Dreary Day

It's a dreary day here in Chapel Hill. The overcast sky and subdued lighting haven't done much for my mood, though the extreme difference in temperature is something to covet. It's actually manageable to get outside.
Not that I have much to do; or rather, much that I can do. My poor Subaru is still sitting in the drive, feeling neglected. I finally worked out a way to get her fixed, but must now orchestrate towing her to the mechanic's place in Durham, where she will linger for a few weeks while she gets fixed up. I can't wait to get that done, but for some reason have stalled on calling said mechanic and organizing a time to get her over there. Perhaps I am unthrilled with the idea of waiting on AAA to send a tow truck to me, which I then must follow to Durham.
There are plenty of errands to be run, but I am still somewhat intimidated by attempting to leave the house with Orion on my own, not to mention that my only available vehicle currently is Russell's old massive Expedition, which I have never driven. I'm not even sure how I'm going to maneuver the car seat in and out of the thing while I can barely maneuver myself in and out of it. I suppose I ought to get used to it... maybe tomorrow, if we don't get everything done today.
Not that Mr. Baby has let me do much today. He seems content to sleep until I attempt to do anything, including eat or take a bath. I did manage to actually get in the tub, but it didn't last long, woe is me! At least I don't smell so much like milk and spit up anymore. Ironic that there's no milk in the house (woe is me again; I'd love a bowl of cereal) but I manage to have milk all over me. Milk milk everywhere but not a drop to drink (for me).
Russell is out in Efland getting the Jeep looked at before the big beach trip this week. We're heading down to Ocean Isle for a week on the shore with his mom's family, who have rented a few houses in proximity to each other. I, for one, am looking forward to getting into the ocean in an extreme way. It's been way too long since I've been to the beach. You may recall that I planned on going the day Orion was born, but he had other plans.
At the same time I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we'll need to pack for a beach week away from home with the baby. I have thought about it vaguely, but have yet to do a thing about it. Then I think forward to flying to Colorado and realize that I'm going to have to do it again, but with much more frugality, as I can't just throw whatever I want in the trunk. We may have to use disposable diapers on that trip, because I'm not sure I want to dedicate a suitcase to a day's worth of cloth diapers. They're great, but they're bulky.
Orion himself is a sweet baby who only gets cuter as he gets bigger. He makes some of the funniest faces and will stare at us with wide eyes when we mimic his looks. He has also become more adept with his hands, though he still doesn't know that they're his. He is grasping and holding things to his body quite a bit, however. He's also starting to sleep for longer periods at a time, which has been a blessing for me. Four hours is a huge improvement over two hours of sleep at a go; and he's getting confident enough that I can put him down to sleep in his bassinet for at least part of the night, which allows me to sleep more deeply. I am therefore experiencing better energy from day to day, though some days (like this one) still aren't the easiest and require several naps to navigate.
In other news, our turtle Toodeloo has gotten much bigger and has quite a voracious appetite. The day after one of the little neon tetra fish died and was replaced with two more, Toodeloo discovered a penchant for sushi. In any case, two of the three red and blue neons have disappeared, we're assuming down her gullet, and the third is missing pieces of her tail fins. Poor thing; I'm assuming she's the original one who was orphaned when her buddy died, and now she's the last of her kind. Both the orange neons (who are a little bigger) are apparently avoiding her advances, as well as the large silver tetra. I worry about the algae-eater, though, because he may be the largest fish in the tank, but he's also the most sedentary. I've watched Toodeloo scoping him out a few times - and we need him, as he helps keep the tank clean. Russell also experimented by giving Toodeloo some butter lettuce, which she dispatched forthwith, so perhaps her now omnivorous diet will deter her from making short work of the poor fish. She'll be all alone in there if she continues with her current buffet of friends.
And that's the state of things today. I hear the familiar rumble of a diesel engine in the drive, which means Russell has arrived...

The Wedding Adventure Continues!

