These guys rock!  The show was great, and they’re from my home town.  Woot! Woot! Go Chicago!  In addition I would like say that they are super nice, totally willing to pose with their drunk fans… (A.K.A me that night).  We had a great time, and definitely plan on trying to catch them while we’re in Chicago in August.

This was my attempt at being artistic.  I like the shot, but I won’t lie; it was just an off chance that I got it, we were busy having fun, not really taking pictures.

This is almost the same one that Jen took during SXSW this year.  We saw them at Karma Lounge on one of the last evenings.  That too was a great show.

Sometimes when you give Jen whiskey, she gets mean.

Image from Creating Passionate Users

You know how M and I decided that we were going to enjoy men like we enjoy food, well it would be nice if they had some sort of expiration or “best if used by” date.  Last night we had CSA Friday with Owen’s dad and the scientist.  [As usual, we made a mountain of insanely good food.]  Anyways, the scientist had requested hummus and we had a long debate over the shelf life of tahini.  It had been living in the fridge for over a year since it was opened, but it smelled fine (Believe me, rancid sesame is not a good smell).

This morning while I debated the need to stay in bed vs. the need for coffee I pondered the whole, “How do you know when it’s over?”  There’s no expiration date, bad smell or curdling to look for.  There’s no pop up timer, or life meter (or game over for that matter).

Any suggestions or signs to look for?  If any of you says, “you just know,” I will send one of my people over to kick your ass.

Refinished maple nightstands

After a few responses to the last post I decided I needed to make an effort at digging myself out of this rut.  I am still in time out, but I need to be productive.

For those of you who don’t know (or haven’t been paying attention), the one place I can work uninterrupted is in my garage.  It’s hot as fuck in there right now, but no one messes with the projects in there.

Since the house has been on the market I have refinished a vintage metal bed frame and stained a pair of nightstands. Today I came home and started destroying refinishing my dresser.  I’ve had it since elementary school.  It moved to Texas with me in ‘94 and I decided to paint it green (I was in a rut then too).  The plan is to remove the green paint and restore it to it’s former walnut stain finish.

Stay tuned.

People say that home is where the heart is.  Sadly I am feeling rather vacant in that area.  Home has been my car and an assortment of places I have keys for (BTW if I haven’t said it enough, thank you for giving me keys to your houses).  I am becoming a product of this sterile environment that I return to everyday after work.

For the last 4 months I have been living in a store display.  Apparently to sell a house, the house has to be lived in, yet void of life.  I have to say that living in a store display is taking it’s toll.  Personal items are stashed away in drawers and boxes.  My sewing gear is mostly packed away because I don’t want people touching it (Note to visitors: It is not appropriate to touch a seller’s personal belongings, nor should you use their bathrooms).  Books and DVDs are in the closet to avoid clouding anyone’s judgement on the purchase of my home.   I can’t even cook here.  People looking at houses do not have the same appreciation for the smell of butter and garlic that I do.  The longer the house is on the market the less it feels like home.

Today I went to work on the verge of a meltdown (If you know me, you know I don’t have breakdowns often).  I told my boss that I was going to stay in my office and put myself in time out. Why?  I knew it was a bad day when I dropped the f-bomb within 5 minutes of entering the building.  I was pissed. I busted ass and spent a rather large sum of money to have the interior of the house painted. Why?  To encourage a hasty sale of my home.  Sadly, the open house on Sunday drew in a single buyer and they weren’t interested.

Normally, I don’t bring personal into the business place but after 4 months of living in a store display I can’t keep it together.  I thought after 2 days of virtually nothing but chick flicks I had cried enough tears to feel too exhausted to be angry.  Instead I spent the day pissed off and listening to punk rock.

After work I decided that it was in my best interest to go to one of my temporary homes (the one with the streaming videos on demand) and chill out.  I watched a film (I think it should be categorized as a film) about a dysfunctional family, “Rachel getting married.”  I was crossing my fingers that it would numb the anger.  Otherwise I was going home and breaking dishes in the back yard. It wasn’t until now that I fully understood what was meant by this quote from High Fidelity. :”… I want to feel something else than this. It either that, or I go home and stick my hand in the fire.”

