Sittin on the porch..

Had a blessedly less busy Thursday evening last night, which I am just not used to having. Got home from class, and had one of my meetings cancelled. Slathered henna on my head, cleaned dishes and went through some papers in an attempt to yet again tame the paper monster. And realized it wasn't even 9pm yet - bliss! Got to actually sit on the porch and talk to my friends for a while. Nice to check in for once.

So I settled in to let my head develop, turned on Carolyn Myss again, and settled in to watch with my inkle weaving for a few minutes. Hooray for Netflix!

Now, I found Carolyn Myss about 5 years ago when my universe was a wreck. There were a few good things keeping me from jumping off a pier, but not too much. But I stumbled across a TV program on PBS with her talking away, and just got hooked. She's a very straightforward kinda new-agey type. There was a time when I got into the floofier varieties of New Agey stuff, but for the most part, I like my facts hot and sizzling and fresh off the scientific research. Everything else is theatre to me, and while there's a place for it, I just can't get as fluffy as I used to. And here's this woman, who's currently a medical intuitive, who used to be in a nice, normal boring career. And the words that are coming out of her mouth, oh boy! She's pretty blunt - it's a different kind of way of speaking.

The part I got to last night in the video("Why people don't heal" I think is the name of it) was about how people find their value and bonding experiences by rehashing their bad times and "wounds" with each other. And she's right - there's something about sharing a terrible thing that's happened to you that can be a socially bonding experience. How many times have you found yourself sharing something vulnerable with someone else way before they know you from Adam? And it can grant you sympathy, acceptance, comiseration, and a sense of comfort that wouldn't normally be forthcoming, right?

Well, there's a dwelling on the past that happens in this exchange that can be draining. I've noticed it when I do it, so I do try not to. There's something about dwelling on an injury instead of a victory that drags your spirit right down, makes you feel like you did at that past point, and drains you away from the here and now. I've had entire friendships with people who only discussed the past, not the plans for the future or what's happening right now. It could have been 10 minutes ago, but it was more interesting to them than figuring out what's next and moving on. No wonder my universe never got anywhere, eh? I did the same thing. Hard to move forward when you're inadvertantly always discussing the past.

And once I started to make a change and started setting things in motion, whew! Hold on to your seats folks, because my universe started kicking into high speed. Changes come faster, good things swing my way more often, and the differences are so drastic that my old self wouldn't recognize my new self. Kinda cool, actually. I have no idea if it works like this for everyone, but my experience has been quite remarkable.

So if you wanna connect, tell me what you're living now. What you're planning. Not that I won't comfort you in times of need and help you heal, but there's healing and then there's dwelling. I know where I want to live, and now seems like a pretty good place :-)

Almost travel ready..

Ordered a travel adaptor and money belt for my trip. I think I almost have everything I want to take with me. My only concern at this point is Frankenstein, my laptop. I'm bringing him, mainly for photos and Internet access and the off chance I need to produce something written for my classes that can't be taken care of with my preferred pen. But Frankenstein is old, and I'm not sure how reliable he's going to be. His battery doesn't charge anymore and I need to see if I can fix that. It's rather annoying to not be able to use him on flights and such because there's no battery power. Starcraft would make that China flight vastly more palatable.

So now that I've ordered the more Macguyver stuff and luggage-y things, I'll see about his needs. Not planning on bringing tons of clothes - I'm going to where almost all of our clothes are made, I'm already planning an excellent shopping spree! Silk, maybe a piece of jade for D's mom, a silk parasol or three, maybe some cool fans, and all of it has to fit into the orange suitcase of doom! Or perhaps I'll take two suitcases and fill the heck out of them. If nothing else, because I know mymom will be buying the universe in silk :-) She's a power shopper and bargainer, and I fully expect to have to extricate her regularly from the street vendors. Should be entertaining.

Found out about an Irish pub in Hangzhou. We'll see if it's really there. I think that would be an experience - having a decent beer in a Chinese Irish pub... We'll see if it's somewhere I'd want to be after dark.

Wow, 5 weeks of work and school, then off I go... It'll be over too fast, I already know that.

Networking sans wires

Well, I've had little luck in setting up a summer internship thus far by applying through the normal routes. Even got grief from school when I asked a simple question about their on campus interview companies. Ugh, and you'd think I was paying tuition or something, geez...