The world of weddings is a terribly commercialized consumerism-based racket. Sometimes as I'm navigating the advertising-choked waters of wedding planning, I think to myself that elopement is a wise choice!
However, that's just not our style. We wouldn't want to miss out on the party or the gathering of friends and family that a wedding entails. Yet at the same time we don't want to get caught up in the wedding industry's concept of "must-haves" and traditions. We want to do it our way, in our style, without breaking the bank.
We've already had a hell of a time with the first and foremost decision, which is finding a suitable venue. I was excited about the beach house and aquarium option, but the time of year that we could get the beach house at a good price is a bad time for everyone involved in school, which is basically all of the wedding party. Obviously that wasn't going to work for us; not to mention that we couldn't afford the rental price for both venues, even with help. So we bailed on that idea after I had already done a lot of legwork - too bad.
We may still rent the beach house for folks who are available, and treat that as our bachelor/bachelorette party weekend and include a bridal shower (of sorts) and Orion's first birthday celebration in that week. This will all be decided based on budget, but hopefully that decision will get made soon.
Then we got excited about doing the ceremony and reception at Chatham Mill, an old textile mill in Pittsboro. It's a huge room, but very funky and rough around the edges - perfect for our Steampunk theme. We figured it would be cost effective and has all the benefits of being local. But the rental fee is actually more than the aquarium and has a bunch of hidden fees, from hiring a bartender to renting equipment and finally paying a fire marshal to inspect our set up! Obviously that threw a wrench into those proverbial gears and we were back at square one.
This launched me into a very serious internet search for wedding venues. It blows my mind how much places charge for simple structures. The Barn at Fearrington, for instance, is hugely over priced - and it's just an old dairy barn. There are squirrels in the rafters. Really. We looked at the Barn at Valhalla, a fabulous event structure where I've attended a few sumptuous parties - but it's too expensive. The French restaurant here in town, La Residance, hosts weddings, but it's an all-inclusive thing wherein we'd have to do everything through them and it's a per-person fee. Screw that. The Forest Theatre is a beautiful spot, but they don't allow receptions and a ceremony there would be interrupted by the inevitable traffic noise - besides being totally weather-dependent. And that's just a few of the places I've looked into...
Finally we went back to one of our earliest ideas: the grounds at Shakori Hills. It's not too expensive to rent the property there for an event, and I've actually attended a wonderful wedding out there already (not to mention quite a few festivals). The trick is that we'd have to rent some equipment and pray for good weather, but so far it's still the best option.
In the meantime, we're really excited about the Steampunk theme and have started brainstorming our costumes, favors for guests, and decorative ideas. As soon as we get a date and venue set, I'm going to start gathering the forces of our friends and vendors and get the word out. A lot of what we're planning is DIY, with a lot of work going into creating costumes, accessories, favors, and invitations... So if you have a hand and would like to get involved, please do!
We are collecting elements for the work, so if you have any old broken clocks and watches, antique junque do-dads, feathers, or interesting Victorian-esque clothes, let us know!

Steampunk!

