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I look forward to meeting you!

For a while now I've wanted to show off some of the accessories I've been making for Manifest. Here is just a quick sneak peak of the kind of jewellery and accessories I'll be selling:

Those little roses are earrings I've been hand making. The large bow on the left is mounted on a hair comb and the mini top hat is my first proto type that I'm quite proud of. Also the standard macaroon, cookie and cake cream rings and charms.

Just went and saw Ice Age 3 in 3D at the cinema with Rowan. It was a great movie but my angry girlie parts were killing me by the end. I am home now with a tea and a hot water bottle. MmmMMmm.

Received another letter from the Department of Health and Human Services again this morning informing me that it will be up to a year before I can even get an appointment with a specialist at the Hobart Public Hospital to assess what I need done with my nose surgery. I was already aware of this since I got a letter 6 months ago saying the exact same thing.
For those of you who don't know I have a broken nose and am am only physically able to breathe through my mouth. Given I also have asthma this can become quite problematic at times and quite often I forget to breathe or it becomes too hard to breathe that I stop myself just so that my lungs can have a rest.
In High School I saw various GPs and was put on the waiting list for the Hobart Public Hospital for two (or three, the third was risky so it was being put on the back burner) surgeries to fix my nose my re-breaking and setting it, removing pollops that had formed and other bruised cartilage so I could regain the use of my nose and ultimately be able to breathe far better than I am able now.
I was on the public system waiting list for over three years and never got my operations. After college 2 months before I was due to move interstate with my parents (this was just before Christmas, in 2000 I think) my Mother and I booked one last appointment with my ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat specialist) to see if there was any way I could have my surgery before I left. This is where it gets really frustrating, my ENT specialist was surprised that I hadn't had my surgery yet and said that he could have done it many times if he knew. (He was my own damn Doctor! o_0;) He said there wasn't any way I could have my surgery done in the public system in the two months before I was due to go away. My Mother asked if I could have it done in the private health system and that she would be happy to pay any money needed. My ENT specialist them told me that yes I could, but he wouldn't allow it because he was going away on holiday and he didn't want to miss any of it or worry about his out patients while he was away.
It was all very emotional and I think my Mum was about to leap over the ENT specialist's table and punch him in the face.

TLDR; I didn't get my surgeries and after moving back to the state put myself back on the waiting list 6 months ago and here I am. The public health system is worse than before and because my condition is only category 3 it will be years more before I can get anything done given that I'm still waiting for my first appointment again. I've all but resigned myself to the fact that I'll have the money to have it done privately before I could ever get close to having it done in the public health system.

Long entry is long. That letter brought up a lot of bad memories and sour feelings. If the public health system was a person I'd kick them till they're black and blue.

My second day off today and I can't believe how tired I am. (I haven't been called back into work yet, hooray!) Apart from grocery shopping I haven't been anywhere because Rowan is still home sick but I still feel really worn out. Dave and Jason are also sick so it must be going around. I've decided to hold off on my spa plans until next week, Rowan should be all better by then too. I feel like I've wasted two of my days off already but it can't be helped with Rowan is unwell. I'm just so worried about him, usually it's the other way around and I'm sick with him looking after me. I'm not used to it being the other way around. I feel so helpless.

In the mean time I've decided to make a post fantasising about buying all of these shoes because they're stunning and I'd love to have them in my life:

These also some in white and pink but I think the pink ones are darling. *0*

These look so classy and would suit a little black dress so well. The rhinestones around the top of the gold heel are so sweet.

I would so wear these shoes with a floral print Classic Lolita ensemble.
Hopefully I can own a pair of two of these beauties by the end of the year.

In merchandise news, my shirts are being printed next week. So excited!