So I've decided to try stealth mode for a bit. I've been shamelessly asking everyone I know if they know lawyers who'd like a free intern this summer. And started making calls and sending emails. Nothing yet, but I've gotten a vastly warmer response by naming names than my resume ever did by chilly cold sending.

Hopefully something will pan out, and I need to get cracking on the Portland area soon too. Fall internships are probably filling up now, ack! So I'll be buried in my resume for a bit while cranking out my Biotech assignments.

But I'm more hopeful that something will pan out from this whole mess, and maybe I'll have a good summer after all. And a bit of time to visit friends too.

Now to figure out - An Tir Crown or Burning Man? Why is it that everything cool is planned on the same 4 weekends every year?

Hmm, things are falling into place nicely...

It's pretty cool when you bust your butt saving and paying stuff off for a year or so, and you come out ahead. Looking at my money timeline, China is paid for, my expenses while I'm gone are paid for, and I'll still have some money left towards my move. I basically just have to come up with another $1200 by August to cover the basic move, rent and first month of expenses. Not as much leeway as I'd like, but it's entirely doable.

Granted, it means that I likely won't do two of the trips I was considering over the summer. As much as I'd like to, it's just not smart to spend the money. Things may work out, but I'm not planning on it.

And my credit cards are all paid off, so I do have a short term safety net, just in case I need it to finish paying for the bar review course or something. Pretty damn cool!

Feeling a bit more relaxed about the whole thing. I know it will work out, I just need to get the basics set up and I'll be fine. Woohoo!

Proof that you can gild a lily and come out ahead ;-)

And Jed looked fabulous in the tunic -Squeeee!

Go me, it's my birthday, oh yeah.... Planning the hot Orkney chick linen chiton of doom, next. Complete with skull border and little men fighting all over it. Teehee, perfect for me :-)

Oh blessed reset button

As much as I wanted to go to West Crown this weekend, I think I made the better choice in visiting my sister. I finally figured out by Friday, while home in pain, that the vicoden which so wonderfully helped my arm heal, ate my intestines. So I spent the weekend detoxing from the painkillers, basking in the warmth of my nephew's adoration, and relaxing with friends and family. It was good for me, I needed the reassurance and rest badly.

Saturday I drove up to my sister's, stopped off to hunt for that bridesmaid dress I need to get, then spent the afternoon and evening with my sis and her family. I adore my godson, and playing with him in the park was fantastic! He loves the swings, just as I did at that age, and he kept wanting to go faster and higher. So I pushed as high as my heart could handle, and I chased him all over the slides and jungle gym as well. His laughter was just a joy, and my sister was relieved to have the help in tiring him out. And I got to hold my niece in the evening for an hour or so, she snorted and cooed and sighed at me. It was just amusing to me, because I was terribly protective of my sister and both kids. Having them around makes me lioness Auntie Jammy. I'm fierce, don't mess with my family :-)

Sunday, I went to the 40th birthday party of one of my dear friends. These are my SCA household friends, despite our general lack of SCA involvement for most of them. But they're my favorite partners in crime, and my former D&D group (ie. excuse to sit around, talk, and drink excellent microbrews). We played a card game, chatted, caught up and it was just wonderful to see them! I let them know about the Portland plan, and they were psyched for me. And they're more likely to visit me in Portland than they ever were while I'm in San Diego. Hooray!

Finally I drove home in the evening, finished my homework, and finished puttering around the house. Just relaxing and fun all weekend.

Congrats to my friends who got knighted this weekend! Very much deserved, and I'm very sorry to have missed it!

And about that stupid logic crap...

Ok, I'm sick of hearing " you think too much with your head, and not with your heart."

News flash folks, I am thinking with my heart. My heart is not interested in more broken-ness. It's not interested in spinning dreams out of air that will never be realized. My heart is not interested in people who promise the world, yet can't handle the reality of me. My heart is intimately aware of what makes me happy. And my heart is strong enough to wait for it. Just because my heart speaks in logic that I taught it, doesn't make it any less of a heart. Some things can't be explained. For everything else, there's mathmatics :-)

Ok, so, my head sat down with my heart for the weekly coffee. It sincerely objected to not being held responsible for my life lately. I live with passion. Just because my passion currently isn't carnal, doesn't mean that it's any less passionate. I have a goal. A very close goal. I have worked my ass off for 3+ years to get here. Why would my heart, in its infinate wisdom, throw that away for just anyone? My heart sincerely objects to being treated like a passenger in something that can only be driven by heart and need and passion through some of the toughest things I've ever done. And I've been through the FBI Academy, an interesting childhood, and other things I don't talk about.