Already I know a bunch of you are going, "huh?" Steampunk?
That's right; we finally made at least one major decision about having a wedding, and we settled on something we're really excited about: Steampunk. For those of you who are unaware of Steampunk as a genre, culture, art, or fashion trend, I encourage you to take a look at these websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
http://steampunkculture.com/
I've been enamored with Steampunk culture since the first time I really encountered it at Burning Man. In 2007 there was a fantastic Steampunk tree house with an eerie steam whistle out on the open playa. Russell was also introduced to Steampunk art and fashion out at the Burn, and we've both really enjoyed it. Upon further reflection, we realized that a lot of our movie and literature preferences also fell into the Steampunk category. Russell, for instance, really enjoys the anime series FullMetal Alchemist, and we both enjoyed the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman (the first movie of which has already been released: The Golden Compass).
In my case the clothing style is really inspiring; it's got all the romance of Victorian style, with the quirky attraction of DIY upcycling of found materials like gears and clockwork. A broad color palette and a variety of sub-categories make it so flexible in its details. We could take it in a vaudevillian/circus direction, or a post-apocalyptic flavor, or perhaps airship pirate style...
This got me thinking hard about some of the ideas we already had, such as renting a beach house and (possibly) doing the ceremony at the aquarium. How could Steampunk fit in with an easy-breezy beach wedding? The two things didn't seem to fit together well at all. In fact, I had been ruminating on the Steampunk theme idea for a few days without mentioning it, because I had a feeling that Russell would be all for it and I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to it! But I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I said "We could go steampunk" to Russell and that was pretty much that. Now we just have to put it together.
We watched this video (Thanks, StumbleUpon.com, for throwing this one at me): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfJ2xa9nzmw
and it gave me a genius idea and the connecting thread I'd needed: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. One of the iconic examples of early Steampunk, Jules Verne, with an obvious under-sea theme. Perfect for a wedding in an aquarium. And allows for a lot of great images for use in jewelry and on invites... I, for one, am excited.
This is also a huge costuming challenge for me in every way I adore. I'm still in the collecting info stage, but my research so far has been sooo inspiring and fun. I'm about to embark on a major DIY adventure - I intend on doing a lot with feathers, gears, keys, and nautical/sea creature motifs in everything from my bouquet to headpieces. We may even get Steampunk rings, just to be fun.
It's not going to be a normal wedding, but we knew that from the start, I suppose.
We're still trying to make final decisions and settle on dates and places and things, and obviously we've got some time if we're planning on doing this in May 2011. However, the aquarium does get booked up, so we have to move relatively soon. The original date we chose isn't available - but the next day is, which is also Orion's first birthday. We're not sure if we want to double dip like that, but it could happen.
The artwork I've included here is an image I discovered while Google searching ideas, and is attributed to an artist by the name of Lone Momo from the website http://www.hunterbonyun.com/web/about.html - I definitely recommend you take a look at the portfolio - so many fantastic images and great character ideas, with a lot of Steampunk flavor throughout. I'm using it as a basis for my inspiration for the design... And now I'm off to do some sketching! Ahh, inspiration!

So Much Music, So Little Time (and money)

Russell and I both love music, especially when it's presented in festival format. There is something so special about being sequestered away from 'reality' or 'the default world', surrounded by other like-minded people (read: hippies), and inundated with great music for several days straight. Personally, spending a weekend at a festival makes me feel more alive, more myself, energized in a way I just can't get any other way. It's like being a kid again!
Some festivals, like the Lake Eden Arts Festival and the Shakori Hills Grassroots festival, are super kid-friendly, especially because they're both smaller and NC-based. I grew up going to music fests; indeed, LEAF is in large parts responsible for who I am today. I so look forward to introducing Orion to the festival world of fun clothes and play-all-day music and new friends. I know he will enjoy it as much as we do!
In the meantime, though, we've missed all the spring festivals this year. I can honestly say this is the first time in nearly 20 years that I have attended not one festival during the spring season, when they are happening almost every weekend all over the East Coast. Orion is a worthy reason for the festival attendance drought, but I still really miss them and envy my friends who report back on various bands' sets, etc. I also just adore my time with Russell at the fests, since he's such a great travel partner and we have an excellent time together. It's one of the many ways that we are clearly made for each other.
I think my true goal/dream in life is to travel around from spring to fall, hitting every festival possible along the way, supporting myself by vending cool clothes and then hibernating/sewing all winter. It could happen...
To go along with my nostalgic mood today, I've included a photo of us from the Rothbury Festival 2009 (easily the best big music festival currently occurring in the U.S.).
Can't wait till next year - see you there!

Another Shout-Out to the Glam-Moms!

