisti, dancing ATS. It was fun. I also loved Lilam's piece ("shark merkin" is now a thing) and Lyra's 'dressing up the zar' piece included a dolphin mask. It was WTFery, and I loved every minute.

Work: I took most of today off because I needed it. I have been in the studio until past 2am more nights than not lately. I will be doing a small update of PMC pieces next week (and more Faery Tears), and then Halloween in a few more weeks. I also have to do some custom orders, but I am trying to budget my time reasonably.

Tattoo: As long as Hurricane Irene doesn't stop me, I'm heading down to see Liaa on Saturday to have her sketch me and work on concepts for the tattoo. I also need to start toning up my tummy, 'cause it's for real now.

Spirituality: It's been a quiet month, probably because my energies have been directed elsewhere. I still have a very pretty altar going on, though it will get leaves and more autumnal touches as we draw nearer to Mabon. ( Pic. )

Autumn Swap: I am going to post sign-ups for the annual Autumn Swap in early September. There are significantly fewer peeps still on LJ this year, but I'm still gonna try.

Sierras Trip: A few weeks ago, my friend Colleen called me and asked me to come for a week to the CA cabin that's been in her family for decades. At first, I could only think of all the reasons I couldn't. Giant update going up. Olive. Blah blah blah. I literally could not conceive of taking time for myself. But the universe gave me a kick in the pants and I eventually stopped making excuses and finally said 'thank you, yes, I will come.'

So I got on a plane and went. I like air travel significantly less than I used to (I seem to be getting more instances of motion sickness as I get older), but for the most part it was OK. The stewardess on the way out was hilarious ("If you are traveling with a child, or someone who acts like a child, first apply your own oxygen mask, and then place one on your husband..."). We had really rough turbulence most of the way. (And on the way back, we descended into Salt Lake City so rapidly that both the girl next to me and I grayed out.)

But the cabin was beaaaaaaautimous. Colleen & Jim were my hosts, and we saw a gorgeous 2,000 ft tall waterfall, ate ice cream from the local ice cream joint, had lunch in the shadow of two mountains in Sierra City, and attended a county fair (at which the bellydancing was horrific!). Somewhere, Jim has a picture of me staring down a soft serve ice cream cone which was distinctly phallic in nature. Colleen and I also went on a beautiful horseback ride around Bear Lake and Long Lake, and our guide pointed out all the local flora-- pride of the mountains, mule's ear, primrose, foxglove. My horse, Bronco, was a fat teenager whose saddle kept slipping, and I had to keep correcting to sit square, which resulted in big ol bruises on the backs of my legs. Add to that, there was still snow in the mountains! All of the locals went on about how the winter was the worst in memory-- the snow didn't even start melting until June. It was totally amazing.

Evenings were quiet and relaxing: we watched movies and Jim cooked delicious dinners. It was a good time, and I am incredibly glad that I silenced my inner worrywart and went.

( More pictures! ) That last pic is of a souvenir I bought... when we were in Sierra City, we happened upon a little dusty clothes shop where the owner had two dogs-- one big malamute mix, and one tiny blind pug. He also had a little table of pendants, where I spotted it. Labradorites, amethyst, and sterling silver. FOR $40. I snapped that baby up. It's perrrrrfect for dancing. And it has great energy. I love it.

I think that's all that's fit to print for right now. I'm just glad that I had a moment to sit down and get up to date. Time has been precious of late.

So, Spoutwood was this weekend! Saturday, we had beaaaaaautiful weather. Sunny, breezy. Just lovely. Highlights:

-- Transcendence Tribal performed two sets. The grass set was well-received, though difficult. There were these spiky vine things hiding in the grass that were seriously trying to maim us. Eugenia was snaked by one her entire solo. Lyra lost part of her costuming to a rogue vine. The un-even hill made any sort of calibrated spin completely impossible. BUT. It was pretty, and the crowd totally picked up on our joy of dancing. The second set was on a stage, and went so well! The improv sword piece was well received, the soloists were fierce, and the group numbers looked so colorful and joyous. It is such a joy to be dancing with these ladies.

-- Rocked out a little to Telesma.

-- Bought shinies from Father Dunn.

-- Spotted Sihaya Designs in the wild! My friends often wear my jewelry, but it was the first time I'd spotted one of my pieces on a complete stranger. I was ecstatic.

-- LAVENDER CUPCAKES. THEY WERE DELICIOUS.

-- Got to hug mermaiden, willow_cabin, & inkandrunes.

Sunday was... well, I knew it was going to be overcast, but it was not supposed to rain. HA. HA. HA.

By the time our set came up, it'd been drizzling and cold for hours, the real rain was starting, and there was a mass exodus. We ended up dancing in a tent for a small but dedicated audience, and by the end of the performance, we were basically dancing in a big puddle of mud. When I got home, I took the most glorious shower ever.

Jason got video, other troupe members got video, and pictures are pouring in. But for now, I leave you with a group pic of us doing an ATS chorus on Saturday: ( SNIP. )

I am actually taking a day off, today. Forcing myself to rest and not to work. Feels good. I have fic to read. Silly TV to watch.

Also, if you are not a weekend LJ-er, I posted an update to Sihaya Designs on Friday. Check it out!