Rillybean's ramblings

I'm Alive Again!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:38:33 GMT

Eyes On You!

So much has happened over the last month or so. I've had a nice week of relaxation now and back to getting going again.

A small recap:

1) Job ended Aug 7th. I got my severence last Friday and it was larger than expected. I'll be good until the end of the year even if I don't find a job. If you know somewhere hiring with benefits and decent salary let me know :)
2) Looking for a roomie. $750 + 50% utils a month in the Kerrisdale area. Comes with own room (large), furnished (large closet too), own bathroom and parking. Has to be able to deal with my sewing projects exploding into the common areas from time to time. Ideal location for UBC goers since it's right on 41st. ALso easy to get downtown on the 22 bus
3) InnoSera is over. Almost all good feedback and some helpful wishlist / comments for next year. Yes there will be a next year. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright were super happy afterwards as was DollHeart and Elfdoll. I hope all three come back next year.

Stuff going on now:

1) Sewing yay! I'm almost done a skirt (just the waist ties left to sew so I can wear the skirt for now). Got to replace the lace once I find something suitable. Halfway done a jumperskirt, just need to finish the shoulder straps and sew the skirt piece to the bodice and then the zipper. Got to make some all purpose detachable bows in various sizes and colours.
2) Got me a fancy hairdo today. Well just chopped it off really. I'd been too busy and lazy to get a haircut in about a year so it was uber long and just plain jane straight. now it's shorter and spunky! Washing my hair takes a fraction of the amount of shampoo it did before too! Pics below!
3) Finally starting my booklet of cute drawings. Will bring to DCon with me to work on. My goal is to fill the darn thing up by the end of the year and give it as a prize or X'mas gift. Not sure yet which it'll be.
4) DCon is coming up and I'm excited. If you're going to be in Atlanta for it let me know. I'll be at Jess' (DA: mistressofspam) bazzar table all lolita-ed up (and hopefully with hair like today if I can wield the flat iron well enough to curl it)

PicSpam below! (well 2 pics)

Old hair (and new skirt!): New Hair (and old skirt!):

And one last pic of hair closer and a goofy pic of me XD

BTSSB Coming to InnoSera!

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:23:17 GMT

Woo finally contracts signed!

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright will be at Innocente Seraphim this year! I'm so excited. Baby is one of my fav brands and getting the change to talk to them in person and buy their clothes on site on top of seeing their fashion show has me totally stoked!

That being said, pre-reg was supposed to end earlier but because of the late announcement it's been extended to the 25th!

Hotel rooms can't be booked through the site and if you call you won't get the uber cool rate but we did snag a few extra rooms so email contact@innocenteseraphim.com if you'd like one. They're limited in number so act fast!

Programming Schedule et al can be found on the InnoSera website. http://www.innocenteseraphim.com

AA is closed but if you're desperate PM or email me and I can see what I can do. Exhibitors is still available though.

InnoSera and Halp!

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:53:55 GMT

InnoSera (http://www.innocenteseraphim.com) is just around the corner. I'm starting to get super busy between that, strata council and the upcoming ginormous 2.2 mil project for the complex, Dragon Con planning, local meet and smoozing for the con as well as family matters and of course the job hunt.

Halp! Halp!

The help I need though is to spread the word! The hotel room block isn't filled yet for Aug 7 and 8th nights and we really need to fill those! So if you know anyone who'd like a nice comfy stay at a 5 star hotel on those dates as a get away or a shopping trip or heck even romantic weekend with your sig. other.... book before tomorrow 5pm and get a great $139 a night rate. There are still some 2 bed rooms left too but those tend to sell out faster so grab them while you can! After Sat the rates go back to normal and you're going to be paying around $179 - $200+ for the rooms.

Either call the hotel at 1-888-627-8084 and use the CODE: "Innocente Seraphim" or book online through this link:

http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0901084712&key=BAE78

Any help at all would be appreciated. We're only about 25 room nights short on Sat and about 20 on the Friday. By all means stay the Sunday too if you want. the rate extends out that far for sure :)

Onto other things...

Some may already know but the centre here in Vancouver is closing. I finally finished updating my resume and started really looking for jobs now. Should be interesting to see what I can get. That being said it makes my time even tighter between job hunting and interviews. I'll have a bit of leeway with severance and probably EI but to be honest i don't want to go on EI (never have been) and my serverence I want to use on debt and possibly if InnoSera runs into the red this year, to help offset that a bit.

If you know anywhere that's hiring for a scheduler or a WorkForce Management Analyst let me know. I can also do event planning and supervisor work since I've done those in the past as well.

Long journal, yes indeedy.

Mon, 25 May 2009 19:31:31 GMT

Lots of stuff happening...some good some bad some so-so but it's a long post - so you have been warned!!! Yeah I know..I like to store it all up and then send out a mega update lol

Let's start off with the not so good. Probably anyone who's close already knows I'm out of a job come Aug 7th. I get a nice chunk of money for severance and extended medical out until the end of the year. Any stock and options worth any money i'll cash out at the same time. I'll stick a bunch onto my line of credit nuking one and taking a sizeable chunk out of the other. Saves me about $300 a month overall so it's good adn that $300 saved means less worry for me. My other line of credit is only about $200 a month so that's fine.

What does this mean? well I'm not really sure what I want to do to be honest. Likely in August if I don't have a job lined up for September I'll be packing my stuff up, looking into storage costs for my furniture (the nice stuff and antique stuff) and moving out. Renting out my condo should take care of the mortgage, maintenance and my bills (no more hydro or cable modem so it's just my cell phone, MSP, Food and gas) I can probably start working on the side business more and then also maybe go back to school part time and put a language really under my belt. Alternatively I can just pick up and get a job somewhere....maybe just a partime one for extended medical.

I've been mulling it over for weeks really. I have a trip to Atlanta over Labor Day, so I don't really want to start work until after that. If I get a full time job I'd want one that pays about the same (around 58-60k a year) but the idea of moving out and working part time or going to school seems really tempting. Also for the fact I have more flexibility to go on holidays. But if you know anyone hiring someone for event planning or for WorkForce Management (scheduling) let me know :3 I really should work at least find something part time or work for VanOC or something to tide me over the holidays...

Onto the better stuff. My b-day is just around the corner. Thinking next Sunday (the 7th) going to do the family thing and get it out of the way since the weekend after my b-day is AE. Yllyor bought me a super cool dress form (which I managed to break a plastic part already but just need to buy some super glue and it should be fine...or something that melts plastic together like epoxy or something). I bought myself 2 pairs of shoes (one pinkXwhite heeled sweet lolita shoes and a flat pair of Sax blue tea party-like shoes) and found a Corioliss pink limited pro ceramic hair iron/curler/wave for only about $40 CND (yay eBay). I also bought myself a custom sized AP Chandelier replica since I'll never fit into the brand item XD oh well. That's about all I bought myself which is cheaper than what I bought myself last year (2 dolls)

Funnily enough I haven't gotten a hint as to other gifts yet. My sister ( the middle one) asked me what I wanted. I have no idea really other than random stuff, and gift cards. My cousin hasn't mentioned anything even though I was over at her place for post mother's day dinner (though she did lend me the most awesome book - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - quite entertaining if you ask me). My mum is keeping quiet though to be honest she helps me out enough over the year and I know she'll be helping with the new apartment deposit so I really don't want her spending more money. As it is it should work out that I'll have about 15 grand to put into the deposit if I play my cards right. AE shouldn't cost me much at all and DCon is pretty much paid up for except for food.

