Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

I have a fantastic collection of shoes. I’m not bragging, just stating the facts. I also have a lovely wardrobe of beautiful pants, skirts and dresses. Alas, all of this fashion loveliness stays in the closet about 99% of the time. I’ve come to the realization that, since I don’t have a “real” job, I never enjoy all the dressy clothes I carefully selected and bought over the years. Ditto for the wide variety of pumps and dress shoes in my closet. As Lori and Valerie have pointed out on several occasions, I wear my Frye boots almost daily so why have so many shoes? That’s like asking why the sky is blue. It just is. I’m slowly realizing that what I really need is a good closet cleaning and that’s just what I’m doing today. I’m putting all the sandals in storage, making way for the boot collection, and discarding all the shoes that haven’t been worn in several years (including the black satin flats bought in 1996!). I already feel better and don’t feel the need to go out and buy a bunch more to replace the ones I’m getting rid of. Steve also joined the fun and is working on his own closet. I think it’s just one of those chores that never gets done until someone reaches their nadir and can’t take the mess any more.

Tomorrow I’m going to call local resale shop, [The Review Shoppe](http://www.thereviewshoppe.com/), and see if they need any of my fall/winter shoes. I already have clothes and purses there so I’m hoping they’ll tack the shoes on to my consignment. If you wear a 9 1/2-10 women’s shoe, check them out in the next couple of weeks because I’m predicting they’ll have a terrific selection in those sizes!

But I still have a fashion dilemma. What in the world am I going to do with all my nice clothes? I don’t want to get rid of them because I really want to wear them. Do I get a part-time job just so I can wear them? Do I keep the ones I really love and wear them whenever I can? Do I face facts and realize that my “job” means jeans all the time and special occasions mean shopping for something specific to that event? Suggestions are welcome. And no mom, this isn’t an invitation for you to come over and raid my closet. I’m still not ready to let go.

It seems I’ve been taking a cue from my mother’s overloaded social schedule as of late. The weekend was again full of activity as we took a road trip with Valerie and Kevin to Herman/St. Louis. It always seems like we never have enough time to do all the things we want to (like shopping Nordstrom) but we had a lot of fun. So much that we’ve tentatively planned a KC weekend to see the lights on the Plaza.

The weekend was unusually warm with temps in the 80s but I’m very happy to report the thermometer has taken a sharp dive since then. Yesterday was drizzly and cold and I think I may be one of the only people who enjoyed it. The house felt cozy and the weather forced me to get all sorts of chores done. Today it’s still cold, but sunny so I’m ready to run errands.

The best part of all this? Wearing fall clothes! Again, I’m donning my fave boots, my Gap jeans and one of my many jackets. This is my fall/winter uniform and never fails to make me feel stylish and thin even on my “fat” days.

So get outside and enjoy some great fall weather. Here’s hoping it’s cool and lovely in your neighborhood. On a serious note, a “shout out” to Len, Stacy and Alex as they voluntarily evacuated their apartment in the midst of the California wildfires. I pray their apartment is safe and they are ok.

Today is such an exciting day, as far as footwear goes anyway. Our local Marshall’s is opening their new mega shoe department so I’m sure you can guess where I’ll be this afternoon. What kind of shoe girl would I be if I didn’t go check things out?! Also, local luxury boutique, The Harem, is having a Cole Haan trunk show featuring every style available for spring. Yippee! Forget working in the studio, I’m going shoe shopping.

It’s finally cooler here which means a positive increase in my attitude and emotional well-being. Monday was so cool I actually got to break out my most favoritist boots on the planet: the [Frye Harness boot](http://www.fryeboots.com/subpages/catalog-detail.asp?sn=77305&col=VBL&fcp=catalog.asp?cat=CLASSICS@sty=HARNESS@gen=1@goToPage=1). I strutted around town all day sporting my boots, my fave Gap jeans and the thin suede jacket Steve bought me for my birthday (which was in June so I’d never worn it). Ah, good time, good times. The downside to all this cooler weather and increased positive energy is that I don’t want to lock myself in my studio and work, I’d much rather be outside playing in all the crisp air. I did get some stuff done yesterday and have set up several projects for the rest of the week. The weekend brings a trip with Valerie and Kevin to Hermann, MO and a celebration of Octoberfest. Kevin doesn’t drink so we’ll be in good hands when it comes to the designated driver. I’m hoping for more crisp air to further boost the merry mood of the day!

