Pre-Estrella Adventures - So here's the past more-than-a-week in my life:

Mon Feb 4 - Preparation for Lyondemere Council included my final work on the baronial newsletter, and bringing the last draft for proofreading. This is also to say the newsletter was NOT done when I went to the meeting. Ah well. I had just decided this month I wasn't going to lose sleep for a newsletter: I worked on Festival of the Rose and time with family instead. But I had a good time at IHOP afterwards, and finished most of the proofreading.

Tue Feb 5 - The newsletter was finished and published, only 5 days late. Not my best, but very cute photos and several very nice articles. And for once, I actually went to bed early for a change. I'd originally had plans to enjoy dinner with Dave again, but he forgot it was Mardi Gras and had a dinner with colleagues instead.

Wed Feb 6 - My crowning achievement of the evening: "Surprise Cake" for Rae's birthday! Hee hee! I'd emailed her last week, and she was feeling ambivalent about her birthday coming up. So I emailed all the apprentice-night folks, and Renata emailed Rae's entire household, and in the end just Rick, Jon Thomme, and I were able to be there with Renata. But we thoroughly surprised her (in a good way). I gave her a little painted wooden box filled with dry period pigments (for making your own paint for illumination), all of which I bought at Gulf Wars in Mississippi last spring. I gave her a nice palette selection, almost a true rainbow, and kept the "boring" colors for myself at home. I'll order more pigments later. *grin*

Also, earlier in the afternoon, Lynn and Theresa had a moment of not quite "ganging up on me" but encouraging me to change my mindset about being single. I now have the idea that men can "leave their resume and headshots at the door, come over here for your screening, don't call us we'll call you if you've earned a callback audition." Because obviously anyone who could catch me would be seriously lucky to have me, so it's a very prestigious competition. Not just anyone can get an audition. *wink*

Thu Feb 7 - I spent a good portion of my day getting my calendars and my receipts/balances in order again, and REALLY felt good about it. However, I had to miss my shire monthly meeting because it was the only evening I had available for my hair appointment.

Fri Feb 8 - A work meeting that started at 1:30 pm didn't wrap up until 7 pm, which made my evening really frustrating at first. There's a synagogue near my work that Melissa (Meala) wanted to visit, and asked if I'd like to go with her, especially since there was an "all chocolate" fellowship social afterwards. How can I resist the chocolate? *wink* So I was 30-minutes late, but the synagogue was only about 2-3 blocks from work, which made the traffic easy to deal with. It was interesting to see how a different congregation has a different flavor. And according to Melissa, it was very similar to the kind of services that she grew up with. The "chocolate" social afterwards was really an entertaining chance to watch 11, 12, and 13 year old boys trying to hold massive numbers of candy bars in their pockets, jackets, and hands all at the same time. Very amusing!

Afterwards, I went to her house to finally eat dinner (she'd saved me a plate and even brought it with her, in case I wanted to eat immediately). I swung by the grocery store before going to her house, to pick up a bottle of wine to share with dinner, and did a bit of impulse shopping. There was a Best Buy 2 doors down from the Whole Foods, and my digital camera has been failing massively lately. Any extra light washes out people's heads, necks, bodies; I get grainy lines and purple hues; or the camera refused to even focus at all. So I knew that after 6.5 years, it was time to replace my faithful Canon Powershot ELPH SD100.

And after clearing all my bills and paying up or scheduling automatic payments into half of the next paycheck, I knew I had about an extra $300 this pay period. So I went right in, found the new Canon Powershot ELPH SD1000 (from the one hundred model to the one thousand model!), and an extra battery. The nice young salesman got all the pieces together for me while I went next door to buy the wine (because he had to wait for the manager with the key to the stock cupboard). Bottle of wine in hand, I came back, and *poof* bought my new camera. *squee* I'm so happy! My camera is amazing (cost half what my last camera cost 6.5 years ago), and is basically 10x better than my last camera.

So after dinner, while Scott, Ben, Saul, and Melissa were talking about a gaming adventure they're planning, I worked on embroidery while waiting for the battery to charge. And then I took cute test pictures of Erica, to check out the camera features. Would you believe they have a setting for "snow" on there? *laughs* It'll be a while until I need that setting!

Sat Feb 9 - Saturday I went and had brunch in Santa Monica with Ben, Erika, and Saul. We hadn't seen each other, just the four of us for socializing, in forever and so we'd made plans about two weeks ago to spend Saturday morning relaxing over brunch. It was a complete surprise to see them Friday night, since I wasn't originally spending dinner at Melissa's house. I had to stop at my office to work on a file first, so I ended up being late to brunch, but they had my latte and a bowl of fresh berries ordered before I got there. Afterwards, we went to a stationery store where Erica and Ben were looking at paper for their wedding invitations, and Saul and I browsed the bookstore next door, to pass the time until Erica and Ben were done with the paper shopping.