Ack AE >.< - I haven't finalized the AE booth yet but this week I'll be building the mock up once I clear enough space in the living room to pull out the grids and clamps. I found my Opus gift card as well so I may pick up some more foam core to do a bit of work on the backdrop. I may ask Wally to bring Max's tea time signs and boards to fill up the dead space as well. She's bringing a small table with her and I have my nesting tables. I already have the garden chairs and fabrics to drape so it should be ok. I'll have some nice lolita to wear all three days this time at least and a dress form to show off some of the clothing. The only thing I'm really behind in is the fortunes. I haven't finished the new ones for this year but will be adding in a mix of the old stuff since there are a lot of people who haven't seen the older fortunes yet. Reminds me I need to buy candy and sort out all the stuff for give away (there's a lot of manga this year but I'm adding in some DVDs

If anything I'd like to see people registering for InnoSera - the pre-reg price deadline is ending this week and I know we have some awesome guests to announce soon. If the one I'm hoping for works out (still in negotiations) it'll definately quiet up some of the more vocal and rude girls on egl from complaining about InnoSera (why they were up in arms in the first place is beyond me since earlier there were threads about how cool an egl convetion would be). There are still AA spaces and exhibitor spaces but I know those prices will likely be going up soon and girls will be coming, wanting to spend money. Oh and if you just want to stay in a 5 star hotel for cheap go through the InnoSera website since it's only $139 a night for up to 4 people - I plan on staying since it's a gorgeous hotel and the lobby always has water that's had fruit soaking in it for hours...mmm tasty....

Other than that I've started drawing a bit now. I couldn't install Photoshop 7 onto my laptop since for some reason it stalled once I selected to install the program from the disk. I think I really do need to reinstall XP again as well as think about buying a new laptop or desktop (thinking desktop since the laptop works, just not very well. I'm going to cash out more stock and just buy a desk top that I can custom build, ask my buddy at Microsoft if he can pick up an OS for me and then work from there since I have a copy of CS4 I want to try. I'm almost done my one commission (just lettering left and then scannig and tweaking colours on the screen) and I managed a nice sketch for checkered-fadora of her character River (checkered-fadora.deviantart.com). The new project that's going to get me back into drawing is the 'rilly's book of cuteness doom' - i.e. lots of chibis and cute things. I found an old empty blank hard covered card stock book I bought with the intention of making a cute little cookbook for someone which should work perfectly. It'll be a one of a kind booklet with sketches as well as completed coloured work. Once I'm done I'll either use it as a coffee table book or I'll sell it as an original one of a kind work. Maybe with enough inspiritaion I can get back onto doing full cg and proper work too and maybe try for Dragon Con next year since I have a feeling it's too late for this year.

Oh and as for my outfit blog. It's still going but I'm not posting everyday. I knew that I'd stop posting every weekday eventually, but turns out with this havock at work it's come up sooner rather than later. I'll start to include more casual outfits and less punk and lolita while showing how I intermingle the lot of it and how easy it is to cross pollenate the styles with little effort. If you're interested in reading it's up on my other LJ rillystar

BTW June 6th there's a lolita meetup here locally. If you're interested in going let me know since I'm making reservations at Adonia for early supper and then dropping people off at the night market. I plan to skip out after that to get some sewing and art done and last minute fixings for AE.

After AE it's all ramp up to InnoSera and finding a new job/deciding what to do and then Dragon Con. hmm...somehow I can't bring myself to worry or bother about work right now...I'm not sure why. Oh well, instead I'm going to work on a shoe design and see how much it's going to cost to produce and ship. I may do it as a limited InnoSera pre-order item (available for pickup at InnoSera and ordering only through InnoSera forums). If anyone has a request for style let me know otherwise it'll be a low heeled lolita shoe and then a victorian styled (perhaps steampunky) boot.

My wishlist....

Wed, 06 May 2009 23:06:04 GMT

At the request of a certain someone *cough-yllyor-cough* I have started to compile a strange and convoluted list of random items that I'm looking to get at some point in time....

in other words...it's a birthday wishlist. Normally I don't really care since I'm pretty happy with whatever people give me for my birthday but I have been prodded throughout the years and finally getting off my bottom and putting one together. Well that and I'm feeling craptastic now that I know come August I'll need to look for a new job, either that or move out and rent my condo so I can have some money to live off of.

Things I generally like:

Fabric store gift cards: Fabricana I love BTW one of my fave's in Vancouver...much better than Fabric Land by far.
Mason's Gift Card: where I got all my lovely BabyLock machines. Also where I go to service them...
Shoes: I LOVE shoes. Love love love. But not everyone can afford to buy me shoes when they range between $60-$200. I love the Yosuke brand, also I like a lot of the Rose Chocolat ones and some of the Secret Shop styles. I love brand shoes like BTSSB or Angelic Pretty as well as some of the European brands....if you're wanting to fork out the big bucks I've got a hefty sized Word Document with brands and pictures and information. Heck if you're just curious about it let me know. Not everyone knows about a lot of these brand shoes I like.
Gothic Lolita Items: If you don't know what this is, look it up on wiki. It's a Japanese street fashion. Well actually I like a lot of the sub genres like punk, classic, aristocrat, steam punk, sweet and the like but yeah it's not the cheapest hobby. I'll provide some links to things I like in another post I guess along with the shoes and whatnot. Socks are always good, as are skirts, blouses and head dresses. I have a few of the clothing items up on my poupee girl site if you're curious.
OPUS gift cards: I buy from them fairly regularly
PayPal Gift Money: Yay spending money
BJD Items: I mostly have the dolls I want, but shoes + clothing I love, especially DollHeart
Money: `nuff said
Plane tickets: I have some balance on WestJet to use this year so I'll likely fly somewhere but they don't go out to a lot of places I want to so yeah...plane tickets = cool. I don't even mind flying SouthWest or smaller airlines. And man I want to go to Disneyworld again...and Japan, and China, and Italy...oops the list is getting pretty long
Gas Gift Cards: Not Esso please..my car hates Esso. Chevron, Shell, Mohawk/Husky those are great!
Car Detailing: I know you can get these for like $20 at some places. Just want my car to be shiny inside and out
New Nails: I like getting my nails done all sparkly XD but with impending job loss I'll be passing on it. I want to actually get them done for InnoSera but we'll have to see how things pan out. When I get mine done it usually costs about $45-50 for gel nails with sparkles...for what I want done I'm looking closer to $80-100
Heroes Lottery Tickets: Goes to help a great cause and man if I win the grand prize I will give you a cut lol
Fancy Dinner: I love food..as long as it doesn't kill me. If you know me you already know my allergies XD
Books: I want to learn many things like CSS and webpage design and the like...books with pretty pictures...or books just to read. Book gift card is just as good XD
Knowledge Lessons: I need to learn a language...well at least bring up my current other languages to par. japanese, cantonese....I kinda want to learn Korean as well but Japanese is pretty much top of the list. Otherwise I'm thinking of taking up some sort of martial art...not sure though. Sewing lessons are always fun too.
Electronics: desktop is nearly dead, laptop following in it's footsteps. I perhaps will build a new one so will eventually need bits and bobs or for ease I may just buy something 'off the shelf' and modify it to all heck. Don't really need an iPod or anything like that to be honest so don't worry about that. PS3 would rock my socks...I always wanted one but to be honest I don't play that many games and probably would use it to play bluray more than anything else lol.
A new job: that rocks as much as my current one. to start Sept 9th or later. well I could start earlier other than the fact I already made plans to go to Altanta over the Labour Day Weekend and don't come home until the 8th.

