Our new motto...

"It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom. And the road has always led west."

Yuletide Baby Photos

We caught a couple great shots of Orion during his first Yuletide season. We were even lucky enough to get a real snow storm the day after Christmas!

Where were we?

Or, more importantly, where are we NOW?
At the very moment we're all sitting in our living room. However, physical designations don't get you very far when considering the sublime, the cosmic, or the twisting twining paths of life.
It's finally January (though time isn't much better than place when discussing matters of great import). I'm unbelievably happy about the end of the holiday season, which is partially because I work in retail, partially because I'm broke, and partially because the season of 'peace on Earth and goodwill toward men' is anything but, at least most of the time.
I also took on too much during the holidays; no surprise there, as I have a tendency to want to do everything to the detriment of, well, everything. Perhaps having a six month old, working, and doing costumes for a play during the holidays was a bit overboard. It's hard to make decisions about these things sometimes. Obviously Orion & Russell are my first priority, but the balance of work vs. dream is a difficult one to strike. I want to bring in money to help support our family, and we're all dependent on me for health insurance, so my various forms of income are important on that score. I do the plays because it's a labor of love, and hopefully each experience will get me a little closer to my goal. I suppose the biggest problem is that I don't always know what that is.
I've begun to realize that it's not theatre. I love doing shows, but as a professional costumer I'd have no choice in what I worked on; most times I'd probably be happy just to have work. That being the case, there isn't really much sense in me going for an MFA in costume design. That makes my interest in the program at Haywood even more pronounced. If we're to be nomadic gypsy artist-types, there's a lot to recommend a crafts program. Yet we've made a decision (once again) to let that be the back-up 'plan B' in the greater scheme of things.
What we both want, more than anything at the moment, is to move somewhere new. As always, the West Coast like a siren calls us! Everything I hear about California and Oregon makes me want to get there yesterday. More music, more dancing, more outdoor sports, better weather, closer to the Burn, active Burner Community, etc. etc. amen. And there are Trader Joe's on every corner, so work for me just isn't a problem.
So what the hell is the problem??
The categorical answer could be: Fear of the Unknown
It's a big thing, to move to the West Coast. All the way across the continent, to a place that's more expensive, economically screwed, and liable to fall into the ocean at any moment. I was gazing at the U.S. map on our wall, at all that country we'd have to cross...
But I've done it before, on the Northern leg: Michigan - Washington state. It was beautiful. And I've driven from Sacramento, CA, to Black Rock City, NV, to Boulder, CO, to Chapel Hill, NC - which was admittedly a lot tougher than the straight route across the Northern reaches of the country. I can do it again.
But what about all our stuff, the pets, the two cars... not to mention the baby! Suddenly I'm motivated to get rid of things like never before. If we're not using it, out it goes! Realistically, we'll need less stuff for Orion as he gets a little bigger, so most of the purge is up to us. Then we could probably handle the drive with the two cars and a tow-behind U-Haul on the Jeep. So that's solved, too.
What we really need is to just do it - decide, and go - make our dreams come true! We already have friends out there, Trader Joe's comes with its own community support, and the Burners will help us find place to land - they may even help us find work and what not...
Russell is in the process of applying to Dominican University, and I'm of the opinion that he should cast a wider net and apply at a few places. There's a way for us here, we just have to find it.
And that's where we are, this first week of 2011; dreaming big and thinking of the months ahead. If I had me druthers, it would go like this: Wedding on June 11th, pack up and move out in July, Russell starts school in August, and we're settled enough to go to the Burn in September. Why not?

"Joyful Sound"

Russell doesn't have it in him to stay completely still during a show, but he did get this 9+ minute vid of SCI doing "Joyful Sound"! I love this tune...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1sdNL44eFE

We're in the Jailhouse Now...

