I Love The Renaissance Festival

I'm blown away by the fact that Ivy wanted a crown so bad that she actually got on that ride! There is hope for us taking her to Kennywood next year, after all. The little goofball is growing up. She had a great time on Sunday. So did we. I could spend days at the Renfest just because of the art/clothing/crafts. We ended up with another print from Delight. She's so pleasant that we always end up buying from her.

There was a booth that sells clothing where they had this handworked, purple, leather fairy costume...I should have taken a picture. It was $1500.00 and worth every last cent. The wings alone were sick enough. They were also made from leather and came to a point with these claws at the end. Oh to be rich. I would have bought it in a second. Delight told me that some heavy woman tried it on and left her granny panties on underneath it. This was a sexy, revealing outfit, mind you. I hear it was an interesting sight. Haha. Sorry i missed the show.

On Friday (going back in time here), we pulled another South Side all-nighter...and when you have to work in the AM on Sat, that is NEVER a good idea. I have a vague recollection of coming out of Dee's and devouring a Mike and Tony's gyro on some steps. Mmmmm...that's the best kind of meal. Frickin' Dee's with their 5.00 pitchers. That's devil magic there. Earlier in the night, there was this gorgeous Asian girl at Tiki who was just so starved for attention that she pretty much stripper danced all over the place all night. I am proud to have made her dance with the old drunk guy in the corner. That was classic. When I told her to do it, she actually looked at me all creeped out and said, "REALLY?" So, uhm, yeah, the hooker at the bar had standards. Of course I made her do it and it was great...particularly because he got all into it and his pants were falling down and everyone could see his tightey whiteys. Classic. I'm like a comedy coreographer.

Yesterday I went to Volant for a Tea Association meeting. The lady's shop...what was it called again???? Anyways, it was really cute. She had a tea tasting bar and a little gift shop. I MISS THE TEAROOM. Everytime I visit another one, I am reminded of how superior AntiquiTea is to all of the others. I hate to be like that, but it's the God's honest truth! It's coming along now, though. My Dad is finishing up on the plumbing, the rooms are getting painted/wallpapered/trimmed out. It's going to be so fantastic. I will miss the Masquerade, but whatever.

Yeah, I said Masquerade. And I have to touch on this before I forget about it. Chuck is gone. He got another job. It sucks so bad now because the guy replacing him for the Halloween season is an auditor for the company. He's more "by the books" than our store manager is. It's more like a real job now. Chuck and I have been friends and hanging out since I met him there a year ago. Nothing beats working with a good friend, especially when they're your boss...ESPECIALLY when they're Chuck. If I wasn't leaving after the Holiday, I would have taken his job in .02 milliseconds. And I know I could have had it. Why couldn't he have left us 6 months ago when I could have had the full-time, salaried position for a while? Ugh. Bad timing there. At any rate, it sucks that hes gone and it sucks to have this perfect job dangling in front of my face when I know I can't take it...booooooooooo!

On a lighter note, life is grand. Love it. Laters.

I Love Doing Things

Haha, whatever. I'm bored and lazy right now. I have nothing interesting to write about.

All I've been doing is working here, working there, and working everywhere. I did another hard labor mission at the tearoom. Finished up some painting that needed done. Boring. I spent hours by myself in a little cubby-hole that is going to be as a server station. My dad gave me lessons in painting and sanding door trim. My dad is hilarious. He's the most insane perfectionist I know. I love going out there and working with him.

Evan and I went up to Nunny's (future Moon Run party central) yesterday after deciding to hold off on the Renaissance Festival until next weekend. Eff you, rain!!! I grabbed a hammer and started an obsessive nail pulling tornado. I must have cleaned out thousands of them. I love that sort of mindless, repetative work. My hands be hurtin' today. Evan finished ripping out the walls in what will be our bedroom. There was so much soot underneath that we looked like dirty little kids. It was pretty hilarious. The shower water was black, needless to say. Now I totally understand the concept of "lather, rinse, repeat...as needed." I'm not afraid to get dirty. And no one had ever accuse me of being a girly-girl after all the times I have had to deal with sewage backups in this curret house of mine.