Other things I would love to see but I don't get directly:

People registiering for Innocente Seraphim (www.innocenteseraphim.com) $40 pre-reg rate is over May 31st. Also Artist Alley and exhibitor spaces are first come first serve. Exhibitor prices also will increase by the end of the month
Company Sponsorship for Innocente Seraphim: there are a number of different sponsorship packages with good advertising oppertunities. if your company is looking to hit the younger female demographic then this is for you!
Donations to Doctors Without Borders: By far one of my fave charities. Having meds dropped in is good and all but useless when there aren't enough doctors around to even prescribe them and diagnose patients.

I'm sure I'm missing stuff but I'll add it later I guess

So for people buying me stuff, my measurements - shoes size US7-7.5, 24cm (japanese sizing), UK5 (I think). Clothing sizes - varies by brand but generally about 16-18 US on top 12ish US on bottom. my stats B: 40" W: 33" H: 41". I'm kinda in progress losing weight (I'm down to about 150lbs now and soon to be breaking the 145 barrier I hope goal weight is between 120-130lbs which is doable since I lost about 35-40 lbs last year).

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:38:05 GMT

Well all, after some prodding from my boss I decided I'll be creating a daily outfit blog. My boss (and most of my co-workers) find my daily outfits rather amusing since they range from horribly mundane to some crazy Harajuku street fashion. Luckily they're all tolerant of me and my whimsies (and my dolls too).

Anyhoo I'll post today's here but going forward I'll be posting up my daily fashion on my eBay blog as well as my rillystar account (which happens to be an old old sketch and artwork account - beh I can do that too I guess)

Well it's not that terribly outlandish I guess XD My boss has wobbly fingers I guess too since it's all fuzzy. I'll see if I can get my mom to take a better picture when I visit her tonight. For those who are interested the breakdown of the outfit:

Top: BodyLine cutsew (bunny ear hoody with detachable tail) minus the arm warmers and chain that came with it
Skirt: Vita Vita plaid layered skirt
Leggings: UniQLO lace 3/4 leggings
Socks: Mighty Soxer knee high red X black stripe socks
Shoes: my favorite Yosuke ribbon flats with 3 straps
Hair accessories: Louis Nouvelle red X white star hairclips (on the back which you can't see I'm using a Paris Kids Rhinestone X gold star hair elastic and 2 large hair clips I bought at some stand in Japan)

Sakura Con - thoughts and photos

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:02:09 GMT

hoo boy so much to post about XD I'll try to break it up and LJ cut so your journals don't explode or anything!

Ok so it's only been a little over a week or so since I posted last...so much has happened XD First off let's start off with InnoSera stuff because heck, I like talking about InnoSera.

Well we got to meet and talk to a lot of people. It was really fun (tiring though but fun). A lot of people didn't know what the booth was about but even so chatting people up and letting them know about us was awesome. Most people were really positive and it looks like we'll start to see a lot more registration come through before pre-reg closes. Oh for those who were curious or asked me (and I was out of it and couldn't answer) there are sewing classes taking place in the Seattle Area (@ Quiltworks) with a professional seamstress and teacher to help us make Lolita garb. Check out the InnoSera site for more info (www.innocenteseraphim.com)

I think overall the booth went through crazy busy times and some dead periods like most booths I guess. The fortune game drew a lot of people (this was originally done via my Artist Alley table for cyberJAR over the last few years at Anime Evolution) and so we're going to be doing it again at AE this year. Yay us! Many people tried to ask for the cupcakes (though they were oooold and groooossss) but yeah we can't serve food at the convention centre...we originally wanted to do a little tea service but thinking back on it now it's good we couldn't. I eep thinking of the potential mess we'd have XD

Last weekend was Sakura Con and of course I was assisting with the InnoSera booth. Odonata and yllyor took photos of me for the most part so all of these are courtesy of them. Of course a few others posted pics of me in their posts to the egl comms and whatnot (especially the craptastic ones of the fashion show blarg! I didn't turn out very well in any of those >.<)

My thoughts about Sakura Con? Well first off I didn't see much of it. Mostly the dealer's hall since I wasn't able to move about much from there. Went to one dolly meetup for a grand total of 30 mins because I needed to get back to the booth - so I was le sad because I didn't get to chat up many people other than checkered-fadora (on Deviant Art) and a few others. Luckily some of the nice girls came by the booth to visit though. Overall the dealer's hall felt kinda...well... boring. Most booths I didn't bother to stop at (and I had free reign before con goers came in). I'm not much of a collector of anime goods anymore but I was seriously surprised how little of the dealer's hall was actually filled with anime retailers. Kino's of course was awesome as was Uwaji but for such a big dealer's hall you'd think there'd be more anime stuff running around in there.

Booths I liked:

- Modondi: such cute stuff. I wanted to buy lots of their shirts and pins. Yllyor bought me a cherry pin <3 I love it! will take pics of it and stick it up on my poupee girl page later
- the place with the plushie inari and other sushi. So cute...too bad they didn't take card otherwise I'd have bought one for my couch.
- happy paper (or whatever it was called) cute stuff but when we went back to try and haggle they were kinda mean (heck we wanted 4 of those giant plush happy toilet paper rolls and 2 tshirts and not a cent of a discount on Sunday) buuu...

Booths I wasn't so impressed with:

- corest booth. K they looked ok, and at least this place used busks (unlike the other one at AE last year.). They didn't use coutil :( and they were charging up the ying yang for those things. I hear that someone got a 'great deal' on an underbust piece for only $300 or something. For a corset that's not using coutil (I think it was a twill), cheap broacade and probably plastic bones (I didn't go up to feel the boning cause they were looking at me funny - prolly cause I was wearing my victorian corset which I made myself) I probably wouldn't have paid more than about $175 USD (different matter if it was fitted but these were generic sizes). Yeah I know coutil runs about $30 a yard but even the time etc that goes into it...a well made corset I can see paying for, but they didn't even do any flossing or anything. Maybe i was just not looking at the nice corsets or something but the two I looked at weren't anything to write home about...then again maybe everyone already bought the good ones...anyhoo just my beef, prolly cause I'm a cheap ass and would rather spend 1/2 a day sewing and pressing than pay that much for a corset that won't fit me right (my waist cinches a crapload, my bust unfortunately not)
- cheap ass crappy lolita/punk booths: and man there was more than one! I could tell just by looking at the materials that the fabric wasn't great. Someone came by later saying they wanted to buy a dress but the zipper part was broken or something or the ripped and yeah...didn't instill confidence.
- Hentai booth - just...no...so much openly hentai/yaoi stuff out there...isn't this a con where a lot of the attendees are underage????