November first is an important date in a lot of ways. It's considered by some to be the pagan new year, as in that tradition Samhain (aka Halloween) marked the turn of the spiritual year. It's also my fairy goddess mother's birthday! (that would be godmother to most folks)
This year it also fell on a Monday. For those reasons and a couple of others, Russell and I decided to perform a civil ceremony - that's right, we got married!
For those of you who are looking forward to our June 11, 2011 wedding, never fear! We're totally still on for that most excellent event! We just had several legal and financial reasons to go ahead and take care of the paperwork aspect of the thing during the 2010 fiscal year.
One important side of it is taxes; getting married will allow us a big tax break, as well as make it easier to file as Orion's parents if we're already hitched. That tax refund will help us pay for the upcoming wedding, so it makes good sense to do it now! Also, Russell's health insurance is both expensive and not very good. Since we're now officially married, I can put him on my plan at TJ's, and we'll all have health, vision, and dental - for a lot less than we were paying. Getting married now saves us money and safeguards our health. Not to mention that it'll be one less thing to worry about at the wedding!
The process was pretty simple. Jo Ann came over to look after Orion (who was not a very cooperative, mellow boy, unfortunately). Russell and I stopped at both our banks and put each other on our checking accounts, therefore to more easily pay bills, etc. We also (finally) opened the savings account for Orion. I'd been holding money that was meant for him in my own savings, but now it's in a special account with his name on it! Yay, college fund!
Then we headed up to Hillsborough to the register of deeds office. The lady there was funny and energetic. We got the paperwork done to get the marriage license and paid the fees. We called Jo Ann, Runyon, and Kevin to let them know we were done there and that they could head on up to the Hillsborough Weaver St. Market to meet us. We grabbed some lunch while we waited, and then everyone (Orion, too) met up with us and walked over to the jailhouse.
That's right, the jailhouse. For some reason the only magistrate in Hillsborough is located in the jailhouse. We walked in to the anteroom, where we were completely ignored by a bunch of officers hanging around behind the glass window, and waited with a group of folks who were in line to see the magistrate. The two groups before us were there on jail/prisoner related business, so no one but us was very happy. There were only two chairs in the waiting area, which were occupied, and the whole place was dark and dingy, with low ceilings and bad lighting. Even the one bathroom was a mess and didn't have a changing table; fortunately Russell and I are adept at changing Orion's diaper in our laps.
Finally it was our turn to step into the magistrate's office, which was similarly cramped and dingy and overly full of stuff. There was a little window into the holding tank of the jail and that was it; no natural light for him! Fortunately, the magistrate (who was also the brother of the register of deeds; weird) was a really nice guy. Our group was in much better spirits than the previous two, and it seemed to brighten up his day. That made me feel pretty good, because other than that it was a grim place to have a marriage ceremony! He was fun, though, and joked around with us while the paperwork got done. Runyon and Kevin signed as witnesses, we said the "I do's" (though no one actually said "I do"; Russell said "Yep!" and I said "Absolutely!") and we shared both a high-five and a kiss! It was actually kinda fun. Afterwards we stopped outside under a big old oak tree and took a few pictures, and that was that - we're married!
We're not planning on changing our names until the wedding in June, as we feel like that's really the event that will bind us together as a wedded couple. For now, we're husband and wife, but the community, spiritual and emotional aspect of it will really change at the ceremony we do in June.
Either way, there's a lot of love here to go around and we're really happy. It's sure been a good week!

Hulaween!

I have become incapable of writing the word "Hulaween" without following it with an exclamation point! (!)
Oh man, what fun!
String Cheese is (in my humble opinion) the best large act out there today. They put on such amazing shows, with everything so completely thought out. It is truly a spectacle, and the beautifully orchestrated music is a catalyst that entertains and amazes simple hippie folks like ourselves. Add the Halloween costumes in the crowd, and I'm pretty much in heaven. One audience member, a nice man who shared some excellent seating with us, said, "They're all-inclusive," and I tend to agree.