But dammit I was looking forward to the Renfest since we missed it last year. Last year at this time, my life was a nightmare. Now that things are back to normal (sort of), doing things like that is almost purifying. Plus, the Freshes bought our tickets. Sweet. Free is my favorite 4 letter F-word.

And speaking of what a rotten NERD I am...I got a Halloween costume for Ivy. It's a dragon. It is the cutest thing ever. I decided not to spend a lot of time or money on hers this year since she is so picky about what she wears. I got the costume at work for nothing and she loves it. She was running around in it the other day and going, "roar roar roar roar roar." Hehe, she's the best kid. She said, "Thank you so much for my costume, Mommy. Thanks for buying it for me." She's not even 3 and she has better manners than I do.

I have much work to do on mine and Evan's costumes for this year. I can't wait! Halloween was such a draaaaaaaaag last year thanks to my head being up my ass. I had fun at the party I went to, but it was lacking Evan and that sucks. I look forward to making up for it this year.

Meh, I guess it's time to get off of my ass and do something...

I Love 'I Am Legend', I Hate 'I Am Legend'

I very recently read I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. It's a great book. I was genuinely stressed while reading it, which is how I know. In Nicole's world, everything is measurable by emotions.

Last night, we sat down to watch the latest movie adaptation because Evan finished up reading the book. I knew it was going to be nothing like the book - both because everyone and their mother hinted at it and because of seeing the trailers for myself. Some changes don't bother me as long as they make sense when translating a novel to film. Of course, modernizing a story from the 1950's is a must. The typical movie-watching minds can't handle anything "old-fashioned". I don't begrudge Hollywood that. Gotta make money. But, while I understood certain changes (ie, adding the dog from the beginning just to give him someone to talk to and develop character), I am sad that they put such a respectable title on that pathetic excuse for a movie. It was loooooosely based on the novel, at best.

Am I biased? Of course I am! One of my favorite Vincent Price movies is the original movie based on Matheson's book. They called it The Last Man on Earth. While it was dissimilar from the novel in many ways, it was still far more worthy of the I Am Legend title than this Will Smith nightmare.

A note about CGI. I hate it anymore. I hated the boring, screamy, annoying creatures in this movie. There was nothing interesting about them at all. I'll take those hammy looking zombie things from The Last Man on Earth anyday! Makeup and acting, please! No more shitty CGI creeps. And exactly where did the inspiration for them come from (if there was any)? Certainly not from the book.

And let's not forget about The Omega Man from the 70's. I love that movie, too. It was also loosely based on the novel, but they had the decency not to put the same name on it.

I think my bitterness against brainless entertainment is the reason I read what I read. I read classic horror and sci-fi because it is philosophical. It makes you think. On top of that, it scares you and stresses you out. Bonus. And I get irritated that many movies are so vapid. Especially when they drag respectable entertainment down with them.

I Am Legend was about mankind moving on. It was about one man's emotional roller-coaster and survival - not about monsters. They're just the dramatic and exciting backdrop that the real story is played against. It ultimately ends with Robert Neville's realization that he's the freak now, the last of his kind, the legend. Remember that Twilight Zone episode called "Eye of the Beholder?" Kinda like that. I see none of this in the movie I watched last night.

Why so pissy, Nicole? What does it matter? It doesn't. But it's what I think. Haha.

I Love Watchmen

We finally got to see Watchmen on Saturday. Evan and I decided to forgo the Obey house movie night and go out just the two of us. The night was hectic only because we usually go to the South Side on weeknights. We forgot how crazy crowded it gets and how long you have to wait to eat. The movie didn't even start until 10:15 so we thought we were good. FAIL! We ran around so long trying to find a reasonable wait for dinner that we ended up leaving and heading to the Waterfront for a 10:40 show. Haha. It worked out well even if we did end up dining at the Munhall Subway. Ick.

I always say if you are going to blow $10 per person on a movie, make sure it's one worth seeing in the theater. Comedies can wait to be watched on the couch, at home for free. They don't need to be loud or big. Watchmen definitely needed to be loud and big. It was ear beating (awesome) and full of sights that I want to see larger than life. And NO I am not talking about Dr. Manhattan's wiener!

