Happy Zombie

I discovered I could reinvent myself in the past.  I’m totally diggin’ the ‘54 look for me right now. How cool am I in 1954.  SERIOUSLY.   I can’t stop looking at my ‘54 nerd-self but cool in ‘09 look.  Of course I’d never be able to pull that off now-a-days… one has to be a member in the League of Super Cool People for that look.  But I can pretend.

Me through the years:
1962 - Off to college to get my M.R.S.
1964 - M.R.S. on hold.  I discover fast cars and faster boys.
1984 - I discover that my parents are Sigfried & Roy and a lion.
1996 - Farm reporter on a local Iowa NBC affiliate.
1998 - The year of my gender identity crisis.
2000 - I go on a break with my boyfriend and hang out all day with my friends a the local coffee house.

Thanks to the Triplets for turning me on to YearbookYourself.com!

Going through my iPhoto’s 12,320 photos, I spot many photos I’ve never done anything with. They just sit there - waiting to be seen, waiting to be shared, waiting to be used. Like food that keeps getting shoved further and further to the back of the fridge.

When life gives you ingredients… make casserole.

Rainier Cherries.  Not just delicious… but oh so pretty.  Speaking of cherries… how ’bout that Mary Engleblog!

And one with a little junk in the trunk.

Chaos at dusk (my flash went off).

Less chaos at dusk (and holding my flash pop-up down).

Le Mona de Dollypop on my shelf-o-joy - darling-gasp-cute-gasp-adorable Lemon Dollypop made by Jenny.

PerezHilton-ishy fun with my iPhone app called MyPaint.  A secret known to only a few… Pam is my beverage buddy.  Yup.  We’ve shared hundreds of beverage phone pics between us.  Because this is how we roll.

My lunch at the Daily Cafe at OHSU’s South Waterfront campus in Portland.   A grilled panini with brie, pears, watercress and caramelized onions with a navy bean soup chaser.  And milk.  I always have milk.  This is NOT your grandmother’s hospital food.

Boy’s Day (May 5th) at Uwajimaya in Beaverton.

Girl’s Day (March 3rd) at Kinokuniya Books - every day is Girls Days when I get to shop in the craft section at Kinokuniya.

Goofing around at HomeGoods in Goodyear, Arizona.
THINK FAST, Karen!

Good catch, Karen. Good catch.

My paraphernalia. And I mean that exactly as it sounds.

And now I must nap.

When Kari of ArtsyMama said she was hosting a Blogging For Bliss party to celebrate the official release of Tara Frey’s new book, I honestly had no idea how an online party worked. I still don’t. So I RSVP’d and said I’m makin’ and bringin’ my deviled eggs. I don’t know who else is bringing snacky snacks, but you can visit all the RSVP’d guests on Kari’s sidebar under “BOOK RELEASE PARTY BLOGROLL”. Got to all of their blogs and DEMAND some party food.  I was hoping to have the B4B book from Lark to prize-off by the time I made this post - but it hasn’t arrived yet.  I guess that means another post, and another couple dozen deviled eggs to make.  I may even make Rice Krispy treats for that post.  Stay tuned.

There are 50 bloggers who contributed in Blogging for Bliss, so you KNOW it’s chalk full of great info. A must have book for all bloggers, especially a new blogger or someone jumping into blogland.  I’ve already recommended it to people who’ve asked me about blogging.  I LOVE THAT!  Blogging for Bliss to my rescue!  And thank you Queen of Cuteness Jenny for the adorable allsortsified B4B button!

I’m privileged and honored to be featured in Tara’s book.  The best part - is being featured along with some of my greatest friends…. like my flat mate page mate Happy. I love how Happy Loves Rosie and Happy Zombie were featured on adjoining pages. How happilicious! Now to convince my page mate to ship me her amazing Happy Shabby Vintage Caravan!  The way I look at it,  Happy and I are practically family now - I see no reason for her not to share her caravan with me (other then the Atlantic Ocean being a wee bit of an obstacle).

Mmmm… do I smell beans n weenies???

While visiting George and Mary and their new goldie puppy Sasha… me in a panic (a panic that I wouldn’t get the iPhone out in time)…

Sasha! Naughty, naughty girl. Drop the scissors…

but wait until I take your photo!

Sasha - my cosmic dog twin?
— Runs with scissors
— Potty’s a lot
— Doesn’t follow directions
— Likes to play
— Gets into stuff
— Likes to sleep late
— Constantly thinking about food
— Makes a mess
— Runs to door when UPS, FedEx and DHL is knocking
I have a hunch I’m not the only one who’s a Sasha cosmic dog twin.  What quiltie craftie sewie artie peep isn’t?!

Bizzarro.

A mention of Mike Rowe on a blog post I did last year, lumped me in with Debbie Rowe on Bing.

I’m getting a lot of visits on my blog because of this. Must be weird to be looking up stuff on Michael Jackson - and then to land on this.

Of course now I’ve dropped even more names. I’ll be sitting at the best table at Mr. Chow  The Pig in no time.

A better title more suited for me… “It’s a party and I’m late again!”

Getting in just under the wire, and only 4 days left until SEWN goes live… I add my giveaway to the party.   Better late then never, right?   Graduation, family visiting from Australia and the Bay Area, family projects, mag project… busy times at Casa de Zombie this month.  Thanks to my publicist slash cheerleader slash personal secretary slash cosmic twin PamKittyMorning for getting me in on Sarah’s new SEWN launch party.  Sarah, as in sweet and amazing Sarah Fielke of The Last Piece - she’s a quilter, a teacher, a designer and author of “Material Obsession” and “Material Obsession Two: Shared Inspiration”.  And she’s an Aussie (20 bonus cool points - oi, oi, oi).

To celebrate the SEWN launch party, I’m giving away this little doll I made from a slightly modified Inside A Black Apple doll pattern (which can be found at Martha Stewart).  Thanks to Jenny for getting me on the doll kick!  If you’d like to have your own give-away and join the launch party or see who else is having a give-away for the launch, you can do so here.

Dolly has no name. Yet. That’s up to the winner. All you have to do is leave a comment - telling me what you’d name her (and why if you want, because I’m nosey like that) - by 2pm PST on June 8th, 2009. I will pick a winner by the name I like best… but if I like them all (and chances are I will, this being such a creative community)… I will use random.org to pick the winner. I have a hunch I’ll be using the latter. I’ll announce the winner shortly after 2pm PST (or when I get back from dropping DS1 off at the airport for his flight back to Oz).

Dolly is dressed in Lecien’s “Antique Flower Collection” for her body and Urban Chicks Swell #31027-12 for her legs.  Her hair is from my stash - and to my best knowledge it’s a Maywood Studio piece.  Any guesses?

Dolly’s bio:  Dolly is an out-door adventure girl, likes to sew, take short walks on a long beach, watch copious amounts of tv, has a crush on Jack (sorry Cricket InTheBox) and Joel McHale, and most of all… she likes to sleep in late.  Sorry… little spring action Beanie Jack not included (unless I go to JITB and can snag another one).  I do need me a 2/99¢ taco fix…

Doug Benson was one thing, but Julie Andrews?  Oh yeah, I’ll be making big rocks into small rocks in no time at all.

Pam and I were all giggly-goo goofy over the new Moda Bakeshop ad that WE ARE IN.  We were dying over it.  Pam said she wanted to be singing like Julie Andrews on a rooftop about the ad (and Pamjooolie was born).  Yeah, we love Moda THAT much.

If this photo suddenly disappears - please visit me at my new condo.  Just ask Lil Kim where the sewing day-room is, and you’ll find me there. And if it’s not too much trouble… please bring me a cake, a file and an Ethernet cable.

(Please know that my attempt was not to mock incarceration and all the heartache associated with it - it’s my [hopefully] humorous attempt to point out what I did I know is wrong.)

And I hope I haven’t hurt Al Roker’s feelings. I just couldn’t resist. Thanks to the long flight layover Pam and Elizabeth had in Dallas on the way to market… E sent me a funny pic she p-chopped on her iPhone. Naturally I had to have THAT APP! So Al Roker… because you were handy… you became my first victim. Nothing personal, I really think you’re swell - and an entertaining and nice guy. And like you’re really even reading my blog.

My shelf-o-joy… some new changes:
- Our Lady of Rokelupe
- Al’s Big Boy
- Hello Al sewing machine

Miss Kitty… you may be next!