I’m back from a fun-filled weekend playing with metal, fire and assorted sharp objects. Repair Days was fun and interesting. It’s amazing to watch three men re-plate a 24″ silver platter or help repair a set of candlesticks. Lori and I spent most of the morning doing dent removal from teapots and cups. I learned to do a little work with pewter, but nothing really interesting. People bring in the weirdest things! Some of the objects we couldn’t identify. There were lampshades from the early 1900s, lawn chairs, flatware, statues and vessels. Kevin (the guy we stayed with) had a statue that needed a piece replaced and a new finger built. I didn’t get to see him build the finger, but he was going to form it out of brass then paint it to match the patina of the rest of the piece. Very cool.

The feeling of the event is one of friendship and family. Many people camp out on the Metal Museum grounds so one end is lined with assorted tents. Everyone takes time to reconnect with each other and meet new people. Several of us were there for the first time, but I soon felt comfortable walking around and working on pieces. Having Kevin nearby helped immensely! Since he works at the Metal Museum, he was handy with advice and direction.

Saturday night was the big dinner and auction. I scored a very cool steel clock made by a guy who works with Kevin. Most pieces went for several hundred dollars in the live auction so I just observed all the fun. As the auction wore on, and the drinking increased, the crowd became more loose with the money. Lori and I were amazed at the money spent, but it all went to the Metal Museum so it was a good donation. Plus, there were a lot of gorgeous pieces from amazing artists.

Memphis is a funny place. Not funny haha, but funny strange. Forget what Frank Sinatra says about New York, in Memphis bars stay open until 5 a.m. so the town really doesn’t sleep. Also people can’t drive and the lanes are really narrow. Lori and I about had several heart attacks with the bad driving we encountered. They can’t park either. Most cars took up two spaces parking over lines. It was really annoying.

But the weekend was fun. I’ll return again next year and will feel much more comfortable. Despite the free accommodations from Kevin, I’ll choose a hotel next year and enjoy more privacy. I’ll also bring some of my own tools so I don’t have to go chasing down hammers, files or shears when I need them. Oh, and I’ll remember to bring the camera! Sorry I don’t have any pictures.

This weekend I’m packing my bags and heading to Memphis for the annual Repair Days event at the [Metal Museum](http://www.metalmuseum.org/). I’ve never been, but stories of fun (and sometimes debauchery) are legendary. Every year my friend Sarah tries to get me to attend and I always have a conflict. This year, Lori (my studio assistant) and I are headed out for the fun. Here’s what I’m expecting according to the poster:

* Metalsmiths from across the country will be here to solder, sharpen, remove dents, re-tin copper cookware, and repair garden furniture and statuaries. They will sharpen knives, scissors, garden tools and lawn mower blades. They can even straighten out that spoon that was mangled in the disposal! We repair everything but cats, cars and broken hearts! Estimates are free. All proceeds from repair work benefit the Museum. Master Metalsmith Tom Madden will host an opening reception of his work Friday night at 7:00 PM. Saturday is Family Fun Day with activities for everyone! Stick around try some of the world famous stew that will be brewing all day. Auction starts at 7:00 PM on Saturday.

I’ll have stories on Monday (well, ones I’m willing to share anyway). Hope everyone has a good weekend. Steve’s here alone with his Halo 3 so don’t worry about him. He’ll be in the den blowing things up.

This weekend my old alma mater celebrated its 100th Homecoming. I didn’t attend any of the festivities because of scheduling conflicts, but I did take the informal school tour yesterday. I was curious to see how things had changed in the, ahem, years since I’d graduated. It was fun and fascinating. I was amazed I remembered so much of how things used to be. I realize what I’m about to write will only be interesting to a few people (mainly Cindy) but I just have to share.

First, all of the lockers had been replaced, no big surprise. They are now blue and shorter and wider. Rather than have a hallway of long, narrow lockers, they have shorter lockers stacked on top of each other. All have their own locks built in so there’s no array of different locks. Most of the classrooms have been rearranged. The old Business/Accounting and Typing rooms have been converted to the computer labs (again, no big surprise). While I understand it’s a PC world, at least they had one lone Macintosh in the back. The English department now has only one room and Math has expanded. The language rooms have been moved to the old Art rooms and Art has taken over the Home Ec. room. The biggest surprise was in the Shop/Industrial Art room. It’s now the band room! It looked really nice and I was impressed at how big the band must be based on the set up and all the instruments. The old choir room is now used for Social Studies and the other side is Choir. Except for new bleachers, the gym looked (and smelled) exactly the same. The school unveiled new athletic banners to commemorate the homecoming and I was really unimpressed with them. They are boring and ugly. I did like them being metal so that new awards can be added with a magnetized year, but otherwise, I thought they were overrated.

The cafeteria cracked me up. The decorations were left up from the homecoming dance, themed “A Night At The Laboratory.” Were our decorations really that crappy in HS? I’m sure they weren’t. Otherwise, it looked the same. Same projection booth and stage, same look. Steve and I couldn’t resist opening the door to the food line and I laughed when I saw the old green tile on the floor. It hadn’t changed at all.