I'm free! Free from my amazingly long week at work at least, I am so tired but at least I can sleep in as much as I want tomorrow. Evidently Martin called EB Games early this morning before I got in and he may have swine flu (he got back from Melbourne yesterday) and asked if I could cover his shift at work tomorrow. Damien took the call and told him that I couldn't because I really needed a day off. (Yay!) So James and who-ever can sort it out tomorrow. I have this horrid feeling that I will be called into work though. So tempted to turn off my mobile and unplug the phone from the wall.
I need to buy some more moisturiser tomorrow because work has really done a number on my hands. My cuticles are torn to shreds and my hands are really dry and generally feel unpleasant.

My poor sweetie is sick. Rowan had the day off work today which is strange for him because his immune system is usually very effective. I feel bad that I couldn't stay home and look after him so I did as much for him as I could before I left and then when I got home I made some vegetable soup for dinner. He's having a nap on the couch right now, I hope he has a good sleep tonight.

I'm so relaxed right now, I only hope that Rowan feels better soon. At least if he stays home tomorrow I can pamper him.

Still not sure how I'm going to survive these next couple of days. My body can't take any more late nights and then working all day the next day. I've been having painkillers for breakfast every morning with my cereal to try and calm my headaches and last night I had half an hour to rest after work before I went out again and didn't get home until after 11pm. During my half hour rest I was eating a few pretzels because I didn't get time to eat anything at work and I fell asleep while still eating them. o_0; Rowan took a photo of me asleep on the couch with a pretzel sticking out of my mouth.
Just have to last to Wednesday then I'm home free.

Work in progress of a drawing I started today:

After I got home from work I called Erika again asking if she's heard anything about our Manifest tables and she said that she hadn't. She pointed me to Cari-An's (the person in-charge of traders) number and I called phoned her up. I feel stupid for not doing it before because she was able to answer all my queries and put all my worries to rest right away. It is confirmed, Erika and I are trading at Manifest! w00ts! Now I can place my shirt order. I also got my hair combs and head bands yesterday so I can start making more hair accessories.

The Lolita meet was on Saturday! It was so much fun, it ended up going for far longer than I anticipated but it was great. Although I was late again because I was trying to fix my hair. Sometimes I hate my hair so much. Just a couple of photos from the meet:

MmMMmm McDonalds.

I loved twinning with loli_holic!
The rest can be seen here @ egl.
After the meet I went home, stripped off and flopped on the couch watching Stargate Atlantis all night. The next day I had work and it was alright except for the fact that our eftpos machines were down which means we could only accept cash payments. Most people were cool with it and understood that it wasn't our fault but there was one lady who wouldn't let it go and berated me for several minutes about it. Wtf?! Yes I should have told you when you called that our eftpos machines were down but I had just gotten to work. Give me a break you crazy lady.

After work Rowan and I had a wonderful dinner at his Mother's house and I made some apple and blackcurrant pie to take.

I am so tired of waiting. I'm still waiting for my crown ribbon dress and Erika still hasn't heard back as to whether we're confirmed as traders for Manifest or not. They said it would take a week to hear back and that deadline was up last Thursday. Sucks ass because I don't want to confirm my shirt order and front the money until I find out whether I can trade at the Con or not. Augh. *epic flail*
Hopefully I hear something by the end of the day today or I just might go insane. Again. More.

After watching all the Sailor Moon I had I watched the newest episode of Australia's Next Top Model. It's such a guilty pleasure for me and usually the complete opposite of things I like to watch but I'm really getting sucked into it. I'm still upset that Frankie left last week, I thought she was gorgeous. I'm pretty confident that Cassie is going to win which is such a shame because she's the biggest bi-atch on the show and she doesn't seem to be working as hard as the other girls. She's already bawwed and almost left the show twice.

Speaking of guilty pleasures, I went to Spotlight today and scored myself a glue gun and many other pretty things:

I love the spotted pink and gingham ribbon and it was only a few dollars each per roll. And fake flowers yay! I adore how lovely fake flowers have become, you can buy some really gorgeous ones that look quite real. Also a plus for me since I'm allergic. My wedding flowers are all going to be fake so I don't have an asthma attack and pass out walking down the isle or at the reception. While I'm sharing photos I just found one I took the other day on my camera phone when out to lunch at Yume with Rowan. Never before have I failed at breaking chopsticks so hard:

Breaking chopsticks has never been a problem for me until they pointed it out on Azumanga Daioh and now I usually fudge it up quite badly. At least I got to have a delicious bento afterwards. It's a shame they don't serve their fish udon any more; they had the most amazing udon I'd ever tasted.