So tell me, why would I throw my heart and passion at just anyone? The first guy to cross my path and show me some attention? Sure, my self esteem isn't the greatest. Thank goodness... I'd be insufferable. But I know what I want, and I can tell who wants it enough to go there with me. And who's got the backbone, courage, strength, and heart to go there honestly. Not sure when I'll find it, not sure if I ever will. But I'll wait and bet he's out there, rather than sell anything short.

So go ahead, discount my heart. Go right ahead. Pretend like it's not running things. I know me better.

Settling....

Had a great conversation last night with a Dear Friend, while laying on the floor and praying for the ibuprophen to kick in. She came by for some face time, since her universe is really quite busy and sad and chaotic at the moment. Apparently she needed someone just to lean on for a bit, and I was happy to oblige. So we wandered through various topics, but really the one that got us jabbering on was the concept of "settling". You know, taking whatever comes along in the fear that nothing else WILL come along.. Most of the time it's referred to in relationships - settling for someone for their one or two good qualities while overlooking the really glaring annoyances that vastly outweigh anything good in it. Again, usually motivated by fear and low self confidence.

Now, I've been there and, after my divorce, I vowed never to be there again. Life is too short, brutish, and hard to live with someone who isn't at least pleasant to be around. So we made a pact not to settle, and to talk to each other to help have the courage to venture long enough to find some happiness. I know what I want, especially after the last year of attempted dating. And she had her list of good things to look for. Neither of us have terribly insurmountable wants, just some basics that any mature adult should have a reasonable helping of. Here's some examples:

1. Kindness - if you're regularly a shit to the people who care about you, no thanks. Simple kindness and an ability to be gentle with those around you is one of the single most attractive qualities I've seen. And lately it seems rare.
2. Capability - need to be mostly self sufficient, pay own bills, have own spending cash, working vehicle, place to live without an ex or parent figure present, and the ability to make major decisions in a reasonable manner.
3. SCA - yeah, I know. At least has to be open to the concept. Preferably a heavy fighter.
4. Confidence - have some form of life that satisfies you. Hobbies, job you like, good friends. With or without a relationship present.
5. Interest - you gotta be interested in me, right here and now. No waiting for me to move, degree to be finished, sun to rise tomorrow, etc. While logistics can be frustrating, if you're truly interested, you can at least be saying that in a clear, inequivocal manner until things are figured out. Indifference is not attractive. Willingness to wait without a commitment of some form tells me you're "settling" for me or it's some kind of stupid "test"- not attractive either.
6. Respect of a good amount of your peers - this is a funny one. Everyone I know is respected by someone. But I can tell a lot by who respects you. If you have people you need to avoid, who want to maim you in dark alleys, who just simply don't like you and aren't afraid to say so, I'm just not interested, thanks. I've had to clean up enough messes this year to know that I'm just not fond of the concept. A screw up once in a while is fine, but you need to be responsible enough to take care of it yourself and understand the consequences.
7. Responsibility - it's a basic. Take care of your own shit, responsibility for what you do, humbleness in fixing things, and pride in work well done.
8. Ability to listen and acknowledge what you're hearing - this here is the single hardest thing to find in our current society. I'm even guilty at times of not hearing what's being said to me, and immediately turning it around to be about me. When someone else is talking, it's not about you. Period. Hear what's being said, repeat if necessary, and soak it up. You don't have to agree, just hear. Extra points for considering what it means.
9. Consistency - Waffles are for breakfast. Wishy washy is not attractive. If you can't make a decision on whether you want to be with me, I can. I'm very consistent - if I'm not interested in talking to you, I'm not interested in you. It's really quite simple. Thanks for playing.
10. Patience - Waiting and seeing what happens is really the key to anything. And it's the only way you get to real trust. Speaking of which...
11. Trust - it's a doozy. I've had a rough time with it for a while now. If I trust you, I trust you wholeheartedly. I didn't think this was a hard one, just act with integrity and honesty. But apparantly it's another tough one, and I can't kinda trust you and be wth you.