On Sat unfortunately I could only make the noon meet for maybe 30 mins because the booth required more staff than we originally planned on >.< and then I also had to be gone for the last 2 hours on Sunday since I was in the Lolita fashion show. Somehow the whole weekend seemed a blurr mostly because gabbing non stop for 3 days and then getting relatively little sleep is exhausting. By Sunday I was all goo-brained so I'm sorry if I really made little sense if you came to talk to me XD

Anyhoo enough of that...picture time!

My outfit on Sunday + pirate hat from one of the other booths

Some awesome photos from the fashion show here: http://ryusen.smugmug.com/gallery/7934182_dWUj2#P-1-12

Pics that yllyor took at the con: http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a198/yllyor/SC2009/

I think some people also posted to the egl comm as well but you can find their stuff there or see more photos on the InnoSera site on the forums :)

Because Lolita vs Star Wars = win!

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:44:51 GMT

Last Saturday I went out to Emerald City Comicon to do a little footwork and see the sights. I've never been to a Comicon before and I must say that it's vastly different than any con I've worked on. I guess I'm just used to being up to my eyeballs in programming and stuff and people cosplaying or something. So needless to say I was shocked - the artist alley was cool though - so many artists. I can only hope to have that many at my cons one day. Didn't really peruse the dealers much since I don't really collect comics (I either borrow from friends or just don't bother reading)

Anyhoo I dressed up in my new Baby, The Stars Shine Bright JSK and lent Miu my Bodyline skirt and blouse (well she's much smaller so the blouse had to be waaaaay cinched up). Anyhoo we did meet some cool people there and yes the for charity booth that took pics with a Star Wars Death Star hallway backdrop was uber fun. We were going to go back and ask to hold the guns and arrest Storm troopers but alas...no time. However we did manage to find Chewy (poor guy was on stilts) and then post with Storm Troopers since Vader was n break lol

so yes! pictures under the cut! (thanks to Odonata_san for taking the Chewy picture

.

So just for info left is Miu right is me :) and yes that's a BJD perched on my arm

Us outside and Odonata_san took this picture as well :)

And the coveted Lolita VS Storm Trooper pic!

looking up...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:59:07 GMT

Managed to reinstall XP last night. now just need to install drivers and get service packs and the like...if my net connection remains stable enough. yesterday it was baaaaad. Anyhoo I'm back online for the most part though intermittantly. Need to also reinstall office and Photoshop along with a slew of other important things like winrar, filezilla and other handy things I need. For now net is most stable at work (of course) but that limits what I can do and access (i.e. no facebook etc)

On another note, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom festival kicks off this week so I want to plan something like a dolly or egl blossom viewing meetup. Picknick out under the blossoms or something like that. :)

http://www.vcbf.ca/event

The link above has event info for all the stuff going on around town for the festival. They have a few freebie events and a list of all the streets with blossoms and about when they'll be in bloom. One thing about this city is that the cherry blossoms bloom for a heck of a long time (2 months there abouts).

Random stuff:

I found this cute site (poupee girl) totally a time waster, but if you'd like to join let me send you an invite (PM me your email) so you and I both get freebies and extra ribbons XD You can see what I've uploaded, comment and 'suteki' them (i.e. like a voting thing where you 'suteki' anything you like)

Guh... :(

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:32:21 GMT

Today I feel like crud. I can't stop sneezing, I have a stuffy runny nose and my eyes itch like no tomorrow.

Damn you allergies (I can only assume it's allergies) - you make me hate spring so much >.<

On another note, gotta catch up on stuff I need to do. I posted some items last week and dropped the ball on sending the tracking numbers to people. Need to do that today after I go pick up a package from across town before they send it back.

Was busy bee this weekend. Sat hung out with ylly, cleaned house and all that. Tried to fix my laptop and failed. If Max and Brian can't save it, it means I need to shell out for a new computer because the desktop is 9 years old and can't last without freezing or giving me black screen for more than about 45 minutes.

So I may be puterless without a way to get a new one right at this moment because cash be super strapped.

On another note I'll be starting a new sewing project to do up a bustle skirt jsk (jumper skirt for those unfamiliar with egl terms) and maybe a plain skirt as well to have all ready for Sakura Con, and possibly Emerald City Comicon. (BTW Wally are we going both days? need to know so I can register online for cheaper rates)

Feeling really burnt out right now...might be because I went to Steampunk night at Descent to do some PR work for InnoSera. Made a connection with the girl who runs the Steampunk Vancouver LJ comm so that's good. Will be contacting her soon about putting up posters and taking some postcards. (Uneide was a doll and took some postcards to stuff in her orders going out for Feather Fall)

Anyhoo I'm all over the place now so gonna stop typing while I'm ahead

My Quibblo Quiz Result for: Past to Present: A Quiz For Fans of Japanese Fashion

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:34:51 GMT

Past to Present: A Quiz For Fans of Japanese Fashion

87%
(26 out of 30 Questions Correct)

Fun quizzes, surveys & blog quizzes by

Back home

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:35:02 GMT

Yup back home after my Japan trip. Got sick and lost a few things over there but ah well.

Tonight I go and transfer all the pics over to my external HD then sort through them and upload. I'll probably end up posting them up on DA or something since it's easy peasy that way. i'll post a few things here.

The day after I got back (arrived the 27th) I drove down south to Seattle with yllyor for an InnoSera meeting. We're slowly filling in the ranks for staff but still needing more. if you're interested in helping out please let me know :) We should have all the descriptions of the remaining staff positions up shortly. If you'd rather volunteer we have lots of oppertunities as well! Both Staff and Volunteers get some nice perks so check out the site - http://www.innocenteseraphim.com The next meeting is the 28th and hopefully a sewing meeting so we get some fun time in too. Anyone who needs a ride down is welcome to come with since i likely won't be sleeping over I hope. The Nanaimo meet is the day after but I doubt I'll be able to go though :(

Anyhoo other than that I'm still kinda sick, back at work and trying to get my laptop resurrected. I got annoyed with it yesterday and tried to take it apart. I un wired some of the hardware adn then realized I had to go out so put it back together again and it seems my laptop loved me enough to actually boot up properly. After I got back I transfered all my filed (art files and the like) and still in progress with some of the other image files (I take too many >.<). Once that's done I'll nuke the HD and go for a reinstall once I can find the disks :( so far no juice since the laptop belonged to my mother and I bet she chucked the disks a while ago. may need to ask my buddy for some help. Otherwise I'll just start saving for a new puter. yikes. can't really afford it with all the other expenses going on but ah well, it's either that or live with the ghetto 8 year old desk top I have that's barely still running.

