PS.

I finished Oliver's sweater AND the dressform. Check, check. I'm on a roll. Does that mean I'm allowed to start two new projects? Hmmm...I'm addicted to crafts...

Old Hollywood and designing my first dress

So this weekend I finally finished (basically) my dressform. Hooray! Check that off the list.

So now, I finally get to make use of it and build a dress from scratch. My design is loosely inspired by Cyd Charisse's green dress in Singin' in the Rain

and Leslie Caron's backup girls in An American in Paris:

(you have to go to 5:25 to see them...sorry this was the only video I could find that had them in it)

Anyway, that's my inspiration. It's going to be a black and white dress, with straps that overlap eachother and go out when you spin. The black goes on top of the white, so at the waist there's no white at all, and at the bust line, there's just a little bit between the two inch black straps that are verticle. I'm also thinking of beading the ends of the straps to give them more weight so they don't fly up all the time...

Here's a picture...(I love paint)

Follow-through

So, I have a problem. I love to start new things. It's the finishing part I'm not so good at...

I will now make a list of unfinished projects...this is going to be frightening:

knitting
--Oliver's sweater (this is almost done, I just have to weave in the final strands)
--Emily's twin's sweaters (Again, almost done, just have to be made up, and weave in the strands)
--Alex's sweater (one sleeve and the collar left, then make up and weave in strands)
--Oliver's mittens (one mitten almost done, just have to make the flap. Then have to start and finish the second)
--Lace dress from Vogue (no where near done...)
And then there are about five things I want to start, but haven't gotten around to yet

Sewing:
--Dressform (I've had it for months, and I still can't use it because I haven't fit the outer dress to me, to make it my size...but never fear, help is on the way this weekend in the form of my lovely sister, so hopefully it will be done.)
--curtains (They need to be hemmed...but now, if we move, we might want them longer, so that's just going to have to stay on hold for a while)
--various mendings (from Erin's sweater to the slit I tore to the point of indecency on a beautiful embroidered dress, about five or six all told)
--White dress (I've got the top half done, but I'm having so much trouble with the skirt that I don't want to work on it until I've got the dress form to figure out the drapping. Go figure. I can't finish a project until I finish a project)
--Chartreuse Silk Charmeuse 30's style pants. (I haven't started this, but I saw the silk and I envisioned 1930s glamor with those beautifl flowy pants...mmm. One of these days I'll get around to actually making it)
Various other small (and large) projects I've got the pattern and fabric for, but haven't started.

Other:
--Embroidery kit (half way through)
--book making materials
--photography set up


I don't think my problem is necessarily lack of followthrough, because I usually do get to these things...eventually (granted sometimes it's more than a year later). I think it's more the ADD in me that makes the idea of starting this new idea right away sound so appealing.

Perhaps I should limit myself to smaller projects for a while until I've widdled this list down to two or three....

Love,
Alex

Random Words

So I haven't done a writing exercise in a while. I googled "creative writing exercise" and came across a page that suggests writing for ten minutes with three random words that you are supposed to put together.

I used The Random Word Generator and got:

how
preference
and experiencing

And here I go!

John was walking down the street when he realized he didn't know how he'd gotten there. It was drizzling. Not hard rain, nothing that would actually get him wet. He looked up and the moisture that had accumulated on his eybrows drizzled down his temples.

He knew his name was John. John Waldorf. He knew that he was an insurance salesman. He knew his life was very orderly. He could remember everything that had happened before three hours ago. But now he was experiencing something new.

This was freedom! He didn't have to worry about his wife at home, he could just walk the wet streets. Let his feet take him wherever they would. He noticed some people holding hands, huddling under an umbrella. He thought how tied down they seemed. Forced to hide under the proetection, when he could walk anywhere. There was no need for any restrictions.

But that thought suddenly frightened him. He'd never felt capable of ignoring the rules of society. He liked coming home to his wife and dinner on the table.

