Preparing for NaNoWriMo

I do NaNoWriMo every year, and this year I have my story idea already picked out. I can't start writing until 12:01am on November 1, but I don't want to worry about forgetting any of my ideas, so I dedicated a notebook to keeping track of them:

Packing (and a Movie Ticket and a Cucumber)

I've taken a few little inconsequential photos here and there this week, and I'm adding them all together to make one post!

We went to see World War Z on Sunday.
It literally was NOTHING - I mean ridiculously NOTHING - like the book.
Why bother with the title card "based on the novel..." if... never mind.
BUT... it was still enjoyable.

Om nom nom... reaping the benefits of Dad's garden in the form of fresh cucumbers!

And packing for our trip!!!

The good stuff starts tomorrow, with TRAVEL PHOTOS!

Clyde Rolls for Initiative

So, Fiance and I are finally starting to play Dungeons & Dragons. We've talked about it several times over the years, and this time, I bought the books and an assortment of dice, plus some crafting supplies to use as battle grids. Clyde has been helping me write a campaign (and playing with the dice...):

So colorful! So fun!

Here, we're trying out a battle grid for two rooms I set up, to make sure
it works the way I want it to.

If you're curious, I got the mirrored tiles in the candle aisle at the craft store. They're 3/4 inch (which is smaller than the D&D usual, 1-inch). I found the same exact thing (a baggie of 15 3/4-inch mirrored tiles) in the mosaics aisle, for 3 times the price. Weird! The markers are those glass things you put in vases (or turn into glass marble magnets) that I've had around forever. I have lots of colors, so it works out nicely, to distinguish types of monsters, or which playing character is which. Also, bonus to the mirrored tiles: we can write on them with dry erase markers! The two on the far left have little symbols in green that are supposed to indicate fountains.

Wedding Crafting: Bouquets

For our wedding (next March) we are having no flowers... just wire-and-crystal "flowers." Fiance set up this rig and is working on making several of the "sprigs" today. Clyde, of course, is helping!

One completed sprig
(see how it's twisted wire, with a tiny Swarovski crystal on the end on the left?)

He folds the wire in half, adds the crystal at the bend, hooks it onto the hook at the bottom left,
clamps it into the vice on the right (behind Clyde) and cranks until it's done!

A wider shot of the whole rig (the tiny tin to the left of Clyde is full of
tiny green Swarovsky crystals!)

More photos of this definitely to come when we start combining all the sprigs into bouquets (and smaller ones into boutonnieres!) 

Cat Nap

Gimli, rambunctious kitty that he is, still can't be trusted to be nice to Clyde if they're left alone. So I helped Clyde sneak up behind Gimli while he was napping, to snap a cute photo:

They almost look like friends! (Gimli likes this blanket because he's camouflaged on it when he tucks in all of his white bits.) I retrieved Clyde before Gimli had a chance to "play" with him.

Cooking Dinner

I'm not proud to admit that this is such a rare occasion that it was worthy of photographing, but Clyde helped me make dinner tonight!

Clyde reminds me to clean up the mess on the stove, and put away the milk when I'm done

Mmm, smell the garlic potatoes! The chicken! The corn! Delish.

Yum! Hopefully I'll be doing more of this in the next couple weeks, along with going out to see fun things, because I'll have MORE TIME OFF! (I cannot emphasize this enough, friends. I had NO days off in April.)

Cinder

This Friday's review book for Review Me Twice is Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Clyde joined me on the porch to read it after work today (despite the pollen):

(Also you can see my car in the far right.)

Now we're going to settle in and watch Hamlet! (The one with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.)

The Casual Vacancy

Clyde and I spent some time after work on the porch reading The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling. (I'm reviewing it on Review Me Twice this Friday!)

And you can see a dogwood in the background... state tree of Virginia! They're all in full bloom, making everyone's eyes itchy and noses runny. But they sure are pretty!