No time to write much, as I am starved, just walked in the door, and have to walk out momentarily. But I wanted to say that dress shopping today was fun, if exhausting! Almost two hours of standing and having dresses put on me and taken off, and being ooohed and aaaahed over while they were there. And, I can't believe it, but I think I have found "the one"! I am keeping my appointments tomorrow, but I am almost positive I won't find anything that I love more and that is more perfect for this wedding.

That's all for now! I'll write more when I can.

The rollercoaster seems to be on its way back up the tracks, as I have been surprisingly busy here today. Some new project stuff, some old stuff I am cleaning up for people who are away, etc. Glad to have work and hours to bill. And glad to definitely be getting my Summer Friday tomorrow!

To take advantage of the free day, I am going to get in another dress shop, this one out on Long Island. They are one particular designer only, and they are having a trunk show from today until Sunday. Part of the deal is 10% off if you buy during the show, and while Mom said not to stress about that, I am never one to ignore the possibility of saving some money. I have seen a few dresses from them that I really like online, so the trunk show was serendipitous timing.

I'd say more about the dress but I am trying to figure out how much I can say without tipping the boy off too much. I would like the dress to be a surprise, and really about all I plan on telling him is that it's white, long, and pretty. I really want him to have the full impact of seeing me all dressed and fabulous as I make my way down the aisle, so he gets that "WOW" feeling as fully as possible. I feel like letting him see the dress beforehand would definitely minimize that impact. Maybe it's kinda goofy, but that's my plan. There are plenty of other areas in which I am eager to break tradition, but this isn't one of them!

Went to Yarn Connection at lunchtime yesterday to scout out yarns for the bridesmaid tanks. Picked up a ball of Rowan Lurex Shimmer in Pewter and a ball of Berroco Cotton Twist in the only color they had available - baby blue. I just wanted to be able to knit some swatches with each and see how I like working with the yarn, etc. So far I have made a swatch with the Lurex Shimmer and I love the way it looks. But I am not sure I have the patience to make four tanks with such fine yarn. Also, I am concerned that it might be itchy. The Cotton Twist feels very soft and nice but I haven't gotten to swatching with that yet. It's a heavier weight (4.75 stitches per inch vs 7 for the Lurex Shimmer) so would probably require less patience. It also comes in some very pretty colors.

Something tells me I will be playing with a lot of different yarns over the next few weeks, until I settle on something to make these tanks out of. I want to start on them as early as I can, though I have one bridesmaid who we're hoping will be pregnant by then, so I will put hers off to last and cross my fingers.
I'm also having some major color issues. Most of the girls will wear just about anything and be fine and not complain, and will look good. But my maid of honor (who I love as a sister, but who is very high-maintenance and doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut) feels that she only looks good in a few colors (black, red, olive) and none of them are what I am going for. So, I am pretty much resigning myself that she's going to have something to say about whatever I pick out, and that really irks me. The thing is, she has the same complexion as two of the other girls, and they are fine with any color, so it's more of a mental issue than a physical one. Argh. She already told me she didn't like sage green when I was thinking of it, so now I am not saying anything until I pick something for real - at least then she can only complain about one color, not a range of them. I'm leaning towards the purpley-orchidy colors right now. The Cotton Twist "Sea Anemone" color looks close to what I am thinking of at the moment, but don't hold me to anything!

In between all this stuff I have been working away on the Paper Phil tank. This stuff just knits so quickly! I am halfway through the front side armholes and will probably finish either tonight or tomorrow morning on the train. At this rate, I will be wearing this tank by the middle of next week. No complaints there - it's nice to have a quickie project once in a while!

Miracle of miracles, I have a new client to work on! Something I can "own" a bit, as my boss put it. Halle-friggin-lujah! Right now there's just a lot of background reading to do, but there will actually be real projects soon. Jeff (my boss) also thanked me for being so patient the past months, and said that they really were trying hard to find me a project, since I'm good and they didn't want to lose me. Always nice to hear.

Now, hopefully, I can return to my less-whiney blog content. :-)

Discussion with Vanessa this morning and she says she talked to our boss (Vanessa is a notch up the totem pole from me) and thinks I shouldn't be worried. She says there is enough work on their antipsychotic client to keep us all busy and relieve some of the stress on that account. We shall see. That is a comforting thought, but I am not going to put all my eggs in this basket anymore. We are certainly living in "interesting" times.

So the apartment-hunting appointment with Diana was exactly as I expected. Although she called and asked the guy if we were going to see apartments, and he said yes, that didn't happen. We didn't even see that particular broker. The guy we did see was not bad, but all she did was fill out their form, and chat. Her price range is really low for Manhattan (she's a social worker - not the highest-paying job out there) so it's going to be tough. His advice was to wait until after September 1, when all the college students (whose parents pay their rent) are done and the landlords are hurting a little more to fill vacancies. My feeling is she's not going to find something in Manhattan that is liveable and affordable, and she should just look in Astoria, Queens, which is her backup plan. But, I guess you have to try and get your ideal first before you give up on it, so I will cross my fingers and wish her luck.

I didn't go to Stitch-n-Bitch, but I did get a lot of knitting done last night. This Paper Phil knits so quickly! I am just a few inches away from the armholes on the front of my Ginger tank already! I know I said it before, but I will say it again - after working with the unforgiving Topas, this stuff is like a dream.

