Happy Birthday Dr. J!

J's birthday was last Tuesday, but because life is weird and sometimes irritating, he had to give an exam and then help grade hundreds of physics tests.  On his birthday. Until almost midnight.  We're still winding down from dissertation time, and our celebrating of his birthday has melted in the post-diss lazy reading time.  That's all he wants to do.  We've gotten almost 400 pages into Game of Thrones*.

Tree decorations

J outside the porch, under home-made bunting and stars

Decorations during the party

I LOVE the way the decorations came out, but I'll admit they were created from a mind too lazy to drive to the store for streamers.  Years ago I bought a giant pad of rainbow-colored construction paper, and I've done several party themes with it.  Construction paper, string, tape, that's all I need when I'm really driven to do something.  I like the little flag buntings I've seen on Etsy**, and it really was very simple.  I'd like to try one made of fabric, too.

I've made a few of these Mother's Day Brooches from Holidash, but so far they haven't come out as nicely as the creator's.  I've been felting instead of gluing, and my beginner felting skills may have something to do with that.  It's definitely good practice.  I'm making the one above for my mother-in-law, but I'm working on a blue one for my mom.  I've decided to do a variation on the one above, using rounded petals and a few sequins peaking out at the base of each petal.  We'll see.  I don't see her until tomorrow, so I have a little time to experiment.

If it works, I'll post a little tutorial here.  Of course, all my thanks goes to Holidash for doin' it first.  I found a lovely wildflower in my yard yesterday (isn't it weird when you find one you've never ever seen before?) but it's not open yet, so I'll use this one as a model:

The white part at the base will be ice blue sequins from this project.

*Forgive me linking to a review of the show.  I just figure if you don't read fantasy, watching an episode of the show is more likely to start your engine for reading this book.  I'm hopefully obtuse when it comes to fantasy, and I usually need to be tricked into reading it.

**Miko Designs is a really fun blog.  This lady has the best parties ever for her daughters.

Starts and Stops

Once again, I'm feeling the drag of J's advisor halting progress.  What do you do when you can only get your advisor's attention for 15 minutes a week and they won't write your rec letters or even let you know they haven't done them yet? J's feeling pretty sheepish, as his (now) top choice asked for letters probably two weeks ago, and we're still not sure she's got them all.  He had to send her an email making sure she got them, because his letter writers won't respond to his emails about whether or not they will/have written them.  Grrr.  But-- it was the end of finals week last week, so I should have patience.  I just hate to see him get down about it.  Things got exciting for a few days and then shut down.

In other exciting news, our landlord has dropped another bomb on us.  In September, we had actual contact with him when our A/C went out and he casually told us he was thinking about using our home as leverage in a custody battle.  "I figured I'd let my wife live here rent-free, and her lease is up in June."  Yeah, only slightly horrifying.  Renters' Rights in Arkansas are pretty grim, so we had a huge garage sale and sold off maybe 1/3-1/2 of our belongings just in case he got even flakier and we got the boot.  The idea of moving and then having to move again in 6ish months was horrifying.  We decided to get lighter.

Before that  there was talk of him selling the house, which was OK since our neighbors were interested (and intent on keeping us as tenants).  That fell through when the divorce started and he never returned their calls (after they had already paid for home inspections).  J. says we're probably good because nothing moves fast and the landlord is flaky, but I don't want to count on someone being flaky in a way that is beneficial to me.

Talk is back on about him selling off his properties, and luckily the neighbors are thinking about trying to buy the house again.  I got mad at J. last week for seeming to be cavalier about our possible eviction, but he was just way too stressed/depressed by the rec letter quagmire.  Can we just get out really soon?

The current plan is finish the thesis in March, defend in April, all done by May.  And somewhere in there find a job.  I don't know what I can do at this point but be optimistic.  This blog has helped that last bit dramatically.

In happy-go-lucky news, I had a kick-ass birthday party on Friday that made me forget about my birthday blues earlier in the week.  Here are some pictures, taken by my photographer friend:

My amazing sis-in-law

I love how I look like a tarty cherub in this shot.

Our bathroom has really good light, so eventually everyone came in for some group shots.

Detail of decorations

We forgot birthday candles, so Jonathan obliged with his lighter.

My sis and her new boyfriend. It was hard to find the cutest picture, because they are disgustingly wonderful together.