The whole movie was great. It lived up to my expectations - sadly not exceeding them. But hey, I expect a lot. My favorite performances were Rorschach (I spelled that right on my first try, holy cow) and the guy that I call "Owlman" even though that's not his name. The chick was good, too. Not even sure what any of her names were...Miss Jupiter? That sounds right. Her clothes were notable to me because they were very contemporary (i.e., leggings with gladiator shoes and long sweaters with skinny belts)- even though the movie was set in the 80's. I liked how they did that. For that reason, it will be a weird movie to watch 20 years from now.

What's that? You say you want to know more of what's going on with me lately? Well, pull up a chair...

I decided to take the intermediate sewing class and make a further fool of myself. My dancing skeletons table topper is hilariously uneven. It will do the job, and no one will even (pun?) notice, but I will not be bragging about making it. That's for sure. My current project is a purse. I got the inspiration from a bag we have at DSW that looks like this:
If mine turns out OK, I will post a photo of it. I'm scurred.

Aaaaaaaaaand, I've been a shopaholic since starting at DSW. I just got a great deal on some ridiculous fuchsia, sequined pumps. I can't find a picture of them to post. Grrrr. I wore them out on Saturday and quite a few ladies stopped me to say they loved them. I find it funny when people say, "I love those but I would never wear them!" Then what is it that you love about them? Seeing them on someone else is enough for most folks, I suppose. I live for attention, so it works out. What?!?!?! Did she just say that she lives for attention? I think you already knew that. People don't blog, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and yadda yadda yadda if they don't enjoy attention.

I will be buying these shoes on Sunday...already on sale...new markdowns happening at the Dub on Sunday...plus my discount...can't say no:


I love to shop. I always buy little things when we take Ivy to the mall. I never spend much. It's mostly clearance stuff. Today I went a little crazy but still didn't spend a lot. My real problem is that I have too much of everything and not enough space for it all. I always try to get rid of things I don't wear a lot but it's tough. Because I really MIGHT use things at any given time. It's no joke. Something might sit for a year until inspiration strikes me and I figure out just how to wear it! Jewelry, clothes, shoes - it's an art form really. That explained, can you imagine all the stuff I am hoarding in my costume stash?

In a nutshell - my life is soooooooo goooooood! Kyrie Eliason!

I Love This and That

I finally opened my precious little Simple. It is a lovely new toy. I wound my very first bobbin on it. Go me! And that tablecloth is not going to be as simple as I thought. It has a border. Eek! Haha. I started cutting fabric for it while Ivy watched all 20 episodes of Caillou On Demand. It won't be difficult, but at least I feel like it's more of a learning experience.

Other new and exciting tidbits:

1.) I am working at the Steel City Con with The Masquerade in April. That is going to be so retardedly fun. I hope I'm there for the 3rd day's costume contest! Homemade costumes only will be eligible. Magnificent! I won't be able to participate because I have to dress up in Masquerade merchandise. I don't have to dress up at all, but I was told I could. We all know that I never pass up the opportunity to dress like a fool. I found a super little pirate costume at the store and I believe it will be my uniform for the weekend. I don't like pirates very much, but it works. The only female Star Wars costume we have right now is Padme Amidala. It is gianormous and pretty fugly, to be honest. My boss made it clear in his own way that I should either dress Star Wars or dress pirate. Pirate wins. There IS a Rainbow Brite costume that I'm sure he would OK (it's a toy show, too) but then I would have to wear a wig...still debating, but leaning towards no.

2.) I made cupcakes today. They are in Spongebob papers with dinosaur shaped sprinkles. Why did I do this? I really have no idea. I just saw Funfetti mix in the baking aisle and had to have it. They're delicious. My co-workers stand to benefit greatly from this.

3.) I am already working on mine and Evan's Halloween costumes. I figure there will be no excuse for a half-assed job if I start now. Then I can start using my sewing skills for something important. Hehe. It's too bad this Con isn't falling later in the year so that we could enter their contest. Our outfits would fit right in.

4.) This is the best news of all. Jon LaJoie is coming to Pittsburgh and we are going. Jen is buying the tickets tonight. She burned me a copy of his CD that she bought. That guy was born with one seriously dominant funny gene. If you haven't heard "Pop Song" then you must listen to it...immediately!