There - illustrative, contemplative, gives you a good idea of the basics. No one is more important, some are dealbreakers, some aren't. And the key is that I try to be every single one of them myself. I can't ask something of someone else without living it first. Didn't say I succeeded all the time, but I do try. Anything else would be settling for someone else.

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet...

I'm moving, either in August or December, depending on a few, monetarily related things.
Probably to Portland, things are coming together to move there the easiest and in the most positive manner. You've got a few months to convince me otherwise if you so desire :-)

And I have the most amazing friends..

The Greek tunic from Hell...

And it's allllmost done finally. Finished the painting last night, bit of handsewing tonight and it's off in the UPS envelope. And it's puuurty. I'm pretty damn happy with it, and I hope Jedon likes it too. Here's some photo details:

Here's the bottom hemline, it's the same front and back - warriors hunting lions - applique and acrylic, painted border, all based on vases.

Here's the chest motif - a split lion head, which is Jedon's heraldry. Again, applique, paint:



And the sleeve motif - again, from a vase and applique mostly. Bit of paint for accent:

The whole thing is hand sewn - no point in doing all this hand work if it's not sewn together by hand too, eh? Not bad for my first big applique project. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Things learned: it's hard to get the level of detail I like without having to go over the paint multiple times, Conan the barbarian is just long enough to applique 47 little pieces of suede cloth on each sleeve, bigger is vastly easier and can still look cool, stencils hate me.

That's just annoying...

Interviewed with the City Attorney's office today, and frankly, I'm annoyed. I didn't apply for the Criminal - I specifically applied for Civil. Yet, the person I interviewed with was for Criminal. Ugh. I really don't want to do Criminal. But I doubt I'll get it - they're only taking 10 people and my interview wasn't too great. I realized slowly in the first 2 minutes that I was sitting with a Criminal attorney. But I'm too polite to walk out huffy :-)

So I'll go bug the externship lady and see if she has ideas for civil internships. I'm a civil sort of person, dammit! :-)

Great.... Juuuust great...

So, started studying Mandarin in the car while racing to work, school, and home to sleep.

Now I want Dim Sum. All the freaking time. Nothing like BBQ pork buns.

So I hunted online for a take out dim sum shop in SD. I'll be sampling my finds this weekend before seeing 300 again.

But I can say excuse me in Mandarin. Kinda... Probably have an accent like a southern girl trying to speak French, but oh well. Eventually....

Must have Dim Sum....

Hmm, but there's more in my brains...

Well, after that last post, I'm finding my brain is still full. So here's more randomness for your boredom alleviation...

I've been spending a bit more time than usual at home lately, mainly because I have 3 trips planned over the next month. I'd really like the concept of a cleaner house, and I'm tackling some of the things making it less than clean. I killed the paper monster at my desk last night. Organized the whole box of random crap, threw out a big chunk of paper, shredded the delicate bits, and put the file-able stuff to one side. Now I just need more files to tame what's left, and voila! One quarter of my desk space is reclaimed. The bookshelves are next. I need to pack what I want to keep, sell what I can and add the rest to the garage sale/swap meet pile. And I need to start putting things aside for the medieval garage sale at the end of the month. C was sweet enough to say she'd sell my goodies if I labelled and bagged them for her. Hooray! I don't really need 17 saris... or a lot of other stuff for SCA. And I put the schlager and mask up on the Calafia list, and a very nice fencer type cross posted it for me. Slowly I compact the massive pile of stuff I own.

Next are the fibre and fabric monsters. The fabric is just getting downsized. I have way too much linen and silk in there to truly say goodbye to all of it. And I currently live next to the LA fabric district. Giving up my fabric while living so far away from the fabric district makes me feel like I'm going to starve! But I suppose they actually sell wool up there, which is sorely lacking in the deserts of SoCal. Trade one for the other I suppose. But inkle trim is high on the list of things to crank out while watching netflix, listening to my Chinese course, or listening through my class review tapes. I ended up with a bunch of smurf blue after Estrella - a side point of mainly buying the bargain bags of thread. Luckily I have a number of attractive colors to mix it with. I have a lovely purple, pale blue and smurf blue trim going now that will be quite nice. Despite being mainly smurf blue...