Anyhoo will have pics of the fabrics I bought in Japan, and some of the outfits and things I bought. The gifts for the co-workers went down well (snacks and then some simple trick boxes made in Hakone). Maybe some of the unused photos from the meeting on the 28th too.

Hopefully I'll have a few posts on the details of my Japan trip along with pics up this week. Depends if I keel over sick though or get too busy >.<

Ooops forgot to update

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:24:18 GMT

Heheeh I am a bad person. Here I am in Japan and not updating a single time.

Suffice to say I've had a blast here with the usual ups and downs of family being stupid or stubborn and the like. I still managed to get most of what I wanted done and I know I'm coming back next year with Max so it's all good.

Highlights til I can post more details and stuff:

- got sick a few days back. been lingering and finally tapering off now. Was dizzy as all heck yesterday and feeling much better now.
- Wearing masks when sick is a good idea. must snag a box from my dad
- Harajuku is still a fun place to shop. Bad for my wallet.
- Marui One is cool and Closet Child for some reason was really easy to miss but I found it eventually. Closet Child has some rare stuff and some stuff that's not too bad price wise but the store is super cramped. Marui One had awesome brand stuff but for shoes the store in Harajuku had sales on the ones I liked. I almost bought some brand stuff but realized that 1 - suitcase almost full 2- don't need a frilly umbrella that would get trashed in the Vancouver rain 3 - barring the prints I could probably figure out the patterns and make my own jsks and skirts so unless there was something super special I loooved and actually fit me then no, nothing for me
- Lost a baggy on the subway...it's still lost. Managed to replace all items but one small one that was only a few dollars. Took me trips to 4 different Volks stores to replace the MSD boy outfit that released not to long ago. In Shinjuku it was the last set (everywhere else was sold out) the shoes were easier
- found a coolio dolly present in Kyoto
- Tours are really a whirlwind, so do one and then go back to the places you liked if you do take one. Good for my sisters not so much for me since I've been to most of the places
- Missed going to Sato in Kyoto :( no time
- sisters geeked out at Akihabara
- Ghibli Museum while cute and not too expensive was super crowded and we managed to get through the whole thing in about an hour. Not sure yet if it was worth it since we couldn't take any pictures other than outside and on the roof. Mom bought craploads here for some strange reason
- Fabric stores in Japan so rock over the ones in North America for trims, laces and cute patterns on cotton. Also the Japanese type fabrics are soooo gorgeous.
- surprisingly a large number of people in Japan speak Mandarin....doesn't really help me much lol
- Onsens are still relaxing, private onsens rock cause you can take pictures!

Well I'll have details and more updates later or once I get home....will be off to Seattle on the weekend for meetings

And off I go!!!

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:57:31 GMT

To Japan of course :)

Been talking about it for weeks and now it's time to go to the airport. I will take picus!!!

Also thanks to all who came to my 2 meetups (tea party and potluck). I should have pictures up from that when I come home.

Anyhoo that's it for now. Short and sweet. Oh yeah...and something mundane...I gots me a new couch.

Happy Holidays!

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:21:20 GMT

It's Christmas! Whee!

And yeah I know...more than 1 post a month? OMG (I knows I be bad at posting regularly)

Anyhoo to all my friends and family and all those people I don't know who might see this...HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Being snowed in really kind of sucks though. yllyor and votgs had to cancel for today because of it. Poor votgs had no power yesterday for most of the day (luckily she has a doggy to keep her warm) and the trains/buses were all delayed or not running so she couldn't make it up. Guess I'll be cooking that big fat roast for 1 and freezing it.

On another note....

Innocente Seraphim officially now has a location and date! Wally was awesome and trekked out in the snow to Bellvue to sign the contract and lay down the big check for the deposit. I've created an LJ comm for the convention until the website goes live...also finally did some artwork (the sketch is on my DA scrapbook section) and got the mascot done up and the logo. Need to finish the mascot today and just clean up the logo a smidge. Anyhoo here's the link to the LJ

http://community.livejournal.com/innocenteseraph/

I'll be posting updates for InnoSera on that comm rather than here unless it's a big announcement. As for that I'm looking for volunteers and staff. Max Wally and I are fairly picky so please submit a resume along with any previous con experience. We really want to make sure the fit is right and that anyone interested is serious and can work well with us so we'll be talking to anyone who applies. Staff do have some perks though so it'll be mucho fun.

Anyhoo that's about it on my end. Going to see family soon but not expecting any gifts because this year we decided to just hang out and be together, eat good food and not worry about gifts. I made some cookies for everyone though just in case

I'm a happy rillers - random stuff

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:39:51 GMT

Been a fun week.

Got to hang out with jess and her family (including cats and dogs). Shawn is a cool guy and the kids are super cute. Joe is a silly puppy and the kitties are funny (Romeo is such an attention whore! lol). Course I had to work out there - so totally exhausting and I just realized why. In places with a lot of tension and negativity I tend to pour out a lot of energy into being positive and infecting (har har har like a disease!) those around me with being more relaxed and happy. That being said, the other centre is a lot more tense and chaotic (at least to me) than my small team in Vancouver. Not sure why that is but yeah sapped a lot of energy from me and I literally slept for 10 hours last night.

Anyhoo excited also because Max, Wally and I are starting to see our work come together now. We have 2 of the 3 hotels in with bids for InnoSera (short for Innocente Seraphim). The costing for the hotels was a -lot- less than we'd initially expected especially from the dream hotel :) the room costs for hotel guests was also a lot lower than expected for one and the other was about the same as what we'd seen in the past. Either way whichever hotel we go with we're good to go. We need to meet next weekend and really work on policies, and other articles for the actual company so we have all the i's dotted and the t's crossed.

On another front working on my business and things are going well more or less. I have to have a talk with my mom though and make sure she's communicating with me and we're on the same page because she often hops around and just gets in a tizzy rather than being 100% responsible for the things she promised to do. That'll get sorted tonight I'm thinking.

Ooo ooo! and by Tuesday night I should have my nexus pass!!! yay no more waiting in line at the border!

Other than that I'll be cleaning my house once I get home (yay clean house) and then getting it spiffed up for X'mas. Ven is coming for X'mas!!!! I'm excited about that too. I may decide to also host a small tea and biccies at my house and get some use out of my nice china - love an excuse to dress up too.

One of my new EGL buddies though, posted on her LJ that her b-day was a crappy one :( I wasn't around to celebrate with her but wanting to do something nice so gotta see when she's free and then take her out and make sure she has fun :)

Anyhoo (and yes my brain is all over the place right now which is why I'm jumping from subject to subject) X'mas just around the corner and I have no idea what to do for presents. Thinking of making stuff so if you have something you really must have instead give me a call XD though I don't have a ton of money this X'mas because of the 25K deposit I put down on my new apartment XD

Anyhoo I'm off to gather my thoughts rather than barf them all up randomly here on LJ. Just know that I'm content and going to start drawing again right now (yeah wow it's been aaaaages) and reading stuff I want to read again - so if you have any suggestions as to good books (I'll read almost anything but I'd prefer no war books please. I love fantasy and sci-fi but I also love a good fiction novel as well)

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:38:33 GMT

I blame E for this....yush

So I now have dragon eggies that need to hatch...please click on them so they don't die. I have just under 7 days left for them. Please click on each one so they know you care :)

If you have eggies of your own or get some please let me know and I'll be happy to click for you

FYI will have pics of the raffle stuff up soon

Raffle - win dollies, sewing machine +more!