Many months ago SCI announced that they had a Halloween surprise for all of us. I assumed that if they did a Halloween show, it would likely be on the West Coast, as they previously did Halloween in Vegas. A few weeks later they announced that the two nights to celebrate Halloween were being played at the Hampton Coliseum. I was beside myself with joy! I called Russell at work to tell him, and I was so excited I couldn't get complete sentences out. It took several tries before he understood my random exclamations of "Hampton!" "Cheese!" "Halloween!" "DRIVING DISTANCE!!" made any sense to him. My excitement then was huge, and my expectations for the shows were high; as usual, they completely met and exceeded them by a huge amount!
Friday we headed up to Newport News, VA, for the two nights of SCI at the Hampton Coliseum. I've never been there before, but I've heard good things, including the infamous "Hampton Comes Alive" by Phish, a two-disc set that everyone seems to know and love. I've seen its picture, and I have heard it called The Mothership on many occasions.
My week leading up to the shows was crazy; I was busy as hell with two sewing commissions and a big party at work that I was in charge of planning. We therefore got off to a bit of a late start on Friday, but that was as I expected. We made it to Newport News, which is actually the next town over from Hampton (and has infinitely cheaper hotels) in the late afternoon. We had just enough time to get spruced up for the show and head out. I wore my fabulous catsuit and EL wire light-up fairy wings, while Russell wore his Pathfinder Indian costume from Burning Man. One of the best moments of the night occurred while we were walking into the venue; in a knot of people at the main gate a guy in a gold sequin tux took one look at us and said, "You guys are Burners!" High-fives all around!
The show on Friday was great! The band played all the crowd favorites, including "Black Clouds" (which I had wanted to hear), "Jellyfish", "Texas", and many others. It was a great night, and many people were in costume and everyone seemed to be having a blast. We ran all over the coliseum, spending time up in the seats and down on the floor, exploring and having a great time.
Orion was awesome through it all. He slept in the car almost the whole way up and seemed to really enjoy being at the show. He loves watching the hula hoop girls and smiling at all the people who come up to say hi to him. One guy in particular, who was dressed as a big sparkly sultan, was juggling LED color change light-up balls, and Orion was so mesmerized. The guy came up and offered one of the balls to him, and he reached out with all his little might to touch it. That was a cool moment! Lots of folks thought he was Baby Carlos from The Hangover, and we had to keep explaining that he was a real baby, not a prop! It was pretty funny, too, as many people asked if it was his "first Incident" (meaning first String Cheese show) and we got to say no, it was his fourth (or fifth, on the second night). Several people laughed and said he'd seen them more times than they had!
They closed the show with Michael Travis, the drummer, dressed up as David Lee Roth in a spandex suit and wig and did a cover of "Jump", which was just a warm-up for the ridiculous night to follow! We headed back to the hotel, glad for a place to spread out, and feel asleep quite late.
When we woke up on Saturday around 8am, we looked at each other and asked the same question: "Are we going to the Rally?" John Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive" was Saturday 10/30/10. We really wanted to go; DC is about 3 hours from Hampton, but that's 3 hours closer than we are here. We considered getting up early to go to the Rally, and then turning around and coming back for the second show. Technically the timing should have worked for us; but we were feeling kinda lazy after the day and night before... So we struggled with the decision for a bit, but finally decided that we would probably see it better if we just chilled at the hotel and watched it on line. We ended up lazing around in bed at the hotel, playing with a very happy baby, and thoroughly enjoying the Rally, which was huge! During the Rally, they announced that they were estimating about 150,000 people; now they're saying the numbers were about 215,000!!! The permit they got was for 60,000, and they didn't have the speakers to get to all those people. Aerial pictures are amazing. Abraxas the Dragamuffin, our favorite gold dragon art bus/mutant vehicle from Burning Man, even made it out!
However, I'm glad we didn't go; some friends of ours did, and they said it was an ordeal. Hours to get on and off the Metro, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, no sound or sight lines to the event, miles of walking... It would have been great to be there in so many ways, but our day doing nothing but playing with Orion and hanging around was great in its own way, too.
