Yarrr!

Ahoy, ye scurvy dogs! It be (the day after) Talk Like a Pirate Day, and we be wearing the appropriate vestments!

Happy birthday to me!

Forgot to post this last week... I wore the birthday hat at work for my birthday! Damson tried to blend into the hat.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Yes, we did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge! For the unaware and for posterity, this is what I'm talking about: someone who does the challenge nominates you (and a couple other people). Then, you have the choice to either donate $10 to ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis) research and dump a bucket of ice water over your head, or donate more (I've heard varying rules, from $25 to $100 or more).

My husband, whose name is also Alex, was nominated by his friend. Since we have the same name, I decided to do it with him. You can see that here if you like.

Damson wanted to join in the fun/donations, so I made an LV-friendly version of the ice bucket challenge. His video is below:

Disclaimer: No LVs were harmed in the making of this video! (Even though the ice cubes are like, half his height.) I didn't know how Damson would react to being totally soaked through, so I thought this water-less ice bucket challenge was a more appropriate way for him to show his support.

My mother-in-law actually matched the donations from me and my husband, so I'm calling that a donation from each of my LVs. (Yes, Piper did the LV-friendly version too!)

And here's a photo of me with Damson after I did mine:

Glimpses of Things to Come

Two little things this time...

First, about a week ago, Husband had his white coat ceremony at medical school. The first-year medical students have their white coats (symbols of doctor-hood) bestowed upon them, take the Hippocratic Oath, etc. We did a two-LVs-in-one photo because a lot of people were walking by and he gets embarrassed when I pull out LVs and start taking photos...

Also, I'm not going to explain this one, just leave it here as a portent of things to come...

Happy Birthday to the Library!

Today was the big birthday party for our library, because we opened one year ago!

We had little buttons for the staff (and any LVs who happen
to be visiting with staff...)

We had little feet on the floor around the library for patrons to follow,
and they lead to different stations around the building on the "Trivia Trail."
Each station is marked with a festive balloon, and has a photo of an event
from the past year, and information about that area of the library!

Banners to celebrate!

And no birthday party is complete without a birthday cake!
Our library is a joint-use library, thus we are the JUL ("jewel").

DCI

After we visited Beth and came home for a day, we left again to go see two DCI (Drum Corps International) shows: one in Charlotte NC, one in Salem VA.

Damson enjoying the Blue Devils show, "Fellini-esque" (they're in first for the season so far)

Chilling by the rooftop pool in Charlotte

The view from the rooftop pool

The view off the side of the roof at the hotel

Ahh, poolside relaxation

 

A tiny glimpse of the mountains, driving from Charlotte to Salem

Carolina Crown (my personal favorite corps and 4th in the season so far)
does an encore presentation at the Salem show while judges calculate scores

If you've never been to a DCI show, you should check it out sometime. There's just nothing like having your face blown off on the 50-yard-line by a spectacular horn line, and DCI has the most spectacular of them all. Plus, supporting the arts is always a good thing.

Cosplay

Have I mentioned that I'm going to NYCC in October and that we're cosplaying as Game of Thrones characters?!? Well, this past weekend, Damson and I took a trip up to Fairfax to visit my friend Beth, who is the creative genius behind the costumes, so she could start making my Margaery Tyrell dress!

Since the fabric for the top was specially ordered (and dyed at home)
we made a practice top out of plain white cotton. Damson and Piper observe.

Beautiful beautiful pattern on the top piece!

All the pieces are cut for the top.
Around this time, I stopped taking LV photos and started helping Beth, so we skip to...

The mostly finished product!
We still have a few little fixes to work on, but this is it!

For reference, the original dress we're trying to match looks like this:

Hooray for Beth! Damson and I learned a lot... like how to lengthen a skirt from a pattern, how to iron velvet (hint: extremely carefully), and to always check to make sure the snap pieces match up before sewing them on.

We also snuggled with the kitties during our short breaks:

Tyrion gives Damson a kiss