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The responses to my last post needed more attention than a quick reply on the comment page.

First, thanks to Karen, Marji, and Duchesse for the birthday wishes. I had a lovely time even if the day was lower key than last year. The crew at work brought in a Key Lime pie for me, and my BFF at work took me to Pei-Wei for lunch--yum!

The iPod interface is a great addition to the car. Not as practical as the snow tires I got for Christmas, but a heck of a lot more enjoyable. The interface DF bought for me was a BMW one, so it's not strictly an aftermarket accessory. I'm sure they exist though. What's especially nice is that it can use the existing playlists from the iPod; some of these gizmos require the user to set up a limited number of special "car" playlists. Mine also allows podcasts and audio books to be played, a nice plus if you like the spoken word as I do. Negotiating the menus is a little confusing so I've been sitting in the garage and fooling around with it when I arrive at home. That way I'm less of a danger to other drivers!! Depending on the make and model year, there may be ones specifically manufactured for your car. That seems to be the easiest way to go since it's designed to work with the other audio that's already in place.

Duchesse, a pattern! Good for you! If you're willing to eventually pull out the sewing machine, here's what you might want to do. Get the seamstress to make a muslin of the dress first, before she sews your garment from the good fabric. Let her know you want to have the muslin as well as the actual dress. Then use that muslin as a fit guide should you later decide to make another version yourself. Depending on the style, it could even be your sloper for other projects. I agree that sewing something special after a long hiatus is not for the faint-hearted, and it can be worth hiring a professional. Even though I sew, I'm thinking about doing this for the wedding dress (no, still no firm date yet).

The Sterilite I wanted is pretty simple--they're boxes with a separate lid, no fasteners. They used to be available in all kinds of sizes, but recently disappeared from WalMart and Target. I ended up getting a similar product from Rubbermaid that has the locking mechanism. They might be better, but the size is slightly different, of course. And no, I don't want to re-buy everything so it matches. Even I am not that obsessive. Someday I'll have that serene magazine storage look, alas, not now. It should be enough that I've made a simple bedroom closet hold more than it was ever designed to, but no! it has to look "perfect" as well. Like I said, I need to let it go and just enjoy having the storage.

Quick-Like

This will be a really short update, since I got back last night and I'm at work today.

The trip was fun! I felt productive--I completed a Now Shirt except for the buttons and buttonholes and made quite a lot of progress on a Mimosa Top. Linda tweaked the Mimosa Pants pattern for me so that's almost ready to start on. Once again, I got to try on many of the sample garments so I have a pretty good idea of what fits.

I'll post more later but just wanted to let you know I was back. I was able to read all your comments on the Touch (Thank You!!), but posting to the blog was not as easy to accomplish.

The Bags are Packed...

Tonight I packed for the Sewing Workshop Getaway in San Francisco. I packed less stuff this time, but still way more than necessary for a 4-day trip. Lots of fabric and sewing supplies (and room for still more!) I'm only taking my iPod Touch this time, so I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to do on the road, but I promise that I'll have things to report when I get back!

And Another Thing...

DBF has interesting ways sometimes (don't we all!). Anyway, one of his quirks is not to exchange gifts on occasions such as birthdays, Christmas, etc. OK, so far it's worked out because he remembers to buy flowers on special days and does other thoughtful things.

One of which took place yesterday. I went over to his place last evening to watch the Pats/Giants game, and he handed me a bag from the Apple store. Inside was a blue iPod Nano, which is just the cutest little thing! He thought it would be more convenient to carry around than the 30 GB one I've been taking everywhere for almost 2 years now. He also upgraded the earbuds, another nice touch.

What a great surprise and pretty nice gesture for someone who "doesn't do gifts"!

Say Hello to my Leetle Friend...

It's been approximately a year since DBF persuaded me to buy an iPod. "It'll change your life," he said. I scoffed but bought one anyway. Dang, I hate it when he's right! Yep, I'm officially a Pod person. I haven't totally drunk the Kool-Aid. For example, this blog entry is being typed up on a Dell lap top with Windows.

And no, I don't think Steve Jobs is the second coming. But my iPod is a fun little toy that holds my entire CD collection with room to spare. And I love being able to buy just the songs I want through iTunes instead of an entire disk. I listen to it at home, in my car, at the gym and at the office. I probably won't get the iPhone, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the next generation of iPods--surely Steve realizes that a lot of us have company cell phones that we get for "free" and will have pity on us. It would be cool to have an iPod where the screen is the entire side.

That being said, I'm introducing a new feature to the blog. From time to time, I'll be posting on fun stuff from my iTunes and iPod.