We took our time getting ready on Saturday and wore more elaborate costumes. I had a Burner/Cowgirl/Fairy thing going on with furry boot covers, the Disco Fringe Cowboy Hat, and festival coat. Russell went pirate! We got to the parking lot early enough to chill and cruise around. We met up with Liz and Dave, so I could pass the most recent sewing commission off to Liz. Her outfit was a corset and skirt of batik cottons with EL wire stitched all over it. I didn't get to see her in it, but she said it was awesome! We hung around with some folks parked next to us who were on Dead tour quite literally before we were born. They had a need little cast iron hibachi cauldron deal and were grilling up all kinds of goodies, which they were kind enough to share with us. As we were getting ready to go into the show, I ran over to a trashcan and caught an amazing view behind a stand of trees; the coliseum sits on the edge of a pond, and the sunset was so beautiful behind the lit up Mothership. I ran for the camera... Jogging over to the water's edge with my coattails flying in the wind, I got mobbed by a group of women who wanted my clothes. It was a good moment, feeling once again supported in my clothes-making dream while also getting some amazing photos of the venue under a gorgeous sky.
We finally strolled up to the venue, where we finally ran into some of the folks from the Conscious Alliance. They are an organization that collects food and supplies for local folks in need at festivals and shows; they feed an amazing number of people a year. They are so successful because they give amazing posters in exchange for the goods (or you can purchase them). The Hulaween poster is in fall colors with a sexy hooper fairy. We had seen it on line ahead of time, and Russell got it together to collect enough canned goods and a few bars of nice soap from our stores to donate. However, until we ran into the guy we hadn't found the donation sight. When we talked to the guy, he was nice enough to give us a poster before we even went back for the cans, enabling up to make one trip to get the goods and drop the poster. I felt really proud of us for getting it together to actually make a donation of goods - go Russell for motivating that one!
Finally we got into the venue and it was clear it was going to be a wild night. Many more folks were partying at Shakedown in the parking lot beforehand, the crowd was noticeably bigger, and there were more (and more elaborate) costumes. When we got into the coliseum, we decided to find a good spot to change Orion before things started, so we skirted the floor and went back out to the concourse, where we found Crash, John, and Sateesh. Crash is my good friend who I met out at the Burn some years ago; she's one of my favorite people ever, and we knew their presence at the Saturday show was going to make it even more fun! John was a green fairy and Crash was in her super fabulous Rainbow Brite costume. There were several in the crowd both nights, but hers was by far the best.
Running into Crash and company derailed our plans to find a spot to change the baby, so we went back out onto the floor and then opted to run up to the balcony and find a spot to sit. It was packed, but as we were casting around for two seats a really nice couple in the front row gave us two that they were saving. The view was excellent and the people we sat next to were very generous; they gave us water and carrots (yum!) and were quite pleasant during the show!
Orion had a big night, too - he was more fussy during the second night, but mostly he just wanted to nurse a lot. I didn't have a problem with that, so he did pretty well. He became very interested in our lemonade cup, which had a yellow lid and big pink plastic straw. He played with it quite a bit and even gnawed and sucked on the straw - he even managed to drink some water out of it, which surprised him a bunch!
The second night of SCI was the big night for Halloween, and the band did three sets plus a long encore. The second set was the 'musical costume' set, in which they did a bunch of covers. They came out after the first set break in wild spaceman costumes and said that since they were playing the Mothership, they wanted to take us to space with the music! The songs they covered mostly all had a space or flying theme, but the best part was when a special guest came out. He was all in costume, so no one could tell who it was, but everyone around me in the crowd was saying, "It's Keller, it's got to be Keller!" A sentiment which I wholeheartedly agreed upon! Still, no one could see who it was and the band only announced him as "Saturn Claus" due to the faintly Santa Claus-like space suit he was wearing. It wasn't until he started singing that it became clear that Saturn Claus was, indeed, our favorite musician: Keller Williams! They went into a cover of Parliament Funkadelic's "Mothership Connection" and then did Dee Lite's "Groove is in the Heart" (which I'd been hoping KW would play the last several times we'd seen him). That pretty much made my night, but there was still the third set and the encore to go! Fabulous! We danced like crazy for pretty much the whole show, but toward the end we moved down to the back of the coliseum, close to the main entrance, so that we could beat the crowd out to the parking lots.
After a fabulous show, we headed out back to the hotel, completely blissed out, and made a last-second stop at Waffle House. I never eat there unless it's a ridiculous hour (and therefore the only option), but something about it makes me smile; perhaps because I know I'm there because I've just had a great time!
To end the night on a fun note, Orion and I took a bath together to get the mess of the show off us (mostly glitter). He decided this was the night to discover splashing! He kept lifting his feet as high as they would go and then slamming them down into the water and giggling as it splashed everywhere. It was a sweet end to a great weekend!
Every time I see String Cheese Incident I think, "that might have been the best show I've ever seen". I'm happy to say this was no exception, and as always traveling with Russell reminds me again how much we love each other and how well we vibe together. We have a good life!