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:18:31 GMT

I've finally made the decision. Money raised will go to Habitat for Humanity. If someone can show me how to make pretty CSS journaly for this please poke me.

The Nitty Gritty:

Tix: (in USD)
$8 each
3 for $18
5 for $30
10 for $50

Tix on sale until Jan 15th 4pm Pacific.

PayPal to rillystar(AT)shaw(DOT)ca (remove the brackets and replace the caps stuff with the symbols). Just remember to put your DA or LJ ID in the note. I'll post your ID and ticket # on my DA post and I'll try to keep it updated here too XD

As mentioned earlier shipping costs will be paid by winners (I can ship via many methods so we can work something out no prob). I don't charge PayPal fees either. I'll keep us posted on what prize ranges we're in too. I've made a few changes to the prize ranges and as I find more stuff to add I'll add it. If you'd like to donate to the cause please note me and let me know what you'd like to donate.

NB: Pics of this stuff coming soon!

The Prize Pot!

Base:

- 1 full colour single char portrait commission from rilly
- full colour print of your choice from my gallery (5 draws)
- set of 12 random Copic Markers + some marker paper (A4 sized if I remember the package I brought back from Japan)
- for locals: private lesson from rilly including materials on either, basic sewing, doll faceups, or creating a successful artist alley table
- Rare Fruits Basket window decoration - Tohru
- set of 4 COSMODE back issue magazines
- Japanese how to make Kanzashi book with easy to follow picture step by step instructions (brand new!)
- PS2 Star Ocean: Til the End of Time (greatest hits) + Brady Games strategy guide (mint)
- PS2 Suikoden 4 + Brady Games strategy guide
- DVD: Benny and Joon (unopened)
- PS2 Final Fantasy X-2
- set of magnets (new and never used) (pics coming soon)
- dolly photoshoot session by rillystar
- Deviant Art 3 month subscription

$150 mark additions:
- Rare Fruits Basket window decoration - Kyo
- PS2 Wild Arms 3
- Radiata Stories
- rillystar custom doll faceup
- vol 11 of Goth & Loli sewing magazine

$250 mark additions:
- Luts event head from X'mas 07 Jury A in NS (this is a type 2 head)
- PS2 Suikoden 5 with original booklet
- PS2 Suikoden 3 with original booklet

$500 mark additions:
- Back to the Future DVD BOx Set
- Rare Fruits Basket window decoration - Yuki
- uber rare Super NES original Secret of Mana game cartrige with original box (even has the blockbuster sale sticker on the back with the date XD) Has most of the booklet though the cover and a number of the pages are missing.

$700 mark addition:
- Limited edition Yuki Kaori signed Angel Sanctuary box gift set. Signature is on the inside lid. Includes multiple prints, Angel Sanctuary necklace, Angel Sanctuary desk clock and more! I don't think I've ever seen one of these on sale, and it was the last one in the Store in Yokkaichi when I visited uneide there
- Suikoden 1 original PS1 game with original booklet (retails for about $80)

$1000 mark addition:
- Suikoden 2 original PS1 game with original booklet etc (retails generally around $125+)
- Minifee Sleeping Seorin Head NS

$1500 mark addition:
- Serial Experiments Lain DVD Box set (if I can find the lunch box it will come with it)
- Fruits Basket sealed and mint Artbook
- Ah! My Goddess movie DVD
- Limited Ricky Elucid elf head (value of $250+)

$2500 mark addition:
- BambiCrony Normal Skin Shy boy. (will come with glass eyes and wig and original box. I believe I have a spare set of different hands as well for him)
- Limited box edition Trinity Blood + DVD vol 1
- Hiro: Naked and True Clips Music DVD signed copy that reads in Japanese 'Jennifer-san <3' and then her signature with another big heart. This was from 2004 when I met her at Sakura Con
- rare RG Veda hard cover artbook from CLAMP
- free dollfie faceup by rillystar (3 draws)

$5000 mark addition:
- Bernina 50 sewing machine (used but well cared for. will come with some spools of thread and bobbins as well as a number of new never used bobbins. If you're in town I'll happily throw in a lesson on how to use and basic sewing if you'd like.
- set of 13 DVDs from Card Captor Sakura (not including movies)
- DoT Tender Lahoo head (event head so unavailable now from the site)

EGL times

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:09:40 GMT

Had some fun times and made new friends. Trust me to be random and just decide to go out with a bunch of strangers and make some new friends XD

Anyhoo got meself dressed up and booted off in the rain downtown and waited...and waited....apparently I -just- missed everyone at the Skytrain station but that's ok, I just drove off to meet up with them and they weren't exactly hard to find. Rather difficult to find a group of about 10 girls most of whom were dressed up in sweet lolita or gothic lolita XD

We all headed off onto the bus down to the fondue place and had choco fondue and drinks (I passed on the choco and just ate the raw fruit...for some reason the smell of the rich chocolate made my tummy do flip flops...prolly the precursor to my queaziness today - I blame all the sick co-workers in the office as I slowly succumb to illness). Didn't think much of the service there - they messed up 3 or so orders and then overcharged a few people on their stuff. Yeah I understand large groups can be a hassle but when you check the order it shouldn't magically cange between when you repeated everything back correctly to when it comes out to the table. My sister works at the Spag and she deals with parties of 40+ and they don't mess up as much as these gents did. Ah well...suffice to say rilly will not be going back anytime soon.

Unfortunately, me and me dollies had to go home after that. I had family dinner to go to. But them girls were all nice (at least the ones at my table rocked) so I'll be inviting them out to my house for tea...once I clean it all up again and hide the massive mess that is my cloth and sewing notions that are here there and everywhere while I'm working on stuff XD

anyhoo picus from last Sat!

all the girls except me cause I was taking the pic

my bling bling ring along with Momo's

yes...yes I know I be crazy a lot of the time. but heck! I had fun so who cares!

Fund Raising

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:08:14 GMT

snipped from my Deviant Art account: http://rillystar.deviantart.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yup raiding funds. It's been a rough year for some people so I'm raising funds for various groups and individuals (please note this is not for myself. I make enough money for my keep :) if you want to know more about what I'm fund raising for just drop me a note.

So what I plan on, is a raffle (gonna try this out). Lots of amazing goodies inside worth a lot more than the $ marks that I'm setting up. As more money is collected, bigger and better prizes are added into the pot. I have a lot of limited items from Japan (authentic so please don't worry about that, I hauled it all back on my own). Some of these are once in a lifetime items that I personally haven't really seen for sale elsewhere. If you know there's something I have and you'd like to see it in the raffle let me know and I'll consider it.