I am now scampering away to Erika's house to discuss our Manifest plans further. We're both biting our nails in anticipation for our confirmation email to let us know that we actually have a table.

Due to iiNet my Internet service provider being all stupid-faced a lot of websites haven't been working for me the last couple of days, including Livejournal. I have been suffering some hardcore withdrawls too. Did I miss anything interesting?

I DREW SOMETHING. I think I can hear the hallelujah chorus now. I am filled with so many happy feelings right now.

importance of looking gorgeous by =heartofglitter on deviantART

Lazily getting ready for work, thankfully today is only a 3 hour shift since I hate working weekends.
Erika called last night to chat and talk about our Manifest table some more. 20 minutes into the conversation I heard someone ask 'Can I try this on?' and it occurred to me that she always works Friday nights and she was at work! She said the store was all but empty though; she works at Susan Grae and it's a wonder they get any business at all between 8 and 9pm.

Last night I had a dream that I went to my local second hand / antique store and they had a crocheted bolero with cherries on it just like this one and I was in a mad rush to buy it before anyone else could. I hate trying so hard in my dreams only to wake up and find out that the thing I was working so hard to get doesn't exist. The night before I dreamt about doing 5 really nice paintings and of course awoke with the same disappointment. (My subconscious desire wishing there was a local Lolita store and my sadness at not being more productive art-wise recently perhaps?)

Went to Habitat yesterday and bought some cute little cookie cutters to make some more cookie-like clay jewellery for my stall. I started making them yesterday while watching re-runs of Dr. Who. (David Tennant is such a sexy man. *drool*) I also ordered some headbands and blank hair combs so I can go all-out when it comes to making Lolita accessories for the Con. My next project is to get the sewing machine out after work while my clay pieces are drying and make some cute little alice bows. I also intend to make some huge, garishly pink and sparkly accessories. I will be really resisting the urge to keep them all myself. (Maybe one or two? 8D)

Any way this entry has taken me a good ten minutes to write so I need to go now and finish getting ready.

and I'm there! Just got home from work and the house is a gorgeous 24 degrees celsius. (or 75 degrees fahrenheit) It's so comfortable and cozy. Our heat pump has been in only a few hours and I'm in-love with it already!
I am now going to go and have a fish finger sandwich. Who says I'm not classy? 8D

I've made a post on the forums but figured I'd give a quick heads-up here so people can reply in my stead if there are any threads on egl crying about where Lolita Fashion.org went. Rowan and I are getting our heat pump installed today and need to have a the power off for a few hours, we're not sure how long but hopefully our UPS will keep the server up and running in that time so the site won't go down at all. But just in-case; don't panic the site won't be down for long if it goes down.
Of course although our Internet may be up I won't be able to use it until the power gets turned back on because my PC will be turned off. :D

Then zomg heat pump! The electrician is here right now and we don't have any heating and the front door is open and I did not know it was possible to feel this cold. I can't wait until tonight.

I am freezing my bollocks off right now. I've had the heater on all day and even ganked one of Rowan's jumpers and I'm still freezing. Thankfully I got a call today confirming that we're getting our heat pump installed Wednesday morning. I'm not sure how much of this harsh Winter I can take.

Updated my Lolita blog again today. I would be inspired to get dressed up and play around with some different coordinates of my own if I weren't so cold. One thing I would like to do before it stops snowing on Mt. Wellington is go up there and get some photos taken of myself in Lolita in the snow. I know when I finally do it I'll only be able to stay outside the car for a few minutes at a time before I get too cold or have to wrap myself up in blankets. I figure a few minutes is enough to get enough groovy snaps. Would anyone else be interested in joining me on such a hair-brained adventure? If Rowan drives I can fit two more people in the car and I could bribe Barb to come along in her car as well.