Saul and Ben had an evening engagement, so Erica and I went over to the Indian grocery store near her house that I'd visited last week before going to the Getty with my family. We got to have fun browsing and shopping, then sat down to a nice Indian lunch together. I dropped her off at home, then I went back to the office to finish the file from the morning.

In the evening, I went over to the Bardic Circle at Leslie (Cecilia)'s house that I'd been meaning to attend for months now. She specifically scheduled this one on a night I would be free, and although I got a little bit lost, I got there just a few minutes before Patrick (Pierre) and Brenda (Etienette). We sat and had some nice dinner that Leslie had made for everyone, and then joined Ciorstan and Nice Young Man (NYM) who's name escapes me for some music. Ciorstan had her guitar and dulcimer back from the shop, and amazed us with some wonderful playing and some great historical songs. NYM plays violin, and entertained us with both some improv, some historical music, and some of his own compositions. Etienette brought out her flute, Pierre had his 108 year old concertina, and they entertained us with some solo and duet instrumental music. Cecilia plays both the harp and piano (and had both there in her living room), and also played some amazing historical pieces for us. I was the only solo-vocalist there, without an instrument, and had to marvel at it.

Cecilia also had a microphone for her iPod and made recordings for Pren (Rosalie) who's moved to Colorado and misses all of us in the barony. So we recorded all kinds of material for Rosalie, and hopefully she enjoys her proxy attendance at the bardic circle.

For my part, I told the Turkish story and sang "Sunshine" and "Swordsman's Honor" from Bard of Caid; taught them to sing with me on the Kids' Caidan song I recently wrote; and taught them to sing with me my new Caidan Marching Song, "Fight For Caid." I attempted some guitar accompaniment to "Mara's Song" with open-tuning and mimicking the mandolin part I wrote for Bard of Caid, but that was my least accomplished song of the night. And Cecilia requested "First You Take a Sheep," which clearly I need to practice more often. *grin* It was a wonderful evening.

Sun Feb 10 - I finished two more work files in the morning, and then headed out to my grandparents, ostensibly for lunch. However, work ran longer than I expected, and then I completely missed the freeway intersection I needed, driving nearly 20-30 miles too far before I finally called for help figuring out why I'd missed them. Turned around, got there just fine, and had a lovely afternoon visiting with them. After lunch and several hours chatting, I got back on the road to head home and pick up my roomie from the airport.

My car's giving me some fear and trepidation lately, and I pulled off the freeway to consult on the phone with several car-knowledgeable friends. We concluded I probably have a wheel bearing that has gone out, and that the damage is already done. I could probably drive home safely (which I did), but I'd have to take it in as soon as possible.

Well, I completely misunderstood my roomie's itinerary, and she wasn't flying in Sunday, she was flying in Monday. So after an embarrassing moment of waking her up at midnight-Eastern, 9 pm-Pacific, asking her if she'd landed yet, I went to Adrienne's to laugh and debrief for a bit. They were watching a ridiculous TV-clips show, which was mesmerizing, and so I stayed for a couple hours longer than I was expecting. But I finished all the merino/silk I'd been spinning since November, and went home quite happy to have a Finished Object for my checklists.

Mon Feb 11 - Last night I got my laundry done in anticipation for this upcoming SCA camping trip, and started putting together my big packing items. Went and picked up the roomie and Tom from the airport, came home and finished packing. Ben picked up Jeff's truck (because Saul's is in the shop), and we loaded it with bedding, clothing, chairs, Coffee Bar, and most of my kitchen.

Tue Feb 12 - And today I finish my checklists, hurry home early, take the car to the shop and leave it with them for the week, and my roomie takes me to the Dudley's for final packing. Ben and I leave at oh-dark-thirty in the morning for Estrella.

At work, I explain this as a "big annual family reunion in Arizona." And since I'm seeing some of my friends from WI and MN (though not all! *sob*), it really is like a family reunion. The nerve-wracking part is doing the cooking for 18 people for 4-5 days. Ben and I feel the least prepared of any war camping trip we've ever attended. We're even doing a bunch of meal planning while driving, and shopping for food in Arizona. We have no place to pack the food in the truck before hand, so we just have to rely on what we find when we get there. Eeep.

All that to say I had to give you an update today, because I'm about to be out-of-state for a week. Oh, and because I love you -- I managed to get one set of photos done for you, before taking off for Estrella. Enjoy my Apprenticing photos.

With all my love, take care folks!
* * * * *
Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Ben and Leo and Bill. You rock my world.