Swaptastic

I did it again. I signed up for another swap! Now, while I'm super proud of what I made for my partner, I've already written up the post about what I got.

"I received!! FINALLY! I had Meleriffic send to my office instead of house and while it's definitely more secure (last package I had sent to my house was stolen from my doorstep), it takes a lot longer to get through the office mail. ANYWAY! OMG! Image overload, coming your way.

When I opened the package I was talking to a coworker and both of our reactions were immediately "Whoa". Meleriffic, you out did yourself, completely. I was a little overwhelmed, still am really, but I love it ALL. I'll start with the group shot:


So I had to explain most all of this to my coworker, but then a fellow geek walked by and threatened to steal most of it. Let's see how much you guys can recognize without the explanations.

First up! The dice bag! I play DnD and while I already have a dice bag, I know this one won't go to waste. It actually is the perfect size for a crochet project bag, so my cat get at the pieces. That, or I will actually need a bigger dice bag soon. I keep getting more somehow. The quote on it is from Discworld, which I LOVE and i laughed so hard when I read it the first time. More when I read the note explaining everything.

Out of what looks like the same sweater she made me arm warmers for at work (someone refuses to let it get above 60 in here). I put them on and haven't taken them off since. It's been a super stressful week and "Don't Panic" in big, bold, friendly letters on my arm is exactly what I need right now.

Melerific did a lot of research on my DnD character and I think one of the things to come out of that research is a completely adorable set of dice hangers. It's a D4 and D8 and while I can't put them in the car cause the dog will eat them.. they're on my monitor as I type.

So this is amazing. My DnD character, Ed, who is a wizard with a thing for pirate hats and fire, in all her glory, embroidery style! The detail on this is amazing and I already have may too many places I want to put her. I could put her on a quilt, on the back of a hoodie, frame her, make her a pillow.. the possibilities are endless and I LOVE THE DETAIL! It's exactly how I imagined her! The material is a bit creased from travel and I didn't have anything to really stretch it out, so this picture just doesn't do it justice.

Onto the Mario goodness! First off, stitch markers! These are completely adorable. I never actually have had stitch markers before, I always end up using bits of yarn and I hate it. But now.. my knitting projects are going to be done in style! Woot!

I would have to say that this one is in my top 5 for this swap (I can't decide on a number one..). It's a Rubix cube with pictures from my favorite animes of all time. I've already had it wander off in the hands of various coworkers. It's got Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Trigun, Totoro, Full Metal Alchemist, and Howl's Moving Castle pictures for the sides. I refuse to let anyone mix it up.. I love it too much. They can mix up the normal one I already had at my desk, heh. I'm going to definitely copy this idea for a future swap, hehe.

If I had to pick one thing that just made me completely squeal from this package, this would definitely be it. I can't stop hugging it and grinning wildly. She made me my own Poporing from Ragnarok Online. I can't tell you how many of these adorable little guys I've killed to get their rares or exp from.. and how many I had as pets in game. I know I mentioned them in the questionaire, but not this specific breed of one.. and it is by far my favorite in the game and she made it perfectly! He's in my lap right now and I still can't stop hugging him! I'm spamming my old guild mates with images of it now to make them jealous.

Okay this next one is just amazing and I've had to beat off a few coworkers to keep it at my desk. It's a Mario castle with figures from the games. The effort that went into this is amazing and it's completely perfect. She burned into the wood to give it a real brick look and texture. It's the right scale for the figures and I really want to play Mario now, damnit! It's now perched on the file cabinet above my desk.

Okay, I just have to pause and say Melerific really did out do herself. Just completely. I really want to finish everything that I started and didn't have time to finish and ship it to her.

Okay, two more. More Mario! (I really love Mario.. like really. The midi files from the original are all my ringers and alarms and stuff.) I was in love with this box before I even opened it or knew what it was. And then I opened it and a few other wrapping and learned it was a Zen garden! With an amazing Mario scene painted on the inside of the lid. I'm really hesitant to open the sand and put it in there (I knock things off my desk a lot), so think I'm going to use it as a candy/goodie box instead. I hope that's okay? Either way I LOVE it.

Okay, I'm saving the most amazing one for last... the picture! She had her friend draw my DnD character for me and then framed it in this amazing frame. It's EXACTLY what I described and pictured Ed as, down to the letter. Just completely love it. I'm going to take it home and put it in my library, front and center so I get asked about it.

This package was too much and I LOVE it all. I dare say that this is the best swap package I've ever gotten. She nailed me exactly and I really want to hustle up and finish all the other stuff I started for her now, hehe. Thank you sooooooooooo much Melerific!"





Love, Peace and Mario Madness!
Tar

Yes, I Do Own a Dress

And heels too.

Cisco was added to the Dow Jones recently to replace GM. To celebrate my friends and I decided to dress up and hit the town in style. When I mentioned to the organizer that I was planning on attending and would have to pick what to wear, he said something along the lines of "Oh, I mean, don't worry too much about it. I mean, do you even own a skirt?" The only reply to this was, of course, to glare and vow that I would not only show up in a skirt but I would do him one better and arrive in a dress. Accessories, as well. He used this knowledge to fuel other people to dress up as well, stating simply "Even Tiffany is wearing a dress!" Now to the pictures.


From left to right: Shaun (coworker, Donovan's twin, one of "the boys"); Stephine (Virgina's roommate); Ben/Lodi/White Ben (coworker, one of "the boys"); Virgina (coworker, photographer, friend); Me; Dennis (organizer, coworker, friend); .. some guy.. Alex? (coworker, I think).


This is my (and most everyone's) favorite picture of me from the party. She took it when I wasn't paying attention, obviously, and the funny thing is the one right after it where I posed was HORRIBLE. It's now my profile picture a lot of places.



We went to iHop afterwards for the after-party and "omg I'm starving" get together. I've never been to an iHop with 18 people cramming into seating meant for 12 before. It was hilariously fun. My camera was one of the only ones left by this time and it got passed around a bit. When I got it back and took the pictures off, I was pleased to find gems like this one. This is my favorite picture from the whole iHop adventure. Brian (just met him that night) is the guy right up in the shot and Venkat (softball "manager") is standing. I think I asked him something about ties to get him to turn and look at me.. I'm not sure, but I do know that sometime near when this picture was taken, we all stole the guy's ties and practiced tying them. I was the only female who had some prior knowledge.


No, I did not wear those shoes the whole night. I drove, as usual, and was smart enough to toss my flip flops in the back of the car before we left. I wore heels most the night.. my calves were sore the next day/that day (I didn't get home until 4:30). There are a lot of awesome things going on in this picture. All I have to add is that yes, Shaun is most always that amusing.


Last but not least, that picture. I have no idea what Josh (Sonia's husband & my Yahoo! softball teammate) was telling Ben(/Katie/Asian Ben, coworker & one of "the boys"), but I do know that I couldn't not take a picture of him telling it.

So I just realized that I mentioned a LOT of stuff that you guys may or may not already know. Like I have a group of guys that I hang out with that I refer to as "my/the boys", that I play on a Yahoo! softball team, that I rarely wear skirts (okay, you knew that already), or that I got a new tattoo (did ya notice it in one of the pics?). I'm going to try and get better, I swear, about updating. What you don't realize is that I've been writing bits and pieces of blog posts and saving them as drafts to come back to later. I just never seem to come back to them.. I'll try, though.

Peace, Love, and thank you Aunt Jeannie for turning me on to White House/Black Market!
Tar