I Love When Goodness Finds Me

Today, I received a random convo on Etsy from a fellow named Andy Hopp. He is organizing a nifty "little" craft and art show called The Oddmall. He invited me to secure a booth at said event. I'm so tickled that Mr. Hopp stumbled upon my work and considered it different enough to receive juried approval for the show. His description of the event:

"Oddmall is more than just an ordinary craft show. It's a celebration of uniqueness, creativity, imagination, and wonder where artists, crafters, and like-minded sorts gather to offer their unusual creations for public consumption. It's a forum for creative expression, a classroom for esoteric wisdom, a soapbox for wild ideas, a miraculous marketplace of the unconventional, a metaphorical Serengetian watering hole where the zebras and wildebeests of inspiration and artistry congregate amidst the snapping crocodiles and scorching sunbeams of originality and ingenuity. ...umm yeah. Anyway, it'll be fun. Trust me."

Did I go for it? Hells yeah! Got me a booth at the "Early Worm" price, as they call it. The show is at a Holiday Inn in Hudson, OH. Not too close, not too far. I need to talk to my cousins to see if Evan and I can stay with them. They live in Medina, which isn't far from Hudson.

It's not until May 9th. Plenty of time to make new items and work on my display.

In case you don't understand, THIS IS AWESOME NEWS!!!! I'm always looking for places like this to sell my jewelry. I'm a decent saleswoman, they tell me. I definitely benefit far more from a live show with customer interaction that from any online venue.

Start wishing me luck now. Hell, even if I don't sell a thing, it still looks like a hell of a good time. I'm "2 hells in one sentence" excited right now! WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!

I Love Electric Sheep

Electric Sheep is the best screen-saver ever! At least once a day I marvel at it while passing my computer. I typically utter some unstoppable little word like "woah." I say it just like Keanu Reeves in Matrix, i've noticed. I mean, it's just that intense. *winks*

This was taken from ElectricSheep.org:

Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver created by Scott Draves. It's run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animations using the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool.

I Love Robocop (And Unicorns)

This is a pretty good representation of how my mind works.

I Love Flash Gordon

Uhm, everyone should see this movie. I made no mistake by watching it the other night. It's free on demand, people! What's better than a football fight? Seriously? No, seriously!

"Are your men on the right pills?"



Respectfully submitted,

Nicole Freshwater

I Hate I Hate I Hate ( I Love Ranting)

It's been an interesting (and annoying) couple of days. I donned my "hat of neighborhood pride" to attend a West View planning meeting last night. Today, I spent 8 hours in a food safety class, bored out of my skull. Both have only added more fuel to the Libertarian fire that is Nicole.

I have a business in West View. It's a lovely little town with a lot of heart and history. They're in need of certain appearance "upgrades." This is what the meeting was about. The hired architects made their presentation to the few of us business owners (very few) and residents (even fewer) who bothered to show up. It was nothing but good ideas. Not a surprise there, since this was a private business trying to please a client in the ultimate attempt to get paid. That's always a good dynamic that I stand behind.

I made some observations:

These improvements to the town will be pricey. The only hope of securing funds is to apply for government grants. This is sickening to me, as this money should have remained in the town to begin with. Taxes are paid to the Federal government and so these things become a government concern. But why should they care about the little town of West View? No reason, which is why they don't. But we will jump through these hoops and beg them for our money anyway, because the money is no longer in the hands of those that know how to use it. If I am not allowed to take my neighbor's money and make him beg me to have it back, then why is the government allowed to do it? Someone please explain it to me. I'm dying for an answer that I know doesn't exist.

The architect kept making references to "ordinances and codes." To make the town look better, maybe we need to "tighten up" on these things. This was his suggestion. He repeated the sentiment several times throughout his presentation. My curiosity is simple. If the current ordinances and codes aren't cutting it, then what in the world would make anyone think that "tightening them up" will make a difference? They aren't respected now, and they won't be respected even after tons of taxpayer money is dumped into this suggested "tightening." My suggestion? If we are so annoyed with these run down properties, why don't we go and offer to help fix them up or raise money to buy them? It's worth a try, right? It's called personal responsibility. Not much left, anymore.