First off the nitty gritty:

Raffle tix: (price break for buying more) Prices in USD

$8 each
3 for $18
5 for $30
10 for $50

Note that no 'PayPal' fees will be added for those wanting to pay via PayPal. I also head down into the US fairly often so I can take cash in person.

The Prize Pot:

I will update with more goodies once I go through everything I have. For now what's listed below. As we hit target $$$ marks I'll start adding more nifty cool stuff in. Please note that winners will pay for shipping otherwise wise $ marks would be waaay higher and all the cash would go to shipping :(

- 1 full colour single char portrait commission from rilly
- full colour print of your choice from my gallery X5
set of 12 random Copic Markers + some marker paper (A4 sized if I remember the package I brought back from Japan)
- for locals: private lesson from rilly including materials on either, basic sewing, doll faceups, or creating a successful artist alley table
- Rare Fruits Basket window decoration - Yuki
- Rare Fruits Basket window decoration - Kyo
- Rare Fruits Basket window decoration - Tohru
- set of 4 COSMODE back issue magazines
- Japanese how to make Kanzashi book with easy to follow picture step by step instructions (brand new!)
- PS2 Star Ocean: Til the End of Time (greatest hits) + Brady Games strategy guide (mint)
- PS2 Suikoden 4 + Brady Games strategy guide
- DVD: Benny and Joon (unopened)
- PS2 Final Fantasy X-2
- vol 11 of Goth & Loli sewing magazine
- set of magnets (new and never used) by mistressofspam on Deviant Art (go lookit her beauuuutiful arts)

$150 mark addition:

- PS2 Wild Arms 3
- Radiata Stories
- rillystar custom doll faceup
- uber rare Super NES original Secret of Mana game cartrige with original box (even has the blockbuster sale sticker on the back with the date XD) Has most of the booklet though the cover and a number of the pages are missing.

$250 mark addition:
- Luts event head from X'mas 07 Jury A in NS (this is a type 2 head)
- PS2 Suikoden 5 with original booklet
- PS2 Suikoden 3 with original booklet

$500 mark addition:
- Back to the Future DVD BOx Set
- Limited edition Yuki Kaori signed Angel Sanctuary box gift set. Signature is on the inside lid. Includes multiple prints, Angel Sanctuary necklace, Angel Sanctuary desk clock and more! I don't think I've ever seen one of these on sale, and it was the last one in the Store in Yokkaichi when I visited uneide there

$700 mark addition:
- BambiCrony Normal Skin Shy boy. (will come with glass eyes and wig and original box. I believe I have a spare set of different hands as well for him)
- Suikoden 1 original PS1 game with original booklet (retails for about $80)

$1000 mark addition:
- Suikoden 2 original PS1 game with original booklet etc (retails generally around $125+)
- Angel Region Warrick 58cm boy doll with original full set clothes. Will also come with extra clothes, shoes, wig and other accessories.

$1500 mark addition:
- Serial Experiments Lain DVD Box set (if I can find the lunch box it will come with it)
- Fruits Basket sealed and mint Artbook
- Ah! My Goddess movie DVD

$2500 mark addition:
- WS Yder head (type 1) with faceup. Will come with Acrylic eyes and random wig
- Limited box edition Trinity Blood + DVD vol 1
- Hiro: Naked and True CLips Music DVD signed copy that reads in Japanese 'Jennifer-san <3' and then her signature with another big heart. This was from 2004 when I met her at Sakura Con

$5000 mark addition:
- Volks F-31 Sunlight Skin Elf Boy doll. SD13 with long legs. He has the long elf ears type and all original paperwrk. He will also come with Sunlight sword gripping hands which were limited to the Sunlight Cecile pirate scarface release I believe.
- set of 13 DVDs from Card Captor Sakura (not including movies)

if we hit bigger than this....well I'll keep adding stuff like one Fairyland Puki (basic set) of your choice mailed directly to you from Fairyland. Or my Bernina 50 sewing machine that gets no love

Anyhoo feedback greatly appreciated. Also once this is up and running please pass it on. If you'd like to add to the donation list please note me and we can work something out.

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:47:40 GMT

Holy crackers what a week!

First off I was in Vegas as most of you know. The Training course was so entirely draining and kicked my ass but oh my god was it worth it. It's like looking at life with a different perspective. Definitely much more focused on what I want to achieve. Now I need to pick 3 things, and only 3 things to work on and complete in 100 days. Scary eh? Kinda exciting too. I'll be doing this with my mom and a bunch of new friends (but I'll miss you guys soooo much) and that's the last of it for this month. Luckily I only need to go out there once a month til I head out to Japan and then that's it.

In the meantime I'm busting my butt right now to get where I need to get. I should have good things to announce soon and I hope that everyone will join in and spread the word once I can post about it.

Anyhoo I'm flying back out tomorrow at around noon and then right back into work (the only way I could get part of tomorrow off was to promise to work remotely) but that gives me time to sneep a little and also to get my thoughts calmed down a bit. I'll be back on Monday though so I'm settling in for a long hard 100 days of work outside of work as well as part of work.

:) all I can say is I never believed in coincidence before but things have been falling into place and just happening somehow once I really decide on doing them. Bah maybe I'm just riding some euphoric high right now but dang it feels good to be alive right now :D

On another note I did get my lolita shirt and skirt in, and will be attending a local meet for the first time! I'm excited (even though I'm a big blob compared to some of those girls I'm determined to have fun!) - need to make a petticoat that will floof up my new skirt. YAY!

Wow it's really happening!

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:45:10 GMT

To those in the know:

Valkeries LLC was formed! Yay. That means we're already well down the path towards the full convention going on. Just have to wait on the Federal level LLC forms to be sent in and approved and then we can go full swing. By no means does this mean we're sitting around twiddling our thumbs. Unlike a few cons we've worked on in the past (that shall remain nameless) we're starting from the get go with our articles or operation and whatnot and making sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. Basically making sure that if one of us drops dead (heaven forbid >.<) that people will know what to do to keep this going.

I have the logo sketched out and need to make a few variations to make sure I have the bases covered. Mock up web designs will be done tomorrow I hope while others are too busy to ping me or ask me to WoW (that means you girls *shifty eyes* though a lil tomorrow won't hurt). I have good ideas on what I want now with some clarification from the others (well not really any but they seemed to like one directions more than others - so slightly more edgy but still elegant and lolita-y)

Wow...a con making me art when I've barely arted at all. Thinking to stretch myself and do about 3 designs and then 2 more for the 'club' bits which if ylly likes we can use for Resin Angel or scrap (the other will likely be used for Bara Hana Ballad if that ever gets worked on)

I went and registered a community to make sure we got the name for ISC (Innocente Seraphim Convention) but no one can join or post or anything cause we can't have much up until the final federal level LLC comes through (due to tax reasons and I really don't want to file taxes for the US). Once it's all done I can properly log my gas and milage usage and possibly net and home office space.

