I've been woefully absent from LJ lately, because I've been busy like crazy.

Two weeks ago, I had Jessi and Barbara in from Michigan and their friend Ann who lives in Springfield staying with me all weekend. We did all sorts of touristy things like hitting the Air and Space in DC and visiting the WWII, Vietnam, Jefferson and Lincoln memorials. We also went to see the Caps play, and I have some AWESOME pics from that, but I haven't gotten to them yet, because I'm insanely busy, as mentioned. We also watched a bunch of Horatio Hornblower which was amazing, and oftentimes hilarious. Especially when watching with Jessi.

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This past weekend, Vicki came to town and we went to Baltimore to see NOFX on Friday night. Rams Head Live! is a relatively cool venue, except when it comes to their exit strategy. They seriously bar off all six of the exits, and funnel everyone down this long, hot, reeking tunnel wherein people start to push each other, and its about as close as I've ever come to claustrophobia. It was obnoxious.

If I ever go back there again, I'm sitting at the bar and waiting for that place to clear out before trying to leave. Cause, UGH.

We didn't get home until like 3 AM, then we had to get up at 8 am, because Jenni is awesome and she came in early to make time to tattoo Vicki. She doesn't open until 12, so that was kind of incredible.

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I've also been working on a second Halloween costume, because there's a party on Friday night, and I'm not about to bust out my awesome costume for someone else's party! So I'm going to be a Victorian Vampire. I bought a mini top hat at Build-A-Bear (hee.) and altered it to add a bit of steampunk flair to it.



The cogs all came from clocks that I bought while antiquing a few weekends ago in Fredrick, MD, and the rest is just twisted copper wire. Neat. I had fun doing it!

I also had to alter the cincher top my friend Rach got me for my birthday, because believe it or not, it has SNAPS on the back? Who puts snaps on what is essentially a light duty corset? As soon as you start to tighten it, pop, pop, pop! So I put a zipper into the back and called it done.

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I've been mixing videos together for the masquerade ball. I have over three hours of video right now with transitions, and I haven't even finished converting The Tudors, Doctor Who, and a couple of others to the proper format for Pinnacle Studio to recognize them. Its kind of a pain in the ass, but its also all kinds of awesome. I'm amused that most masquerade ball scenes begin with an exterior shot of the structure with a horse carriage pulling up. Its kind of hilarious how similar the intros are.
Also, thanks to everyone who helped come up with masquerade ball videos! You guys are truly amazing!!

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I still haven't caught Capt Destructo on the camera, but it doesn't really matter to me, because this also means he's stopped messing with my yard. I've got a theory that the informant was also the suspect and so when I walked right up to his house and asked, maybe he got a little worried, or actually has a conscience or something.

Either way, hopefully its done. Camera still recording. Its kind of hilarious to watch what goes on in the hood all day while I'm gone. Like the part where my neighbor let his dog pee on my Archway. Awesome. And the part where one of my other neighbors rescued my yard sign from the wind. That was sweet. She's the same lady who got all pissed off when I told her kids they couldn't climb my tree, so its kind of cool to know she's not holding a grudge.

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Today my friend Abby is in town, and I'm going to happy hour with her and a few other friends. HURRAY! She's the sweetest girl in the world and I just love her to bits and the poor thing lost her mom not a month ago, suddenly, without warning and devastatingly. I start to tear up every time I think about what that must be like. I can't imagine. And poor Abby, she's a lot like me, she feels everything intensely and is a very emotional person. I can't wait to hug her to pieces.

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Tomorrow and Thursday is mad decoration time! I've got hardly anything done, and millions of things *started*. Kirsten is coming over Wednesday and we're going to power through some of it, hopefully. Pumpkins look out! :)

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My friend Mandy gets here on Friday! She's staying all weekend and I'm so excited to see her! Its always so much fun to be with her! We're going to go hiking at Great Falls and take pictures of the foliage and she's staying til Tuesday so we can all go see Henry Rollins at the Birchmere on Monday night. Can you imagine? Rollins the NIGHT BEFORE the Election? Holy crap. I'm stoked.

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Its supposed to SNOW tonight? Well, snow showers. Wow. I dont think I've ever seen snow here before January.

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I'm back to the gym full on this week. I've been slacking and only going once or twice plus yoga the last two weeks, and I can tell a marked difference in the way I feel. I worked my ass off last night, and I had the greatest calm settle over me when I was stretching at the end. Its like, I know I worked really hard and my body is going to be sore, but I did it for me and got some quality alone time in my head, and it was so refreshing. When I'm trying to talk myself into the gym, I always think about how hard the work is, not how good it feels afterward. I need to change that. Also, still losing weight, YAY! I have like, two pairs of jeans that fit me, though. I donated a ton of stuff to the Lupus foundation, and then found a ton more, so they're going to get a good haul when they come back in January. :)

PS, for anyone local, the Lupus Foundation picks up at your house, leaves you a receipt, and you can schedule a pick up on the internet. Also, they're working to find a cure or even a better treatment for a debilitating and awful disease that plagues two of my best friends family, and they need all the help they can get.

If you're cleaning stuff out of your house, they'd love to come take stuff off your hands.

Ok, PSA over. Also, update over, cause I can't think of anything else that's going on. I hope everyone is having a great Halloween week!

I don't appear to be sick anymore. Still have rumblies in my tumblies on occasion, but the worst part is all done now. THANKFULLY. :)

I bought a new seeing eye timer for the halloween lights. This one comes with a handy-dandy mount and is now firmly affixed to the brick of my house. Hope the little bastards won't go to that much trouble. Especially when they can just steal my hand made tombstones. Like the Dracula stone that is now gone.

When I was a kid, we had standards. We only messed with people who were mean, or who chased us or shouted at us. I'm none of those things. I'm nice to kids, even the ones who mutilate my trees. I don't run them over with my car or anything! Why they gotta mess with the good Halloween stuff?

Seriously.

Someone stole the little pluggy timer thingy that turns my halloween lights on when the sun goes down and off when it comes up.

Who the hell does that? It cost like $5 dollars, go buy your own!

Jerks. Two years ago, someone stole an electronic pumpkin.

If the kids in this 'hood aren't careful, I'm going to become that crazy old toothless lady with the shotgun shouting about stayin off my propertay.

Except for the toothless part.

I hope.