kalidarling (monster-ously cute)

Photo Dump

If you follow me on twitter you've probably already seen all of these, but if you don't here's a little glimpse into this past week.

I've been tandem biking with my cousin Ginny Thursday nights as my cross training for the warrior dash. The bike is ancient and weighs a ton but it's magenta with sparkly silver seats - you have to love it!

My favorite salesman in the office brought me back some new key caps from one of his trips. This firmly secures his title of "favorite".

Nautical striped nails. I recently bought a slew of Essie polishes, all in shades that remind me of peacocks. I used the Dainty Squids taping method to get my stripes. My attempt at stripes last week was wretched but I thought they looked nice this time.

St. Louis has a surprising number of local brewery's. One of the largest and most popular is Schlafly. I'm really not a fan of beer, but my cousins drove in to attend Schlafly's annual Hops in the City beer tasting so I met up with them and sampled a few. The Raspberry Hefeweizen was my favorite. Hanging out with my cousins is also my favorite. :)

Last night I attended our local men's roller derby championship bout. It was such an exciting game! The GateKeepers have only been around for two years and they're already one of the top ranking teams in the nation. Congrats to the South Grand Slammers our new local champions!

Today I have a list a mile long of things I need to get caught up on. Luckily its rainy and cold outside so I shouldn't be tempted to cast aside all responsibility in favor of picking apples and then spending the rest of the day baking them into things. That will have to wait until next weekend. I love fall!

Ch-ch-changes... (Part 2)

The biggest changes are the hardest to announce. The time shortage in my schedule has gotten so bad that I finally had to give up derby. It took months for me to make the decision and I made it reluctantly, but reviewing everything I had on my plate it was the only thing not paying a bill and as such it had to be the first to go. I don't even know if I could accurately describe how much derby has meant to me. I loved every minute of it. I've made so many friends and had some of the most incredible experiences of my life.

(Photos by: Me, Bob Dunell & Jim Koclanes)

I retired officially almost a month ago, but I haven't walked away from the league. I'm volunteering now and won't cross skating out of my future entirely yet. I would love to be able to skate again. I just have to get my scheduling issues resolved first.

The final change I am going to address briefly. A number of weeks a go Jeff and I mutually decided to end our relationship. We reached a crossroads in our lives and realized we were going in different directions. It ended very amicably and I wish him nothing but the best. I really only mention it to prevent any future confusion.

With all of the changes that have been taking place I've been working hard to reorganize and brainstorm new ideas and projects that I'd like to work on. I have to admit, I'm pretty excited! It's the last day of July and I'm ready to start August fresh. It's my birthday month and I have a number of celebrations planned. I can't wait to share them with you!

Get your green out!

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. Don't forget to wear your green! This past weekend I skated in our local St. Patrick's Day parade with my league. The weather was perfect! Warm and sunny with a slight breeze. We passed out crazy amounts of candy and beads.

 

It was so much fun. I really love parades!

Funny side note: I was so busy getting ready for the parade Friday night and Saturday morning that I didn't have time to paint my nails. After we loaded and decorated the truck I sat down to quickly paint them and Steve took this picture:

Ha ha! I'm determined - they WILL grow! I've felt pretty awful all day spent most of it resting or sleeping. I'm really hoping to feel better tomorrow. Have a good night!

*All other photos used in this post were taken by: Jim Koclanes & Shannon White Hardin - Thanks guys!

Fan Club

This will just be the quickest of posts with a few of the derby game day photos I've been talking about. This is my rookie year of skating and while I have been drafted to a team, I still have a lot of skills to improve before I get a lot of track time. Regardless of how much time I spend on the track I can always count on a large cheering section. My fans are the best!

There are always between 5-15 people in my section, many of them traveling from out of state to be there. Most of them are not pictured here. I truly have the most amazing friends and family!

Sorry for my recent absence. It was a hectic end of weekend/start of week. I'm back now and have a ton of new post ideas to work on. You'll be hearing from me soon!

Condom Fashion Show Part 2

Happy Saturday! Here's a quick recap of the fashion show and final outfit. We met up numerous times over the course of a few months and finally pulled everything together the night before the show. I was really pleased with how everything came out, especially considering that it was our first attempt. I didn't get magnificent shots of the outfit at the show so the finished pics are from my living room, and all of the shots of the other outfits were taken in the dressing room.

We thought for sure that this blue prom gown would take 1st. In our opinions she was robbed. It should be noted that the first place dress was incredible as well, we just thought the prom dress would have been first.

Yes, that is a Michael Jackson outfit on the left. The center model was 79 and absolutely darling. The model on the right won 1st place.

There was a great speaker before the show.