Not much in the way of staff right now but once we're up we'll be taking applications. Yes you heard right - applications. No more voting, we want people we can work with and not have to deal with the whole voting procedure; it never made much sense to me, it still doesn't (other than some tax benefits but I'd rather not even bother)

Anyhoo enough blathering, I know I don't have many who watch my journal so not too worry about this leaking and if it does...well there isn't much of anything to leak. hahaha.

awwws back to work time

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:35:14 GMT

oops forgot to update yet again

AE is over which makes me happy and sad. Ylly and I probably won't be back for AA next year, it's just too much work with not enough helpers (they've been dwindling year over year and just the two of us for our booth is super tiring - thank you to Max for being our relief on the Saturday). All in all we did pretty well. Counting all the petty cash we spent on food out of the cashbox we made over $1600 that weekend. We's be happy with that. We sold out of fortunes every day and even after remaking them each night we ran out within an hour on the last day and had to close it down. Baggies did well, so did the keychains.

Croaky, Jess and centi went home. I is sads for the most part but my wallet thanks me. Much silliness was to be had and much artage. I hope I can rp with them soon. Jess lost her camera somewhere so now I have to go look for that too >.< but croaky's pics were good and ylly's (the three I saw) were excellent. I believe all three girls also did well at AE (centi mentioned it being the most money she's ever made at con even with being off to the side and out of the main AA area. Adri sold out of her keychains early on and we even made more for her and they sold out)

Went to see Max Wally and ven over the last few days. Very relaxing (and fattening with all the food I ate. I gained 5 lbs lol) things are going well with the convention planning, we just need to file all the paperwork so we can start on the actual bulk of the work (hotel bids, promo packages et al). Basic programming has been laid out and basic needs/wants for space. very prelim budget in place but looks doable. Goal numbers is 500 attendees (not including staff). Will likely host a few prelim photoshoots and meets to get the word out there and to gather volunteers. Still building up the by-laws and the positional duties etc so we have everything in writing and covered.

Bettina couldn;t make it which was sadness but instead she'll come out in January. We have credit towards her ticket and she said she'd

Anyhoo the 4 badges I did are up on my DA account the rest to follow shortly. Hoping once I get some sewing done and some doll stuff done that I'll have time to finish some artwork....one can always hope lol

What I still have to do:

1) write for Reves de Mignonnette (4 articles now)
2) plan for RdeM meet for Nov 7th (2nd Sat)
3) put down money for new condo by the 15th. Somehow make 10k between now and then lol (likely my sisters will pitch in since this is part of the proprerty strategy for the family so we can each have one in the end)
4) head to Seattle the weekend after next to sign LLC papers for the new convention and meet with the accountant for that
5) start measurements for ylly's and my sister's corsets - fabric et al has been bought! yes!
6) buy longer lacing for my corset - apparently 2.5 yards is not enough
7) once we have the promo packages ready go forth and shower the airlines and radio/tv stations - maybe see about getting Wally and Max up for a breakfast tv shoot if they'll have us :)
8) send Syl something for her wedding gift...right now it looks like that gonna be monies....anyone else want in?

On the dolly front:

1) Mail out the doll and wigs that were bought. This to be all done tomorrow afternoon
2) price the dolly outfit for shipping to the UK
3) Lucien should be coming home next trip. Check him out before putting him together (Unoa L-bi kit for those wondering)
4) Go through and see what dolls need to go again (i.e. the ones I don't play with) right now that looks like it may be the Unoa Lusis girl (the one in the box), FL Minifee Sleeping Woosoo on type 1 body, Winking Miyu on DZ body, Ricky head, Jury A head, possibly the elf sleeping Yen full set limited boy or the Breakaway on FDoll body. I had plans for them at one point but things got pushed back as usual and they got left on the wayside so better off finding them good homes. Plus with needing mucho money right now for the apartment some of the dollys just have to go T-T I-ra sold at least for a whopping $1300 (including ship)
5) Photograph and put up all the wigs and clothes and other accessories that I separated out during my (very late) spring cleaning.
6) whip out the shiny new dremmel and sand all my dolls and then face up the blanks
7) sell my antique lace fer once it gets in

and the yayness begins

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:25:17 GMT

oops forgot to update last week.

AE is a go which means yay - rilly doesn't have to work her lil rear off trying to plan an impromptu con. But that means back to work on everything else.

1) AE Badges - 70% done. I have 4 left to layout, 2 left to draw, ink and colour (no you won't find the art on my DA. I don't post it til after the con)
2) Get the images to ylly for print
3) Finish writing 2 articles for Reves de Mignonnette
4) Finish the hand made crafts for artist alley
5) Poke the panel coordinator for the actual time and location of the Doll meet (I requested Sunday late morning or early afternoon)
6) Ask my aunt about parking in her visitor's gated parking lot for the con, possibly to stay there so I can get early setup going

Other stuff going on:

1) Car went into shop again. Came out better with a much smaller price tag of $200 (rather than the $1200 one before)
2) Back on my crack of dawn shift at work. Got shafted with more queue watch hours during my shift :( no sign of relief soon unless upper upper management gets some decisions made on backfilling at the very least.
3) Saw Spamalot - it was good even if there were some technical difficulties with the miking system (no fault of the actors though)
4) Going to see Ven on the weekend and then Max and Brian again. Poor Tom busted his achilles but I dunno if we'll have time to drive all the way to Portland.
5) Aunt is in town from Chicago. She's a cool person working on a lot of fund raising for good causes. Makes me wonder if I could keep up with that sort of thing if I went out and did it.
6) the plan is, to art some more (finally) play video games a little less (I'm currently in a spurt of playing all the time as I tend to do and then just get too busy to play for months) and finally start drafting out the story I want to illustrate (prolly get farther than pure comic)
7) start the second corset I want to make..I bought the fabric but no time to sew darnit!

On the dolly front:

1) Go south this weekend (Good Lord! It's gonna be nasty being a long weekend and all) to check and ship out Fairyland GO, invoice the people who bought the gift heads and then look over the stuff coming home with me
2) Lucien should be at ven's place soon. Check him out before putting him together (Unoa L-bi kit for those wondering)
3) Give Mel some money (or see if she wants any more parts from FL) for the BC wings for my MB Kumi girl
4) Start writing another review for Q4 newsletter of RdeM
5) Go through and see what dolls need to go (i.e. the ones I don't play with) right now that looks like it may be the Unoa Lusis girl (the one in the box), DoD elf I-ra fullset, and possibly the FL Minifee Sleeping Woosoo on type 1 body. I had plans for them at one point but things got pushed back as usual and they got left on the wayside so better off finding them good homes.
6) Photograph and put up all the wigs and clothes and other accessories that I separated out during my (very late) spring cleaning.

I am officially insane

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:41:02 GMT

yup...that's all there is to it.

If the mess with AE wasn't this year I wouldn't have cared.

But it is this year, and I care.

To do list:

1) find venue
2) get costing
3) build budget
4) take what people I have and give them direction and put them to work
5) work on how to get myself out of this by the time this is over so I don't have to do it again.
6) somehow manage all of this without pissing anyone off.

Blargh....

I am stupid..shoot me now