All in all, it was the best party I've ever had.  My sis-in-law and best friend helped me deck the house out in pink streamers and aqua Christmas balls and decorate a corner just for photos (seen above).   There was a glitch in the karaoke system (namely a microphone and amplification) but we remedied it with a hairbrush and really enthusiastic singing.   The rest of the night was taken up with Framboise floats and photo shoots and chocolate tort.  No one got sick. No one got sad. Everyone got hugs. Then everyone went home.

Party time!

It must seem like I've been having a birthday for a week, because I have.  I cannot let a year pass without a big party (heck, not a few months can pass) and my birthday never gets left out, even if I have to wait a week afterwards.  Finals will be over (a LOT of my friends are still in grad school) so everyone can come.  My sister-in-law arrives today, and we'll have the party on Friday.  I've been into color themed parties lately, so this one will be pink and aqua.  I purchased a Betsey Johnson dress in Portland (lapse of sanity and finances) and need more chances to wear it:

Mine's a little lighter, but pretty much the same. Is it cold right now? Of course! But fancy dress and costumes wait for no weather.  I'm going shopping for decorations soon, and I think I'll just do lots of streamers in my theme colors and some little white lights going around the perimeter of the room.  

There'll be champagne punch, framboise floats, and lots of snacks.  A friend is lending his projector and screen so we can do big karaoke in the living room.  

Pic from last birthday-- for some reason, this really brought the house down.

Some snacks from last year.  My of my friends are excellent cooks, so they bring great things.

The husband, who I will refer to as J. from now on because "the husband" sounds kind of mocking, got me a pair of super super super warm cycling gloves, but even better, he's really going at it with applications and letters, and that makes me happier than anything.  It's really starting to come true.  Will I actually need to rock this birthday party like it's my last one in town?  I avoided a mention of that in the invitations, because I'm pretty sure I said that last year.  Don't want to jinx it.

Birthday Blues

Dunno why, but I'm pretty down about my birthday this year. Must've been too much planning/anticipation. Is it a sign of getting older? My dominant feelings have been self-loathing and paranoia.  I try to keep staring at the pleats of my new dress trying to feel more positive, and I don't want to announce my birthday like usual. The best thing would have been to get out of work today, but I did not foresee this dark mood.

Better notes: a friend took marvelous pictures of my sculptures, past and present, this weekend.  Here they are if you'd like to look.  I am at least one step towards a "portfolio", though I don't know what I'll do with it or who will look.

I got a new dress from a crazy Airstream vintage store. Really, a motorhome with awesome dresses in it.  When my sister told me, I said it was probably a psychopath trying to trap fashionable young women, and she'd better watch out.

My incredibly awesome sister-in-law will be in town for my party on Friday. She is a party all in herself: bartender, feminist, works at a rape-crisis hotline, teaches at a girl's rock-n-roll camp, she's in a noise band, another band called Whore Paint, is covered in tattoos and loves me to death.  Oh-- and her band, Made in Mexico, is featured in a secret level of Guitar Hero 1.  You can find videos on youtube* of people playing it and complaining about how damn hard it is. <3 <3 <3

This is a video of her playing with the band Whore Paint:



Most of my tattoos happened under her influence.  She has a different name in every state.

*Mind, this is people playing it really badly.

The results are in! Down with Trailing, Up with Traveling!

The results of my highly scientific and well-read poll are in:

First Place: Traveling Spouse
Second Place: Sidecar
Honorable Mention: Accompanying Spouse

Granted, there were only 9 votes.  I've now changed my blog title. Unfortunately, "trailing spouse" is still the go-to keyword in searches.

Good news too!  My husband wrote three letters to researches in his field, and is having his advisor help him fine-tune them.  That means this week, there will the THREE irons in our fire, and I am so happy about it.  He seems way more upbeat than usual, and that makes the whole house brighter.  Where, you may ask? Well, I won't get too specific, but France, Wisconsin and Ohio.  I've only been to one of these places, and it was at a rest stop (no, it wasn't France).

My boss is gone the first two days of this week, and though that may seem like time to drool on my keyboard, I got a few hours of major stuff done this morning.  I'm hoping to have enough stuff done while she's gone to make her ok with the fact that she had to come back.

Only two days left in November! December is my birthday month, as well as my father's. I make a big to-do about my birthday.  My excuse is that so many people don't care about their birthday, so their latent birthday excitement is pulled into mine by it's strong gravitational pull.  I've got a dress to wear, but for some reason beyond me my heart is asking for a tiara.  I am going to honor that need.