Well Hello Strangers!

My goodness, but it has been a while, hasn't it? Time flies when you're having fun - and also when you're very, very busy!
We've had so much stuff happening lately that I can barely keep up. Suffice to say, I haven't felt much like writing on here because my brain has been just a bit fried! Orion has started pre-teething, which has translated into him sleeping very little. He's not overly fussy, he just doesn't sleep more than an hour, maybe two, at a time, and often with long gaps in between snooze sessions. This of course means that I was averaging 4-6 non-consecutive hours of sleep in a night, and after over a week of that, I was feeling very sleep deprived and out of it. Other than being more cranky than I've ever been in my life, sleep deprivation tends to make it hard for me to communicate clearly. My brain might formulate a cohesive thought, but by the time it travels to my mouth, the language gets all screwed up and nonsensical garble tends to come out. I even laugh at the weird stuff that I say, or just have to shake my head and wonder what it was I actually meant to convey. Oh well!
These lack-of-sleep nights have been tough on all of us, including my poor MacBook. Russell got up late (early) with Orion one night (morning) around 4am, and finally got him to go to sleep in his swing. Russell decided to snooze on the couch till he had to get up for work, and set his phone's alarm. The phone was placed precariously between my laptop and a glass of milk that I left out around 2am when I was up with the baby. You can probably imagine what happened next... I woke up later that day to discover a computer that wouldn't turn on and a very bummed out note from my honey. Fortunately, I paid for the insurance on the machine when I got it, and only had to pay for the upgraded machine (MacBook Pro, holla!) and a new insurance plan. Of course, I also lost two years+ of accumulated data from my old machine, including all that product photography, stuff I did for the wedding, baby photos, and countless other items. I'm still grieving the loss of some of that stuff, but as I keep reminding Russell (and myself) it was just stuff. Stupid me for not having it backed up; lately I'd been thinking I needed to get an external hard drive, and just hadn't done it yet. Now I have... Since I've been going back and forth to Best Buy in the past week while I get the exchanges worked out, I figured I'd go ahead and add the price of a Time Capsule to the computer replacement fees. That sucker is cool; it's a Wi Fi external hard drive, so it backs up both of our Macs automatically, and it's an airport so it works as our wireless internet router and networks in the printer... Pretty cool, actually. I can't imagine why I waited so long to get one, other than the price tag!
In other, happier news, my creative business Sachi Ivy Designs has been doing pretty well! I created a Facebook business page with portfolio shots of plays that I've done costumes for, as well as photo albums of various projects and jewelry that I've made. It's linked to my Etsy shop as well, so folks have an easier time finding me and checking out my work. I also spent a lot of time re-shooting the goods for sale, and the better product photography has lead to more frequent sales! On top of that, I've had one commission order after another this past month, starting with the Autumn Gown, a non-traditional wedding gown for Katie, who is getting hitched this weekend in the botanical gardens! The gown is green jacquard with tons of hand-dyed leaf appliques, an empire waist, double skirt, and a corseted lace-up back. Very pretty! I'm also currently working on a corset and skirt set for Liz, who commissioned the project for Hulaween and the NY New Year's Eve Phish shows.
The biggest news lately in relation to my sewing penchant is that I landed a job doing costumes for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to be performed at the Carrboro Arts Center in December! The design style is going Steampunk, and I couldn't be more excited to be on this project! I need to clear the decks and get ready for a big push over the next month; I'm planning on 'pulling' most of the costumes, but for a couple of the big characters (Wonka, Veruca) we may need to build from the ground up. Either way, it's going to be great portfolio fodder and gives me yet another (very needed) reference!
On the work front, things are going well at Trader Joe's. I'm only working about 3 days a week, so it's not too stressful. I've recently been put in charge of the Demo counter, so I'm making up menus and writing orders for supplies and food items. It's been a bit bumpy to start, but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of things soon!
And finally, this week is off to a good start, partially because we're all looking forward to the big ending: HULAWEEN! For those of you who don't know, our favorite band The String Cheese Incident is performing two shows at the Hampton Coliseum in VA on the 29th and 30th. We're going and we're so excited! I just need to decide which costumes to wear! The real pincher on this one is whether or not we'll rally our energies to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive in DC on that Saturday; we really want to go, but it might be too much to slide that in between the two Cheese shows. We'll see; we just found out that Abraxas the Dragamuffin, the big gold dragon art bus from Burning Man, is going to roll with the March - I want to be there for that, for sure! It'll just depend on how much energy we have and how cooperative Orion is with our wild plans. Usually he's game, so we'll just have to see!