Tonight I've got dinner plans with Dawn, a friend I went to high school with. Haven't seen her lately, so I'm looking forward to catching up.

Egads, the rollercoaster never ends. Today, yet another client had to postpone the launch of their new drug. Their new drug which was just about the only client I had left to work on. Shit. (Wow, that might be my first actual "four-letter-word" on this blog. The situation seems to warrant it.) Pretty much the first thing I did after that was email the headhunter who got me this job. He's a great guy, and really works hard. He called me about 15 minutes later and told me he is almost positive he can get me interviews at at least one other agency.

One problem I have is that most of the work I have done here has been concepts for ads/TV for products that have not launched yet. So, showing that work is tricky, because obviously I can't give away what their advertising is going to look like, especially if it's to a competitive agency. Trying to figure out if just deleting the product name and replacing it with "Product X" is enough. If anyone in the field has any ideas on that, I would love to hear them.

This is seriously stressful. I was laid off in December 2000 and again in April 2001, and it took me many months of freelancing to find this job in March 2002. No one has said anything specific yet about layoffs, but it seems absolutely ludicrous to believe they aren't coming. Unless some gigantic new business shows up, I can't see how they could avoid it. One way or another, I have to stay employed. Can you imagine the damage I would do if I had 24x7 to plan this wedding and no money coming in? Eek!

Feeling kinda crappy today. For several days I have been fighting off some sort of "bug" - sore-ish throat, general achy feeling, a strong desire to get back in bed. It comes and goes, and today it's back again. It probably didn't help that I was in some sort of time warp this morning and thought it was Saturday for an instant when my alarm went off. Not fair! So I came to work but really wish I were home in bed, instead. I'm tempted to leave, but feel like I should stick it out unless I feel crappier. Fun fun.

Our meeting at the photographer's studio last night went well. We were both impressed by the work, although we're not sure which of two photographers we like better. Since one of them (Joel, who owns the studio along with his wife) is on vacation this month, I think there's not incredible pressure to decide right away. That's good, because there are two (possibly three) others who we ought to meet with. But I really liked that they were offering to do a free engagement shoot, where the photographer would take us to various places around the city and get some really unusual portraits. I never thought we'd do engagement photos because it's just an additional expense and not necessary, but this would be fun, and a great way to get to know the photographer before the "big day."

I'm not sure if I am going to make it to Stitch-n-Bitch tonight. First off, there's the aforementioned crappy feeling. Also, I may be going to look at a few apartments with Diana, my maid of honor. She has an appointment with a broker tonight, but I have a weird feeling that he is just bringing her in to fill out forms and chat, since he asked her to meet at his office. Usually, they meet you at the apartment, and his office and the apartments she's talking about are nowhere near each other. She's never looked for a place before, so I am fine with going to help her do that, but I really have no desire to go and sit there while she tells the broker what she wants, how much she makes, and where she wants to live. Especially when I just want to be in bed! So, either way, there's a strong chance of me being a no-show at Java-n-Jazz tonight.

Well folks, we finally have a just-about-FO! The knitting and the seaming are done on the Melon boatneck, and all I have to do is pick up for the neckband and weave in my ends. Hallelujah! I tried it on already and wasn't 100% crazy about the way it looked at first. I sort of felt like the bottom being striped and the top being solid made me look a little bottom-heavy and small-boobied. Ryan said otherwise and the next time I looked I liked it better. I think as long as I wear skinny pants in a darker shade, it's AOK.

To celebrate finishing that one, I started another tank! I decided I liked Ginger so much that I would do another one, this time in the blue Topas, this is quite a treat. I expect the tank will work up very quickly, as I've got nearly 4" done already and I only started it yesterday morning for a brief while, and then had about 25 minutes to work on the subway this morning on the way in from Ryan's.

Other than knitwise, the weekend was good. I made the most delicious watermelon sorbet on Fridy night, then had it as a treat after I cleaned up around the house and did laundry on Saturday! Then we went to the Peter, Paul and Mary concert with Mom and Dad. This is the third year in a row that we've gone with them, and it's always a good time. There are so many good memories in that music. I think my favorite album as a child was Peter, Paul and Mommy.

Going to a PPM concert is a really great experience. Ryan likened it to singing around a campfire. Probably even more so at the Westbury Music Fair, since it actually is a theater in the round. It is inspiring to see that after 40 years together and in such troubled times as ours, they still have a meaningful message of hope. Their words and their music make me believe that peace is truly possible. It is equally comforting that there are still enough people who feel the same way to go to their concerts. I do intend to raise my children (when I have them) listening to that music, and to use songs like Blowin' in the Wind and Don't Laugh at Me to help them understand our world and grow up caring about others. I love that my parents brought me up listening to that music, even though on the outside they don't seem like "folkies." I guess I'm kind of the same way.

On a totally different note - I bought a new Palm yesterday. The M500. My old Palm V only had 2 mb of RAM, where this has 8 and a faster processor. Very very happy. Plus, Circuit City had a sale, so I got it for $175 rather than $200! Now I can have Vindigo, AvantGo, and all the other "essential" Palm apps, without running out of room.