And I was amused to note that while I don't think I can part with any of my musical instruments (in theory once the degree is done, I'll actually practice again!), all of my clothing will fit in the three pieces of luggage I own. Not garb, mind you. Clothing and shoes for the real world. Including my 5 formal gowns, 8 suits, and collection of rude fightig t-shirts. I think I just lost my girl card..

Stairs and other good things

One of the girls at work dragged me along on her usual Wednesday workout. So we ran to the convention center, did stairs, and she ran back. I attempted to convince my legs to cooperate in the walk back. We settled on a quick walk, and I made it back. But dear god, what a workout! Feels really good, but tomorrow is going to be a painful morning. I can tell already...

Did a pile of homework, cleaned the bathroom and watched the last 45 minutes of Under the Tuscan Sun. Good movie. I'm not usually a chick movie kinda girl, but it was sweet. Made me want to go buy a villa in Tuscany. Pity it's not that easy, eh?

Snort...

Still laughing my way through this one... Am I the last one out there to see this?

(click on the Snort header)

Sweet! Back to fighting...

Doc says probably not surgury on the elbow until we see whether addig everything back in makes it worse again. My nerves are still in a screwy place in my elbow, so I still have to be careful and not stress it. But he cleared me for yoga and weight training and hitting the pell again. He's not thrilled about full ocntact, but as long as my armor fits right, he's ok with it. I need new elbow pads, but otherwise, I'm supposed to start ramping back up. Another checkup in May unless something goes awry... In theory, I could be fighting again by Mists Cynagua.. Hmm....Not that I really have any time to train whatsoever. eh..

Oh, only scary thing he said was that if I do need surgury, it's not guaranteed to work 100%. Apparently this is a very common problem of the elbow (like 70% of doctors at a conference had the problem when asked), but anytime you mess with nerves, they may not like where they end up. So let's hope no cutting.

Hmm..

The norse word for "I dont have any friends" is tjaldlaus - technically "without tent" or "without sails"

The norse word for poor is "tolaus" without tools - meaning that you don't bring anything useful to the warband

The anglo saxon word for warband is geoborscipe , meaning "those who drink beer together"

The slavic words for "friend" are druzhe or drugaya, meaning "those who've been through a lot of crap together", in Norse its Drengr

the norse word for agreement or contract is felag, meaning "agreement for the distribution of cows"

the anglosaxon word geoborles means that "we are completely and utterly screwed" and translates literally as "we are out of beer"....

Go see 300!

My personal review of 300:

300 was AWESOME! The lights came back up and the end and I felt like a 5 year old at Disney - Do it again! I want to see it on IMAX. I want to see it every day. I want posters of the MEN in this movie wallpapering my universe. Good god it was good! I felt like writing the director love poetry when it was done. I hated the fact that my doc hasn't released me to fight yet when it was over. It was so tasty, delicious, happy, satisfying, and the use of slow motion wasn't the train wreck I was afraid it might be. I was grateful for the slow motion - it gave me more time with their amazingly sculpted bodies. This movie should be in a museum for the sheer David-esque quality of the men. The personal trainers should get Oscars... Oy! I need a cold shower now just thinking about it. Ok, I'll stop. But run, do not walk, do not pass go, do not collect $200 before you see this movie! And most of the guys I know liked it too. Except those who aren't comfy with lots of almost naked men. Personally, the dudity was just fine for me.

Yes, I know. I sound like a teenage girl on crack. But I liked Leonidis's wife too. Really - she kicked ass, literally! There was much applause at a certain part. If you saw it, you know the one I mean. And I'm writing that quote on my new shield once I make it :-)

Umm, duh?

Sex makes you want more sex

Best line ever in a scientific study: He added, "These studies show that our social relationships and gonads have their own relationships."

Snort. No kidding.

This cheered me up...

the bald head

It's just a damn good set of points.

Just need to get through the weekend....

Ok, it's been over a week now, and it would be nice to get more than 4-5 hours of sleep per night. Those of you who really know me just ran screaming from beig anywhere in my presence. I'm not pleasant when exhausted. Add in the two exams I have to take in the next two days, and I'm just not a very nice person right now.

I think I just have to resign myself to the fact that my neighbors are just noisy, and I'm not going to be able to study at home most of the time. Which sucks, as it's not the way it was when I moved in. But they live there too. And yes, I've asked them to adjust, maybe not hang out outside my bedroom window, etc, but considering they're all smokers and the arrangement of the social spaces, it's not gonna happen. So I'll just plan on heading to school when I have time on my hands and work on my homework there instead.

