Project Ugly

Thanks to Loinfruit (eldest daughter) and a little help from Mel, Kristen and Kiwana, for the past 2 seasons, I've been totally hooked on Project Runway. Last night's challenge was a fun one. Outed designers from this season came back to pair up with the remaining contestants to come up with an Avant-garde look inspired by an astrological sign.



Since I'm a fashion idiot I had to go look up the phrase. I mean, I sort of knew what it meant, but couldn't really put it into words. Here's what wikipedia had to say:

Avant-garde (pronounced [avɑ̃gaʁd] in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard".[1] The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.
Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.


Notice that nowhere in that definition is the word UGLY mentioned. Of course, ugly is in the eye of the beholder. But really, people, take a look at this:

The outfit on the left was designed by Blayne, who went home last night.


The stunner on the right was Kenley's creation. She should have gone home last night too, but Terri, who's just a tad more irritating than Kenley got the boot. I think the judges were tired of her attitude. I think this was supposed to represent Aquiruis? But I don't get it.


















Jerell was the winner last night, although I wasn't crazy about this design.








These were my personal faves.
Leanne on the left, who, I personally find a little wimpy in personality, but her designs are really growing on me. I think the only reason she didn't win is because she's won the past 2 challenges. But as a Scorpio, I found this design to be brilliantly dead on.


Same with Korto. I LOVE this look on the right. Korto is by far, the most consistent designer in my opinion. Other than one dud look this season, the rest of her stuff has been dead on.

Is that a hammer in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Okay, that line is corny as all out, but apparently Mel won't be satisfied until I blog about the hunky guy who came to fix my bathroom the other day.

Currently, the kid's bathroom (which was infested by termites but that's a long story I won't bore anyone with), has been in a state of disarray for the past 2 months and is being renovated. I can't wait until it's finished. Seriously. We only have 2 bathrooms in the house and it's been hell, what with 2 teenagers, one of which I now realize showers for at least 30 minutes a day. But I shouldn't complain. There are people all over the world without decent plumbing so whining about my termite-infested bathroom makes me feel a little selfish, but I digress...

So there I was, pounding away on my laptop computer when my door bell rings. It's the 2 guys who are going to work on my bathroom today. One of whom is Dave Hernandez (the hero in my current wip- Bunco Babes Gone Wild). Of course, this guy wasn't really Dave H, since Dave H is a totally made up guy in my head, but honestly, he was a dead-ringer for the guy in my imagination. They even share the same occupation.

Talk about inspiration. How many excuses can I make to go "check out the progress" they're making?

My muse is now on over-drive as I discreetly try to catch any glimpse of my Dave-look-alike as he makes his frequent trips from the bathroom to the front lawn where they have set up some sort of lumber-yard, I kid you not.

My fingers fly all over my lap top.

At the end of the day, the guys ask me to come see their work. They want to make sure I'm satisfied before they leave (won't even go there)...

So I amble over to my bathroom, which seems very tiny now, with these 2 guys and me trapped in there, as I ooh and ah over their work.

"Great job!" I exclaim.

Both guys smile.

I turn red. I can feel it. My Dave-look-alike is smiling straight at me. He knows I've been crushing on him all day long.

And suddenly, the scene I've been working on takes a whole new meaning and before I know it, that corny line ends up in my manuscript. I'm just not sure who says it yet... him, or her:)

BUNCO BABES TELL ALL goes to NY!

Last night, I hit a writing milestone. I sent my first edited manuscript back to NY!

I have to admit, I was pretty overwhelmed when I ripped open my FedEx package and found my first ever set of copy edits. There were all these blue squiggly marks over it, most of which I was clueless about. It looked like a high school freshman English project:(

But thanks to Mel and the Internet I was able to figure it out.

Of course, I procrastinated doing my edits until I had absolutely no choice. Mostly, because the thought of rereading my manuscript yet one more time was like going to the dentist. And partly because I was terrified that I'd read it again and proclaim it to be crap. Happily, only a teeny part of it read like crap to me (which Mel says is normal) but overall I was pretty happy with it.

I have to give a big shout-out to the girl at the Kinkos on Thomasville Rd who helped me last night. She copied all 423 pages of it in color (and only charged me for black and white), then helped me find a suitable, ie- CHEAP package to send my baby off. In the end, we used the same exact bubble wrapped big-ass envelope it came in, so we were being environmentally correct too. Talk about excellent service:)

Back to Bunco and Sangria de cava

Last night, my Bunco group, the soon-to-be-made-famous by my books (ha, ha) Bunco Broads of Tallahassee had our annual planning session. An extremely good time was had by all.

Debbie (my fellow Bunco Broad co-founder) hosted and served up this most delicious (and I cannot emphasize that enough) Sangria de cava. The recipe is from the famous Columbia Restaurant, an Ybor City tradition since 1905. For those of you who don't know, Ybor City is the old Cuban section of Tampa- think rolled cigars and Cuban coffee- two of the best smells in the world.

I had no idea that The Columbia gave out recipes on their website. To be honest, I, who consider myself just a little bit computer savvy (don't laugh, Mel) didn't even now that the Columbia had a website. But I do now :)

Back from the Beach

I'm back from my writing vacation in which Mel, Louisa and I accomplished much and a good time was had by all. Still not unpacked of course (much to Mike Geraci's chagrin) but if I give in and put the suitcase away too early he might think his procrastinating wife has been abducted by aliens. Wouldn't want that, would we?

I blogged about my days on the RR (redneck riviera) over on the Title Wave blog. Go check it out:)