As he thought of these things he slowly came to grips with his preference for the confined life that made sense to him.

As he came up to a phone booth, he crammed himself in, escaping the rain. He found a dime in his pocket and dialed his wife.

"Honey, I'm sorry I didn't call earlier. I'm on my way home now. Everything will be fine."

Built-In-Dreams

So as most of you know, Oliver and I are looking at houses and we've found one in the outskirts of Capitol Hill that we both love. Well, actually, Oliver loves it a bit more than I do...For me there's just something missing. Very hard to pinpoint. It needs a tree in the backyard and the space itself has been remodeled to the point where most of the original magic of a 1920s house has been erased.

When I expressed these concerns to my one and only, he explained why that appeals to him: it's a clean slate. We can do whatever we feel like with the space. Rather than having to deal with the poorly placed bookshelves that are so old they can't hold more than five books anymore, we can design our own.

And so, I started designing.

This is the tiny upstairs office. I was inspired by a built in desk I saw on one of Oliver's gigs.

This is the living room with a window seat looking out to the front porch. (Do you like my clouds?)

This one is the living room with a second wall (about 8-10 inches deep) to hold the TV, DVDs, etc.

Let me know what you think!

Love,

Alex

I love you Aaron Sorkin

Maureen Dowd's column this past Saturday was very emotional for me. "Why?" you might ask. Because it brought back a number of painful memories...namely the fact the President Bartlet was fictional, and President Bush was not. Oh, how I wished the reverse were true.

In her column, she asked Aaron Sorkin to write a scene between Senator Obama and President Bartlet. It was beautifully done, as is all of his writing. The characters came to life on the page, probably partially due to my infatuation with The West Wing and Senator Obama.

The conversation is witty, charming, at times very funny. But the whole thing left me wishing that President Bartlet had been our real President these past eight years. Even with all the mistakes he made (in the show). Who knows if this financial crisis would have still occured (probably), but I feel as though it would have been handled better. Now I feel like there's no one at the helm at all. Although I don't know if that's better than having someone steering us toward the danger accidentally, or not steering at all...

I know whatever happens it will be better. But I'd rather have it be a lot better with Obama than a few slight changes for the better with McCain. I want a 180, not a 10% difference.

And those are my thoughts.

Plus, when and where can I get more Aaron Sorkin? Anyone? Please? I'm going to have to go back at watch SportsNight, the first four seasons of West Wing, and Studio 60 all over again.

Love,
Alex

The New Me

So back in the day, when I was living at home with my beautiful mother, we shared so many things in common, espcially when it came to the teley. I remember rainy afternoons watching AMC (back when it was actually classics and commercial free) while snuggling in bed, or both of us dying for the next episode of Sex and the City or Gilmore Girls. There was very little that I wanted to watch that she didn't, and vice versa. Except for HGTV.

I never got the appeal. I would try. I mean, obviously we had so much in common that I must like this stuff somewhere deep down. But no matter how many shows I watched (except for Trading Spaces, the only one that ever had me hooked) I found myself uninterested. I didn't really care what these houses and gardens looked like before or after. I didn't need an ingenius new way to store laundry or hide my printer. I didn't have enough books to need to change the way they were organized.

But the strangest thing has come over me.

For the first time, last night, I actually wanted to watch HGTV. I wanted ideas and inspiration. I wanted to know what else was out there.

I watched an episode of House Hunters where a married couple were looking for a million dollar home in Vegas (which is ridiculously far from where we are both in terms of money and locale), but thought, ooh, how cool, the guy is the executive Chef at The Venetian, and his name is Olivier. It's like it's us! (roll your eyes here...)

And even though I didn't watch any episode all the way through, I still enjoyed it in a way I never have before. I find myself wanting to read decor blogs (my current favorite: Decorno. Funny and awesome, and generally a great time).

I knew it was in me somewhere. I just needed to have* a house to find it for myself.

love,
Alex

(*Of course by "have," I mean imagine having...but close enough...)