Teel did an amazing job on the runway. Absolutely flawless! We were thankful for a short runway since she was on skates, but I don't think it would have mattered if it had been taller. She skated smoothly the whole way.

I learned a lot during this process. If we attempt it again there are definitely things I would do differently. For one, I tried to avoid using my machine as much as possible because I was worried about the latex damaging it, but after sewing the bit I did and then talking with the other contestants I think it would have been fine. The other issue that we didn't consider initially was the powder. All of the condoms were covered inside and our with powder. Since I was avoiding using my machine, and because we thought it would go faster, we ended up hot gluing most of the condoms to the corset. The powder made this incredibly difficult and we spent a great deal of time wiping the condoms down with damp paper towels. I now think sewing them would have been better all around. Oh well, I'm still proud of our finished outfit!

Spring is finally starting to peek out so I'm going to head out now to enjoy it. Have a great evening!

Condom Fashion Show Part 1

A few months ago a member of my roller derby league posted information about a fashion show being held by her work place that was calling for submissions. She works for Bethany Place, a local non-profit AIDS service organization. They focus on promoting wellness and aiding those living with HIV/AIDS in our area. They are a really great organization and I joined a small group of girls interested in working together to make an outfit for their fund-raising fashion show.

We were given around 400 condoms in assorted colors to assemble into a wearable garment that would not only be worn on the runway the night of the fashion show, but also travel to other fashion shows to continue spreading awareness once the night was over. We decided to create a roller derby outfit and submit it in the nightlife category. Here are some progress photos:

We decided on two pieces: a corset and tutu. We used elastic, tulle and interfacing to create a base and then used the condoms to build from there. It was my first time using grommets in a garment. So thankful no one saw them up close!

I have practice tonight, but I'll post part two soon with our pics of the finished outfit and all of the other entries. I was really impressed with a number of them!

Sunny Days!

This weekend we are expected to see high temps in the 50's! I seriously can't wait! The dogs have been so amped up to get out of the house. I can't wait to start talking walks and going to the park again. The back yard is just not cutting it. Here are a few shots I took on my snow day during snowagedon. We really did miss virtually all of the storm, but it was pretty to be surrounded by what looked like mounds of sanding sugar.

Hopefully by the end of the weekend this will all be melted. We'll probably see a few more uber cold or snowy days, but spring is coming, and I am ready!

Tonight we have our first bout in the local championship. We are 3-0 so far putting us 1st out of the 4 local teams. Pretty exciting! The bout will sell out, but my super fans have already secured their tickets so I won't have to worry about a weak cheering section. In addition, the cutest fan of all will be in attendance! This will be my nephews second game and the little moose already grew out of the first ARRG gear I bought him. (18 mos. wearing size 3T - no joke!) I'm heading out to pick him up some new gear and then I'll be spending some quality time with the fam. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such amazingly supportive people! I promise to take lots of pics to share.

Have a great Saturday!

Craft Night!

For the past few Wednesdays I've been getting together with some of the girls from my roller derby league and we've been working together to sew a derby outfit for an AIDS awareness fashion show. The outfit is really starting to come together and I should have some progress photos next week.

Tonight I focused on constructing the base for the top and fitting it to our model. I also made valentines cupcakes for snacks!

Chocolate banana with butter cream frosting - Killer! This weekend one of my best friends is coming to visit. We have a full weekend of crafting, thrifting and shooting photos planned, but I will also be putting the finishing touches on this months giveaway. It will be announced on Monday. I could not be more excited!

We're expecting some snow tonight. I was fully prepared to blow it off since we usually get way below the estimated amount, but it's really starting to build up. Fingers crossed for excellent sledding conditions!

And the winner is...

Natalie! I'll be emailing you details soon!

I had an awesome weekend. The highlight being my first game skating with the Rebel Skate Alliance. Having been off skates for over a month prior to our first game I wasn't expecting to skate a lot. I got in one jam during the first half which was awesome and the spent the rest of the game on the edge of my seat. It was close the whole way through and all of my teammates were incredible! I have three weeks to tighten up before our next game. So excited!

Tonight is really chilly. We're curled up on the couch with hot cocoa and popcorn watching Harry Potter and waiting for the 3rd episode of Walking Dead. I'm obsessed. It's so well done. If you have any interest at all in zombies I would HIGHLY recommend it! 9pm - A&E. Loves!

The next giveaway will be announced on Wednesday so check back and leave a comment for your chance to win!

Gah!

I worked late tonight and then went straight to practice. When I got there I was tired and skating sloppy and then 2/3 of the way in I fell and somehow lost my whole knee pad.

I skinned my knee for the first time in 20 years! That sentence makes me feel old. I'm going to have a glass of wine and then work on my first holiday craft project. I'm pretty excited about it.

Here's a sneek peek: