Tying it up

1. Once upon a time, I asked for suggestions on how to use my Aveda gift certificate, which was due to expire in early March. I got a lot of good feedback, and still wasn't sure what to do, and then we had dinner with Julie and Steve. They're going to a wedding on the East Coast this weekend and Julie talked about how she really wanted a haircut and highlights done before they left. They've fallen on some tough times (as have a lot of people, because duh) and I offered to let her use my gift certificate to get that stuff done at the Aveda Institute. She was all over that, and when we went in yesterday to set it up they told us they weren't taking any more appointments for the day. Denied! The girl extended the expiration on my gift certificate and Julie's mom offered to pay for her haircut so now I'm back to where I started.

2. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I'm going to LA this weekend to attend the 30th birthday of Oldest Friend. Because it's a ball I wanted to find a fancy dress or something otherwise appropriate to the occasion, and did a lot of looking around online and in regular stores. I found some actual, no shit ball gowns in a store in the racetrack mall (the store is called FT Casuals yet there's nothing casual in the store); they sell prom and quincenera and wedding dresses and hooker shoes, and lots of dresses in the store could have worked for my purposes but a) they were all kinda oogly, and b) I still wasn't willing to spend that much on a dress. I tried a few costume stores, thinking I could find something vintage or something I could alter but didn't have much luck. So I called her up and asked if I could wear the dress she wore as my Best Woman - when I made the dress, I made it to fit me because I knew it would fit her; we're the same size. She said yes! So, that being solved, I went about Project Gloves. My first stop was Claire's, thinking that it's prom season and they'd have them if anyone did. Nope, all they had were bright-colored fishnet gauntlets and tacky black lace Madonna gloves. I went on a wild goose chase into 3 other stores to no avail. I guess the girls aren't wearing the formal gloves no mo. My mom has several pairs that belonged to her mother but they're in northern California and I needed some for this weekend; no time to get them to me. Luckily, I mentioned my predicament to Julie because I figured she might have some, having been in about 8 gazillion formal expensive East Coast weddings over the years. "I've never been asked to wear gloves in a wedding," she told me, "but I inherited a giant box of gloves from my grandmother." Her wealthy, New York Jewish grandmother. Who attended umpteen formal functions over the years. I went over to her place and we went through the piles of gloves (and a few hats). Oh. My. There were leather and kid gloves of all lengths and colors (even blue!), there were forearm-length fabric ruched bright yellow and bright orange. There were simple, short ones, black and white, with intricate beading. Many of the gloves had obviously never been worn, since they had the tags still attached and cardboard inserts. It was a fun glove-trying-on party and I'm borrowing four pairs (one black velvet elbow-length, two white kid (different lengths), and one gray forearm-length) to see which ones look best when I have the whole outfit put together. I'll be wearing silver or black shoes, a mask also borrowed from Oldest Friend, and one of four different wraps. Oh yes, there will be photos!

3. I have one project at 95% completion that you'll get to see on Monday and another at about 90% that you'll get to see after I mail it to Jive Turkey. I want them to be surprises, so no peeking this time!

4. Please, think good thoughts for me. My cold took a turn for the worse last night and I woke up this morning with some new symptoms (sore, constricted throat, dizziness - maybe my inner ear is affected?) - a relapse, or have I gotten another cold on top of the one I had? Either way, I ended up going home early from work and napping for some of the afternoon and may not go in tomorrow, just to rest up for my plane trip. I get to stay with Monkey and spend time with Oldest Friend and attend a ball and eat homemade Indian food and I don't want to be sick! No more sick!