My Independence Day

Gonna try this again.

No kids tonight. R. & C. are at CONvergence, and I haven't heard a thing from them. Too busy being all sci-fi geeky and shit, I bet. And J. is going to her grandma's for the night.

So this will be my first Friday on my own, no need to check on or check in with anybody. My plans are simple: drinks with a couple of friends, (one of whom is going to see "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" with a couple of my comps), then dinner with a close girl friend, and possibly ending with a viewing of  "Mostly Martha" hosted by the St. Paul Public Library, at the Central location. They're offering "Foodie Flicks" on Fridays in July; I'm hoping to make it to most of them.

Creations this week:
Tuesday: I wrote a kickass cover letter for my resume, then sent it off to CTC. I also had a swim date with a dear friend; the pool was heavenly, especially during this heat wave. We created a fun, cooling interlude in our busy lives, and made a few plans for later this month. From there, on to the Caves for my Cigarette girl gig. Turns out, it was an international business group of some kind (don't know what business), and I was quite a hit with the Europeans! 

Betty the Cigar Girl

"Cigars, poker chips, mints, chocolates?"

Sadly, the chocolates I had to give out were American milk chocolate, which isn't so popular in other countries, but they appreciated the novelty of the "cigars" and "poker chips". Some of the men were disappointed I didn't have real cigars - they wouldn't have been able to smoke them inside anyways!

Wednesday: Happy Independence Day! I helped R. with her final costume for CONvergence - a silver metallic knit catsuit. She did an amazing job! No pattern, very little experience - and it turned out really good. I taught her how to use the serger, helped her with a few patterning and fit issues, and put the zipper in for her; but the majority of it was all her doing! Then R. and C. modeled their various outfits, and I took pictures. R. posted them on her tumblr site; I'll have to wait until they come back with the camera to post any photos.

Thursday: First, R. needed a zipper put in her hobo bag; she didn't want it wide open, with her money and phone easily accessible. I had to reconfigure the top a little bit, to get the zipper to work; and the straps had to be removed then reattached. but it worked for her! Later that evening, I ended up helping one of the other costumers at Shakespeare & Company with some finishing on vests. I suggested using snaps for closures instead of making buttonholes, especially since a couple of the vests were a little too snug to get really good buttonholes; then just sewed the buttons on top of the snaps, for effect. Easy-peesy, and super-fast finishing.

On tap for this weekend: getting my Cymbeline costumes ready; I've got some shirts to build, a couple of matching tunics to put together, and headwear to figure out. And shoes; all the actors need shoes. I'll think about that tomorrow.