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EDITED IN:
I need PKMdotMSNBC or EssEffBunnyHillChronicle to do a newsflash for this update…

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More fun… and no celeb feelings to hurt either. My sweetest of sweetie-pie friend Raesha had this post on her blog, and I thought it looked like fun. If you’re still reading this far into my post - consider yourself tagged. And that goes for you too, Al.

“Let’s Play”
Let’s Play rules: IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS! COPY, ERASE MY ANSWERS, ENTER YOURS, POST IT ON YOUR BLOG, FACEBOOK, ETC. USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR LAST NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES, NAMES, AND THINGS. NOTHING MADE UP! TRY TO USE DIFFERENT ANSWERS IF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAD THE SAME 1ST INITIAL.

Have Fun!!

1. What is your last name? SOLORIO
2. A 4 Letter Word? SHOPPING
3. A Boy’s Name? SAWYER (shoutout to Anna and Sarah)
4. A Girl’s name?  SARAH
5. An Occupation?  SEAMSTRESS
6. A Color?  SWELLOW (sweet butter yellow)
7. Something you wear?  SHIRT
8. A Beverage?  S’COFFEE
9. A Food?  SPAM-MUSUBI (delish)
10. Something found in the bathroom?  SHAMPOO (I behaved)
11. A place?  SANTA MONICA
12. A Reason for being late?   SLEPT TOO LONG.
13. Things you shout?   THIS IS WAY TOO EASY.   MY MOST USED “S” WORD.  YEAH, THAT ONE.

Tag.  You’re it.

Tara Frey has a beautiful new book about blogging called Blogging for Bliss (to hit the bookshelves on August 4th). But holy crap - the exciting part for me is… is I’M IN THIS BOOK! And so is sistahfriend and cosmic wonder twin Pam!

Smells like mischief to me… every bookstore I step foot into… when I spot Tara’s books on the shelf… I know JUST what I’m going to do.  I won’t be shy. Oh no I won’t.

Thank you for the kind words for Mr. Zombie (I love that and think I’m going to start calling him that!). I read Mr. Z your comments last night and it made him smile. I usually don’t like sharing too much of my personal/family life online, and feel kinda weird about it… but here goes. Mr. Zombie’s incision area from his January’s knee reconstruction surgery became infected. A trip to the ER on Sunday - landed him in the hospital. A surgery on Monday (while I was still in AZ), and a second one scheduled for today. Mr. Zombie’s stats (please don’t ask me to name them) are still really low - scary low. If he continues… they will put him in the ICU. Right now at this moment they are up, and we hope they continue to stay there. Fingers crossed.

Also keeping our fingers crossed that today’s surgery does the trick. If the infection is the result of the donor bone he received in January… then docs have to go in, take it out… and start alllllllll over again. It’s been a long, long, long recovery for Mr. Z, and to do it all over again would be heartbreaking. Your good donor mojo thoughts (or better yet… *dono mojo* thoughts) are so much appreciated and we thank you so, so, so much!

Update 4/8 6pm: Good thoughts are WORKING! Mr. Z’s stats are up and close to normal. He even ate half of his dinner (and I ate the other half… and it was pretty good actually). Little things = big blessings. I’ve been reading the newly named Mr. Z your notes, and it makes us both smile and is better then any RX. And I’m totally jacked on calling him Mr. Z from now on. Hopefully by tomorrow we find out about this bone and the infection, but we’re very optimistic. THANK YOU!!! xoxo, m

Update 4/9 noonish:
We still don’t have word what the infection is (labs still running it), but docs are pretty positive the donor bone can stay. THANK GOODNESS. Mr. Z (that’s growing on him too) may get to go home tomorrow, with 6-8 weeks of home IV antibiotics and weekly visits from a home nurse. Something called a “PICC line” was just installed as an IV “port” (his peripherals, cracking myself up). Really nifty and it sure beats 6-8 weeks in the hospital! OHSU is a wonderful place… but home is always best. And I won’t have to drive so far. Though home doesn’t have a 24/7 cafeteria - oh how will I manage.

I was feeling so weird about posting such personal stuff. I’m so glad I did. The outpouring of love in the comments and emails is really wonderful. Our hearts runnith over. Especially when I know peeps who are living through stuff far, far, far worse then us - and to give us love and comfort… it’s all the more special. Worthy of super-sized 5XL large and bold font…. THANK YOU!