Halloween

So, I really love Halloween. And this year, despite the fact that I was busy with play rehearsals, I managed to make the costume I wanted last year and couldn't find any where -- Alice in Wonderland.
That's the Cheshire Cat attacking me. Anyway, thanks to my Dressaday obsession, the night before Halloween, I suddenly decided it was absolutely necessary for the dress I had thrown together to have pockets. It was definitely worth it. That was one of my favorite things about it.

I was pretty proud of this dress because I didn't have a pattern, I combined a few and made stuff up, and it ended up working really well.

So, several people asked me if Johnny was dressing up as another Alice character, and despite my goadings to get him to be the mad hatter, he wouldn't. So he dressed up as nothing this year, not wearing nothing, of course, but with no costume. So sad.

I'm in a play!

Or rather, I was in a play. It closed on the 22nd. And I think it'll be the last play that I'm in for awhile. Mostly because I got back into theater to prove something to myself, and I have, so now I don't need to do it anymore. Granted, I still love performing, but I hate rehearsals and working with people who aren't as committed or serious as I am. And usually I'm done with the show before it even opens. So with the combination of fulfilling my goal and my distaste for the process, it's time for another theater break. Anyway, here are some pictures from the show.

Me, singing and dancing my heart out.

Me, not wanting to marry Johnny. It was fun to do a show together. We haven't done one together since high school. And then we didn't really interact with each other too much.

My sewing habit

So, one of the many reasons I have been busy lately has been that I have resurrected one of my oldest and most loved hobbies -- sewing. And after creating a skirt or two and fixing a few also, I decided to expand my horizon my trying a vintage pattern. I have discovered what I feel will be a deep and abiding love of 50s patterns, thanks to dressaday.com. My goal now is to be confused with June Cleaver and to ask myself "what would Doris wear" frequently. Here is my first vintage dress, the mockup in horrible Walmart cotton. (One day it will get the fabric it deserves).

I learned a lot from putting together this pattern, like old-fashioned button holes, fabric-covered buttons, and sleeve cuffs. It looks a lot better with a puffy slip under it, which I have acquired, so I get many more positive comments now.

So, since there was only minimal cussing when putting this together, I have decided it was worth it to try other patterns, and thanks to ebay, I now have a little stash of vintage patterns.

I have been sewing since I was a little girl. My mom taught me and the first thing I sewed was a handkerchief. I still lack the skill I need to do all the sewing I want, but I feel a lot better now that I'm sewing again. It's nice to have something to fill the void homework has left in my life. Now I can come home from work and have something to do!!

I'm alive

I promise. And I know, I need to be shot for not updating in months and months. And, of course, I don't have oodles of time to write now, but I thought I'd tell you what is coming in the next little while:

My sewing hobby resurrected
I'm in a play!
Halloween
The Passenger
and The Annual Pre-Thanksgiving day Feast

Most of them with pictures, which as you all know is why it is so hard to post. I really was going to update my blog this weekend, but Johnny was out of town with the laptop and the computer wouldn't turn on. All it would do was beep and me and flash on the screen that there wasn't a signal. So I'd turn it off and turn it on again, and that's all it would do.

So I tried people, I really did!

Bag Tag

Mostly this is just a good excuse to clean out my purse. My chiropractor will be happy that I'm getting rid of the extra stuff. So here it is in it's pre-clean glory:

I never thought that I'd be a big purse kind a girl, I have a lot of little purses, but I bought this one for my trip to Europe and I can just fit so much stuff in it, see:



Let's break it down by pocket.
Side pocket: chap stick (generic brand), key card for work, 4 bobby pins.
Front right pocket: 3 hair clips, 2 ponytail holders, 1 crochet hook, and a random tag from some shoe or something.
Other side pocket: keychain screwdriver, key to office, receipt for my co-worker's car problem (supposed to show that to my dad), 8 bobby pins.
Inside pocket (closest to camera): 5 playbills and tickets, 2 leftover passes from Johnny's last show, 1/4 sheet of blank paper, 2 map quest maps, one with notes from Stake Primary Meeting on it, last year's work Christmas quiz (2) and answer sheet (1), 2 audition monologues, 2 walmart picture packages with headshots, 2 empty gift card holders (used the gift cards a few weeks ago), the map to the outlet moll in Park City, legal pad with notes, Primary book, Stake Primary President numbers, yard scrap, Relief Society handouts, newspaper article about the differences between jam and its associates, letter from my missionary friend, 2 notebooks (my dream journal and a random one), 1 bobby pin, my current book (Prisoner of Trebekistan, very good, highly recommend it), random papers and notes, 3 pay check stubs, and 10 receipts.
Inside zipper pocket: stamps, coupons, shopping list, 2 addresses, and random notes
Other Inside pocket: sunglasses, gum wrapper, knee-high nylons that wouldn't stay up one day, cell phone, 3 packs of gum, small playdough, thumb drive, pen, 2 gift certificates to Costa Vida, business card, tickets, note, 2 parking hanging passes, small green blank piece of card stock, bottom of a lid of a drink (no idea how that got there, honestly), 3 drug bottles (fine, if you must know, Ibuprofen, Pamprin, and Loratadine), directions, old post-it notes, wallet, old but yummy candy, and 15 receipts.

Memories

Fine, I'll play

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments

At the risk of ranting commentators

So, I was perusing through the archives of A Dress a Day, and I came across this post in March of 2007.

http://www.dressaday.com/2007/03/i-missed-blogging-against-sexism.html

obviously, I couldn't add a comment, because it's well over a year old, but I thought about it all weekend and I do have something to say on the subject. I agree with Erin that although if anyone said this to me (I like it when women wear dresses), I would react with a (hopefully) gracious "Thank you" as if they were just giving me a complement, which is probably what they intended to do. But, if you think about it, they aren't really complementing YOU at all, since *my* appearance or dress or decision to wear a dress, isn't ever really mentioned in the phrase "I like it when women wear dresses". In fact, if you were to say "I really like it when people drink coffee" to someone holding a coffee cup, they would probably think "Okay, great. Why are you telling me?" So you see, it's not even a complementarily structured sentence, more like a personal opinion.

I agree with some of the commenters on dressaday, who say that it is sometimes difficult for men to say a well-meaning complement without the recipient feeling like they are being hit on. However, masking a complement in a blanket statement really makes it not a complement any more. "Nice dress" might be the way to go instead. Simple, you can say it while passing a person, which makes it not so much of a pick up line, also very much a complement.

That very obvious problem with this supposed complement aside, I do think there is something sexist in the comment. And although it may be unintentional, that doesn't make it any less wrong. I'll draw the analogy to racism for a moment, if I could (of course I can, this is my blog).

If a well intentioned person said about a Black man's success, "I'm so glad he was able to overcome his natural lazy tendencies", does their genuine happiness for the Black man make the statement less racist? No, of course not. And the well meaning person who said it may have no idea that what they just said was a racist statement. Does that make it any less racist? No, of course not. The person didn't mean to imply that Black people are inferior to white people or that segregation was a good idea. They were simply trying to give a complement. Does that make it any less racist? No.

The point, of course, being that it doesn't matter if you consciously understand all the implications behind a statement like "I like it when women wear dresses". It is still sexist. Does that mean if you say that to me, I will launch into a feminist rant that will last twenty minutes and leave you never wanting to talk to women again? No, of course not. But awareness is a huge part of the solution. Ignorance is not an excuse for anyone to be sexist (or racist for that matter). With some things it's important to keep up with the times. So if you know someone who makes statements like "I like women who wear dresses" or "I'm so glad that person was able to overcome their obvious racial defects", it is probably a good idea to gently say to them that the statement they just made was sexist, or racist. And then explain why. Well-intentioned folks will probably be willing to rethink or re-evaluate their paradigm so as not to give offense to others when they are just trying to be well-intentioned.