When people are paying taxes, they expect action for the things that THEY care about. While this is understandable, it is rarely a reality. Uncle Sam is a poor businessman who cares little for customer service. One fellow at the meeting was irritated that one of his neighbors was letting some property go to shit. He voiced this to one official who proceeded to squirm while working up a satisfactory response. The government man explained all of the procedures and all of the paperwork to the resident. The resident became agitated and suggested that MORE needed to be done. Why doesn't this resident offer to help his neighbor? Because he is required by law to pay his government to take care of it. And it doesn't get taken care of. What is going on here? It's simple, but I don't think too many people get it. If you're not following me by now, you are hopeless.

Next subject:

The Allegheny County Health Department requires businesses like my AntiquiTea to certify members of their staff in food safety. Why? Well, I learned the pathetic and laughable reasons today in my 8 hours of hell! Only 8 hours more to go next Friday.

I learned a statistic today. 5000 people in the US die from food borne illness each year. This statistic was presented to me in such a way that it should strike fear into my heart. My reaction was a simple, "So what?" That's called nature, people! Many of those unfortunates were probably elderly or had weakened immune systems to begin with (they were on their way out). Sorry, I lack compassion. Whatever. People die. There are worse ways to go than from food poisoning.

I also learned something else. Outbreaks are on the increase. There have been several recent bacterial outbreaks caused by foods that were once considered harmless. What does this say to me? It says I don't need to be sitting there all day wasting my time! It says that all of their attempts at educating us for prevention have amounted to nothing! Bad things are going to happen, whether we try to avoid them or not. Accept it and move on.

I sat and listened to a couple of freaky, germophobic health inspectors tell me anecdotes about how they are screwing up their children in their war against bacteria. One told a story about how she overheard her son ask if he could lick the batter bowl from some cookies and, remembering that they used several raw eggs (*gasp*) in the recipe, she ran full speed, dropping a half-changed baby on her husband, to prevent her son from eating the batter. She was proud to realize that her son now has an aversion to eating cookies of any type. Stupid government puppet.

I prayed for deadly food poisoning while I ate my lunch.

The moral of this story is that I don't need the government to tell me any of the following things:
~Washing my hands is a good idea.
~Cleaning food before using it in my resturaunt is a good idea.
~Storing food at safe temps is a good idea.
~Wearing seatbelts is a good idea.
~Not wearing helmets is stupid.
~Driving drunk or recklessly is a bad idea.
~Smoking is a stupid thing to do to your lungs and it annoys others.
~Drugs are bad, mmm'kay?

Jesus Christ in a water bottle, I fucking hate people!

I Love The X-Files

Evan and I went to see the X-Files movie today. I didn't plan it. Just suggested it and it happened. Ivy was at a party with Brent & Brittani, so we took advantage of the freedom.

I'm not going to try and say it was that great of a movie, but I hearts me some X-Files! It made me happy. I looked at Evan before it started and said, "I feel like I am about to be reunited with my first true love." Seriously, people, I have a cat named Mulder. It was kinda sad to see my beloved David Duchovny looking so much older. *Sigh* Whatev' - still delicious.

My complaint is pretty simple. It was like watching a 2-hour long X-Files and wishing that it was a better episode. I can think of several episodes that had better stories than this movie had. Acting and directing and all that was fine, don't get me wrong. I guess I was just hoping for some more conspiracy-oriented stuff. Side note - I dug that it was set in harsh West Virginian winter but came out in the dead of summer. Instant air-conditioning, like singing Christmas carols to cool off.


Now I need to hunt down my fellow X-Files lovers because I have some questions about how the show ended. I stopped watching right before the last season. Things never work out when a main character wants to leave a show. When DD wanted to leave, they should have ended it right. Instead, it went out without a bang...kinda dwindled away. It was a sad ending to one of the most legendary Sci-Fi shows ever made.

I Love Weird Al

He'll always be the funniest guy in the world to me!

I Hate Flaky Videos

That last post's video is messing up, so here's another...

I Love Tesla Coils

While enjoying wings tonight, Dr. Robb tipped me off to this bit of geeky goodness. I am enamored with Tesla Coils and this just kicked my ass!