Yes, it’s come to that.  I told my mom that this house thing is making me crazy.  If I hadn’t just blown a ton of money on painting the house I would have a month and a half of rent in the apartment I should have been living in by now.

So what’s next?  No fucking clue.  I cannot afford rent and a mortgage. I appreciate the offers but I do not want temporary housing.   I do not want to unpack until I am in a new place.

I have a coworker that has been dating a guy for 5 years and currently lives with him.  His title, “manfriend”.  I use this word quite a bit.  Yenta finds it amusing.  I told her it was a convenient term to use, it’s also more PC than saying “dude I’m sleeping with”.  Besides, the last person to hold the title of “boyfriend” soiled it for future use.

According to the Urban Dictionary

Manfriend
-someone who you hook-up or have sex with but specifically are not dating.

-A male significant other that possesses a higher level of maturity than the typical “boyfriend”. It is usually a term used by women that have very high standards in a relationship and do not have the patience to tolerate immature bullshit.

I spent the majority of the weekend camped out on the couch with unlimited streaming movies.  Why?  Because my place reeks of paint fumes and it is still on the f-ing market. Oh, and technically I was house/cat sitting.

Left to my own devices I managed to plow through 8 movies.   Most of which were total fluff.  One of them may have been considered a film, but I doubt it.  Day 1:American Pie 2, Penelope, Broken English, Carolina,  and 10 Things I Hate About You.   I OD’d on chick flicks.  I told M that I needed some scotch and an action flick or something to undo all of that.  Instead we got wine drunk and walked downtown with 2.0 to dance it off with the Hood Internet.

Day 2:  I left M’s around noon-ish and was craving cheese (Note to self, do not order a vegan burger after a night of drinking.  Order the f -ing grilled cheese.  Note to late night establishments, fries should be crisp, salty, greasy and still contain soft potato insides).  I stopped at the Target on the way “home” for milk, Amy’s Organic shells with white cheddar and  managed to consume it all during  the course of three movies… Julie and Julia, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Harold and Maude.

I have to say that the concept of unlimited streaming movies sounds like a good idea.  I am not sure who is out there selecting the movies to be screened. If you know who they are, please inform them that there should be more films, and less crap.

IMG_0298, originally uploaded by Limorama.

Today, on my way home from school, I had to stop out in the country. I had a little errand out there. But, dear readers I just wanted to share this pic with you.

I always travel with my D60… Except for when I go to school. This was taken with my iPhone. It got me thinking… I’m starting to get the travel itch (bug).

Don’t get me wrong, I love Austin, but I need a weekend in the country or something like this. How lovely is this picture. I pulled over on the side of a country road and just snapped a few with the phone.

Man, Texas is beautiful country.

DSC_0126, originally uploaded by Limorama.

We went last week to see Tokyo Police Club open for Passion Pit.   Jen wrote about it a bit here.  They were great! I haven’t seen TPC in years. They sounded great, I guess the sound guy likes them. However, Passion Pit had a great energy, but did not sound so good. The guys were together and all that, but, it was way bass heavy.

Let’s just say that Jen and I got to be a little fun that night. We ended up getting a ride home from a friend (we took the car-to-go to get there) and as we pulled into my driveway, Jen and I started to go through his CDs.

Suffice it to say that Jen now thinks he’s a shoe-gazer lesbian because he listens to Tegan and Sarah. Ha! (Sometimes I’m sure that my stories would be more funny if you were actually there.)

I might make the clothes but M is definitely the more fashionable of the two of us.  Here she is sporting the “Chairman Mao Mu’umu’u”  from my Smoke House Dresses line.  The design was based on this dress from Browns Fashion and the dress was made from a polyester house dress.

M has been around for most of my semi-pro sewing career.  She has inspired a lot of my work and has definitely pushed me towards being a better designer.

Thanks M for being my “Tim Gunn” for the Smokehouse Dresses line.

Designer Jen Delk, originally uploaded by Scout.

Here’s one of Jen. She doesn’t show up on camera that much, but I like this one.  She made this dress along with 3 others.  Here’s the link to her post on spinsta.net.