We then ventured to the Elementary wing where I wasn’t surprised to see computers on most of the desks. They’ve arranged them so that two students share a computer. The whole look of the classrooms was dramatically different than when I was in school. Mainly because we didn’t use computers back in the old days! Otherwise, I’d say it’s about the same as it always was.

Moving on the the library I was surprised to find they’d flipped the rooms. The elementary books are on the larger side where we used to have study hall and the secondary books are on the smaller side. The librarian explained that it’s because most of the older kids use the MSU library for research, which made sense to me. They had tables with volumes of old yearbooks and I entertained Steve with pictures of myself from the not-too-attractive 80s. I also found a picture of my grandmother in a 1932 yearbook which was cool. Then I found dad’s senior pictures in the 1962 book. Kind-of cool.

It was a fun way to spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon. If you ever have the chance to tour your old school, you should try it. It’s really fun (well, it was for me).

It was a busy weekend here at Chez Kirks. Friday night was my opening at Waverly House. A big “thank you” to all my friends who attended. It was a good show and I’m hoping for some good responses (sales) in the future. After the show, Steve and I were going to meet Valerie, Kevin and the whole Witte family at Bailey’s for dinner. Bailey’s is a new casual restaurant downtown and we were all anxious to try it. I was not mentally prepared for the volume of people downtown on a Friday night. It seemed like the entire city of Springfield was wandering the streets (and doing a fair amount of jaywalking). The more we drove around, the more anxious and upset I became. This wasn’t how I wanted to end my evening and I certainly wasn’t in the mood to fight all the people. Once we found a parking space (after almost 20 minutes) we had to fight the crowd to get to Bailey’s. The group was on the patio, which was noisy and hot. The final nail in my patience coffin was when the band started setting up about 10 feet from us. That’s when I knew I had to leave before I committed a crime. I apologized to my friends for being so wigged out (they seemed to understand) and we left. The further away from downtown we got, the more relaxed I became. Steve and I had a nice dinner at D’Arpino’s and the evening ended on a positive note.

Saturday was more relaxing and fun. We met Valerie at the [Brown Derby International Wine Center](http://www.brownderby.com/) for their first ever Oktoberfest. This mega beer-tasting event featured over 50 brews, bratwursts, cheeses and more. Plus, it was free! We arrived during the last hour, but had plenty of time to sample some great beers. We left a little tipsy, but not in too bad a shape. Saturday night we were treated to a fabulous meal with [Alex, Miriam](http://alexandmiriam.blogspot.com/), Nate and Ginger. We finally got to meet Alex and Miriam’s twin girls, Jasmin and Addison who were positively adorable! Alex fixed a fabulous dinner of Apple Curry Stew with pork and an Asian Pear Salad that tasted almost exactly like one from local restaurant [Ocean Zen](http://www.eatoceanzen.com/). Nate and Ginger brought some yummy cheese and a great wine and we all tucked in for a delicious meal with plenty of great conversation. It was wonderful to see everyone.

Today has been a relaxing work day as we plan our meals for the week, grocery shop, and install the new TiVo. Yep, Steve now has the new TiVo that records in HD, records multiple shows, downloads movies, slices, dices and makes julienne fries. Ok, I made up the last part. Regardless, he’s in technology heaven and I’m happy I can record my regular Thursday night programs AND CSI.

I guess the couple that does projects together stays together – or maybe they end up facing each other across the table, lawyers nearby. Regardless, Steve and I decided that yesterday would be the perfect day to assemble the gazebo. This lovely piece was purchased almost 6 weeks ago and we had been waiting for the replacement parts to arrive. They did on Friday so we were ready to get our dream gazebo up and running. We laughed at the instructions which stated that estimated assembly time was 45 minutes. We figured we were smart people with power tools so about 1.5 hours should work. Not even close. More like 3+ hours. It wasn’t hard, it’s just that it took that long to assemble. Without a power drill we could easily have added another hour or so to the project. So here’s a pictorial rundown of the day:

First up, assembling the top. It was starting to look like something from Monsters, Inc.

Next was adding more of the support beams. Now I was really thinking of Pixar characters!

Once that was completed, the canvas top was added.

Here’s where it gets tricky. We now had to build up the sides around the top. Then we had to lift the top up and hook them to the sides.

We considered calling the neighbors over to help lift the top, but somehow we managed to do it ourselves. Please note, no marriages were harmed in the making of this gazebo.

So here’s the final project! I didn’t get a full inside picture since Steve took the camera and keep taking “angle” shots, but you get the idea. This morning we enjoyed coffee and the Sunday paper inside our little hut!