To everyone who ordered something in my Anna House group order... IT ARRIVED TODAY!
Two damn huge boxes, I had to take a photo with my camera phone since Rowan took the other camera to work with him:

I've sent out an email so we can make arrangements to meet-up. I swear this is the last time I do a big group order, I never expected the order to get so big... and ow. Ow my brain.
But it's here now yay and Anna House is awesome and has put sticker sizes on the bags the clothing is in so it will be easy to figure out who belongs to what since a lot of people ordered the same thing. They also put the petticoats in a different box to stop them from getting crushed too much. My Crown Ribbon dress should also be here in the next few weeks also. I am one excited little Lolita!
Still feeling ill so I called James and we re-shuffled my shifts; now I'm not working until Sunday. Score.

I had a weird dream last night, I wouldn't call it a nightmare since it really wasn't one. It was just weird. I think all my working on my Manifest stuff has sparked it, I dreamt that instead of a stall Erika and I were given a small room in the middle of no-where covered in Cheetos cheese balls and all I had to sell was old, ratty wigs. Weirdness.

Also, WTF LADY GAGA?!

Get the fuck out of my fashion and get out now. As if I didn't hate you enough already.

I has swine flu! ... yeah okay not really, just regular flu. It came on fairly quickly yesterday; I was feeling fine all morning and then in the afternoon it all went to hell. I waited until I was dead on my feet to get some sleep and slept soundly all night which was good. Currently snuggled up in a blanket in-front of my desk after telling work I can't come in today.
I think whatever it is I either caught it off Leon of some customers over the weekend. Sucks it had to happen on my day off. Ah well I have another day off now, not that I want to be sick on my days off of work. >_>;

Managed to fiddle with my second shirt design yesterday because I started feeling sick:

Still not 100% sure about this one. I plan to tweak it a bit more and add some details before I decide whether I'm going to have this one manufactured or not.

Also, I love the Singpore Lolitas. The meet-ups they have at Black Alice always look fierce.

My first day off work in awhile so I can finally get back to working on my Manifest stuff. I finished my first shirt design, it's a re-worked version of my previous chibi panda shirt due to the colour limitations. It was really fun re-inking it and adding a few more details, here is the final design that will be printed on black shirts:

I got my parcel of key chains the other day and am now just awaiting my earring and ring bases to arrive so I can finish off my jewellery. After the shirts and accessories are done all that needs to be doing after that is the poster printing which will be easy since Erika and I can do that locally just before the Convention. I can also print the key chain inserts myself.
Hard to believe the Con is only two months away. Erika also heard back from the organiser and they've given us approval to have extra chairs at our table so people can sit down and Erika and the others can do sketch commissions.

Zomg wow! As some of you know Rowan's sister (and my future sister-in-law) Emily is living in Japan with her husband. Every six months or so she sends us a parcel or two and we just got another one, she did tell me she was sending it seemed pretty excited about it's contents. She sent me a Lolita dress!

It's the Bodyline replica of the Innocent World poodle print I used to have. (I used to just have the skirt though.) Say whatever you want about replicas but I still love it and so does Cthulhu it seems. I totally need to repay her by sending her something awesome in return.

I updated my Lolita blog yesterday with an article discussing all the Angelic Pretty / Sweet Lolita antagonism that seems to have followed it upon rise to becoming the current trend of the Western Lolita scene. I'm also currently writing a guide to wigs which has been quite fun to write so far.

While I write this I'm sitting here having my morning tea while Rowan is still being cozy in bed since we both have the day off today. Good thing to since I have to work all day Sunday and I love spending as much time with him as I can. When Rowan picked me up from work yesterday we went to Clive Peters and bought a heat pump! I'm so excited, we've been saving up for quite awhile and it's a good time to have it considering how harsh this Winter is being already. It's bought and paid for but the guy still needs to come around to do us a quote for installation and then install it for us. We're hoping to hear back from him today. Fingers crossed that the installation isn't too much, as it is the flat rate fee is $850.