I just wanted to share with you this wonderful project that Jo Ann, Russell's mom, has taken on. She is a quilter, and like most folks who sew she has gathered a wealth of fabric, some of it too small to really be used in another project. Like me, (and most others) she has a hard time tossing it out - and now has found a great use for it.
Jo Ann makes teddy bears - cute, simple, little bears - and donates them to the Orange County/Chapel Hill EMT/Ambulance teams to stock in the emergency vehicles. When a kid has to ride in the ambulance, either because they are hurt or accompanying an adult who is, they get a bear to hold and take home. As an adult who is absolutely not ashamed to admit that I still have my teddy bear (given to me by my best friend Nicole for my seventh birthday) and keep him by the bed, I think it's amazing what Jo Ann's work does for these kids. A bear to hold can be a very comforting thing during traumatic times.
She's made quite a number of them already, and they are now included on the official supply re-stocking lists used by the response teams.
Apparently she's even saved a few for Orion to play with when he's at her house - he's a lucky boy!
And I know how much the kids out there benefit from her bears, and I think it's really special that she does this for them.

Turtle World

Life in the microcosm known as our fish tank continues to develop! Toodeloo, our Red Eared Slider turtle, is noticeably growing. She has also become quite accustomed to us and will swim to the front of the tank when we open the hatch. She knows who feeds her, that's for sure! She is great at making eye contact, even, and will smile up at us as we drop the food in.
The tank does get dirty rather quickly, so we have to keep up with cleaning it regularly. We've also had a problem with algae springing up in the past few days, so Russell gave the tank a good cleaning. Sadly, when he was relocating the fish to a temporary home in a vase, one of the tiny neon tetras chose a bad time to bail on the net and got crushed. We were bummed about that, especially because his little buddy seemed very forlorn without his twin companion.
This clearly occasioned a trip to the pet store, where we picked up two more tetras and a Plecostomus, an algae-eating fish. We now have three blue and red neons, two orange neons, a silver tetra (by far the biggest and fattest fish of the bunch - he even eats the turtle food!) and Toodeloo.
We're aware of the fact that Toodeloo may at some point decide that the fish we got to keep her company are better used as snacks, but at the moment she's too little to catch them. Hopefully that will continue for a while, because turtles are actually quite social animals and I don't want her to get lonely in there. If it were legal to sell turtles as pets in NC, I'd pick up another baby to keep her company, but so far I haven't seen any other baby turtles in need of a home.
Some years ago I actually bought two Red Eared Sliders for a friend who had always wanted pet turtles. I knew she'd been looking for them and was frustrated by the NC ban on turtles. Florida, however, had no such law at the time and I was surprised to find a kiosk in the middle of the mall full of super-cute quarter-sized baby turtles. I called her, confirmed her turtle desires were still in tact, and bought two. They lived in a tiny plastic tank in a Victoria's Secret bag from St. Petersburg back to Chatham County, in and out of hotels and fast food joints the whole long road trip home. I gave them exercise on an upturned frisbee in the car... Hilarious. The last time I saw them, they were both huge and doing well. I hope that Toodeloo grows up big and stays with us for a while. They can live to be around 40 years old, so she could be part of Orion's life for a while.
In order to give her better shell-health, we got a better full-spectrum bulb for the tank, which she seems to enjoy. She hangs out on the 'basking shell' we built for her a good part of the day, and is no longer so shy that she slides into the water if we get close. She likes to do a funny move where she stretches all her limbs out away from the shell, so that her shell is balanced on the high ground and everything gets plenty of 'sun'. We call it 'turtle yoga'!
I still find having the tank in the house very relaxing. The stream of the filter supplies some nice water white noise, which I enjoy when I'm dozing during mid-day naps with Orion. It's also very soothing to sit and watch the fish - Russell even likes to hold Orion up to look at the tank. He does look, but at this point I think it's mostly just the color and light that attracts him. Regardless, I think we all benefit from our little underwater world.

Orion the Socialite

This photo is a good example of how attention-getting our little man was last night; folks at nearby tables are clearly looking at him and Russell!