I just want to get both of these exams done, get ahead in my homework, and get started on the papers I need to do for the semester. It would be really nice to get good grades this semester, but considering how unprepared I am at the moment, I'mnot sure how I'm going to do.

And I could care less about the SCA, fighting, politics, or anything else not related to school or China at the moment. Considering that my arm still aches by the end of every day, and I haven't been cleared to fight for another month or so, there's no point. I don't think I'll need surgery, but I'm not taking changes with the health of my dominant arm. I'd rather focus on real life, thanks. So it would be really lovely for folks to stop asking about my plans for war. I'm not going to be there. I'll be in China. It's lovely that you're all gung ho, but I'm not. I have no reason to be. And yes, I'm cranky as hell at the moment. I'll be better with sleep...

Hooray for Thursday!

After yesterday's hell, today is just such a welcome change! Yesterday was just one of the worst days in a long while. Mercury finally went direct, but not before creating havoc on my ass. Blah. I got home after class and was so wound I didn't get much sleep. Eventually I did, but not before the cats kept waking me up just as I was dropping off. I'm watching a friend's cat, and apparently while everyone seems to be adjusting, once the lights are off, it's on! I kept getting awakened by hissing and snarling at each other, when it's been pretty calm during the daytime. Ugh. I think I got about 5 hours, but it's definitely not enough.

Add in my 2 exams that I've prepared for slightly on Saturday, and ugh. I'm just tired and I don't want to do anything. But I went to school today and got the green light on my externship and a bunch of tools for setting it up. Set up an appointment with my possible directed study professor, and talked to alumni relations about contacts for internships. Everyone was really encouraging and helpful. It's very cool. Now I just have to find funding or some way to support myself while interning. Hooray!

Busy Social calendar

So yeah, West Crown bit the dust when faced with the expense of driving by myself for 12 hours + the amount of homework I need to get done + the ridiculous amount of social crap I need to be at this Spring/Summer. There's an excellent chance I'll be up for Mists/Cyn war instead, it just depends on whether I go to Ciad Crown in Vegas or the war. We'll see.

And yeah, sat down and threw all the social stuff I'm planning on a list so I knew where I'd be for the next 4 months or so. WOW! What a total crapload of busy. I've got a lot to do in a short period of time. No wonder I'm exhausted lately! Time to stay home and recharge the batteries these next two weekends and get homework done ahead of time so I can so it.

Nothing set on school stuff yet. More to follow once I have actual decisions and confirmations from school that things can be worked out. So far, my entire fall is up in the air. Oy!

China is pretty much set. Tuition is paid, paying for housing next week. Bought a massive suitcase, and I'll begin packing next month.

Fantastic weekend!

Had a great time in LA, despite no sleep. Baby cute, family amusing. Had German brunch with household peeps up there. Nothing like good beer and sausage for breakfast! Plans made to scoot back up there instead of West Crown. Family issues, and a need to do a last commission or two before I leave town. So no insane car trip by myself across the whole state of CA. And I'm not crying about that. Once my passenger dropped out I wasn't looking forward to a 12 hour drive by myself to hang out for a day then head home. Too much for one person...

Realized while purusing my friends' various pages that I'm just not a poetry person. Sure, I adore Rumi and Shakespear and certain other wordsmiths. But when it comes to reading poetry, it's almost a ritual for me. I know whose words I like to hear, and it takes a minor mindshift for me to sit still and pay attention. So I just don't read most of the poetry, good bad or ugly, posted on the random blog sites. I just don't. I found that amusing. I'm a poetry snob! Or I just don't want to spend time right now... I dunno, just don't take this as an invitation to send me every long, meandering poem out there. If it's really bad, send it over. I somehow have a soft spot in my heart for truly abysmal poetry. One of those train wreck things I guess :-)

And we're off...

Despite still feeling like crap, I found out some more interesting tidbits o' info from school yesterday. So now the work remains to get China all set up, and begin the process of setting up my summer plans. A good number of possibilities have popped up, so it's time to start arranging the details. Lots to do..

And time to go see the family this weekend. Debating back and forth due to my cold. I may just call and ask my sister what she thinks. I hate to give the baby my cold, but maybe if I can admire from afar, things would work out. I'd love to see everyone, it's always a blast..