Sometimes I can't stop until I have one in every size. Possibly this is why my unicorn Pillow Pet collection raged out of control, or possibly it's just because I utilize any excuse necessary to obtain more unicorns for my life.
Which is why today, in Krispy's absence, I made myself a new friend to replace her.
Medium size! Though you can't tell because there are no size references!
It would've been better if I'd scaled the pattern down using some kind of technical means but lacking such, I eyeballed it. As a result, this unicorn jellybean is fatter and more bean-shaped as opposed to his more oblongly-long larger counterpart.
Mwah!
For kicks, I stacked 'em all together: topmost tiny felt prototype, then new medium-sized version, and finally the original large unijelly! Did you know that in Japanese, the word for jelly is "zeri"? So these guys would be unizeri! Which, if you were reading that in Japanese, would be pronounced "ooh-nee-zeh-ree". And there's your useless Japanese lesson of the day!
Stand tall, my friends, and be brave!
At first I thought the original large unibean was dirty because omg when I stacked the medium one on him, the medium was so white and the large was so yellow. I mean yeah, sure, he's received a lot of lovin' from all of us 'round hereabouts, but holy crap! I used the same fleece on both of them! WTF!
Then it was with great relief that I realized the large jelly is stuffed with shredded foam (vaguely yellowish-whitish) while the medium one is stuffed with polyfil (bright white). And since the fleece is white and not as opaque as you'd think, well, thank god, it's not all dirt even if we've had our grubby hands all over the large jelly.
And to celebrate Friday, have a picture of Loki. He finally held still enough for me to put a peanut butter treat on his nose, but then he was oblivious to it. He was startled when I flicked it off his nose and it took him a moment to realize it was a treat. Loki, you were watching the entire time I put it on your nose. How could you not have noticed?
What treat?
Happy Friday, folks! Do you feel the urge to collect more than one or one in every size?
Krispy and her Sister are off to Comic-Con, leaving poor Alz a waif in the wilderness. But I am not alone! For of late I have been crafty and produced from these, these human hands so fragile, a being of immeasurable power and beauty so great and terrifying that it is not meant for mortal eyes. And then, inspired by this sight, Krispy's Sister requested my aid and together we made a second creation unlike anything this good green earth has seen before!
Behold! UNICORN AND PRONGS!
Each stuffed with two bags of shredded foam. They are exceedingly huggable and giant.
They are shaped something like a jellybean so we have been calling them beans and jellies (not to be confused with the initially-cutesy but ultimately weird and slightly pretentious webcomic called Unicorn Jelly).
The Sister has lo, for many years drawn Prongs, a rotund little quadruped who has galloped across many a whiteboard, paper, yearbook, Christmas card, etc. during the time of his existence. And now, now he has gone from a 2-D image to 3-D glory.
EVOLUTION. AS ABOVE, SO BELOW. Which is the only thing I really remember from my Magic & Occult Philosophy class.
We made a special trip to the craft store to select appropriate fabric for Prongs. For the majority he is brown fleece with hand-appliqued black fleece details including his eyes and four little hoofies, lightly stuffed ears and squeezable tail, and fuzzy black antlers.
The whole process took a couple of days that involved much swearing and wibbling on Krispy's Sister's part, getting Krispy's opinion and approval of hoof and eye placement, and Alz stabbing her fingers more than once because she was also trying to watch True Blood, The Wanted Life, and Dexter (not all at once or even in the same evening, mind you). The results are unparalleled in squishy gloriousness.
Hooves!
Prongs may or may not sneak along to Comic-Con. He is rather large to sneak anywhere, all things considered, but I don't doubt that Prongs will do what he wants.
I find now that I do not have a decent picture of the unibean by himself and it's too dark now to take a decent pic, so you'll have to content yourselves with this possibly disturbing picture of what he looked like before he was stuffed:
The skin of a unijelly.
In the meantime, wish Krispy and her Sister happy funtimes at Comic-Con! They go to Nerdlandia with my blessings and envy and encouragement to stalk as many attractive celebrities as possible and grab all the free swag they can hold.
While they are gone, I have charge of playing with the Loki (yay!) and have absconded with Krispy's holy arc of The Dream Thieves, which I will hopefully be able to rip through in her absence.
Have you been to Comic-Con? Who would win in a fight between Prongs Jelly and Uni Jelly?
I have a confession to make: I've never been enamored of Mr. Darcy. I know, I know. For one thing, I didn't read Pride and Prejudice until after high school. I watched the BBC miniseries with a couple of friends (not Krispy) who adored P&P, and prior to this I had heard many a girl gush of her love for the incredibly hot Mr. Darcy, so perhaps my expectations were skewed from all the hype.
I mean, Darcy's all right. In the end, he owns up to being a douchebag, changes his attitude, and proves himself noble, which is all cool. But when he's being all cool and noble and all it's totally behind the scenes and we don't really see his transformation, just the end results that kind of pop up out of nowhere.
So, yes, I like Darcy all right, though I've never loved him. Which is why when I heard from Krispy and her Sister that in the UK somebody made a 12-foot-tall statue of Mr. Darcy and plunged it into a lake to recreate the scene of Colin Firth rising from the lake in the BBC miniseries--a scene which isn't even in the book, might I add--I was bemused.
Then they showed me pictures and I.
Was.
Horrified.
Brace yourself. It's not pretty. Far from it. Especially if you like Colin Firth and Mr. Darcy and think Colin Firth arising from a lake with his dark hair tousled and his dripping clothes clinging to the hard outlines of his muscular body is attractive.
Mind you, I'm not horrified because I love Mr. Darcy. I'm horrified because it's a 12-foot-tall fiberglass statue that looks vaguely like Colin Firth and a great deal more like when it's after midnight and a faint scuttling sound wakes me up from a delightful dream about baby unicorns riding galactic creampuffs and I lie awake in bed paralyzed by fear for the next six hours with my eyes glued to the curtains because all I can think of is that statue lurking outside my window and oh god I swear I see the faintest silhouette of it in the moonlight and it's moving.
Ahem.
Anyway, Krispy's Sister also found this statue to be highly disturbing and she wrote a very appropriate Buzzfeed article about it entitled "Mr. Darcy Emerges from a Lake and Into My Nightmares", a title she came up with all on her own and takes the words right out of my mouth or rather away from my fingertips. The article mentions the fact that the gigantic statue is in fact going on a tour of the UK, and raises the question: If he's going on tour now, where was he popping up before?
This is where she asked me for my meager Photoshop skillz. I obliged, only because I know that I must face my fears in order to conquer them. Which in this case meant staring at pictures of the terrifying Mr. Darcy for more than an hour as I documented the statue's journey prior to his unveiling on July 8.
And now, since I had to face my fears, KRISPY AND SISTER, FACE YOURS:
Family portrait for Independence Day.
Is Darcy a photobooth prop, a photobomber, or a 12-foot-tall specter of unmitigated evil? Answer: All of the above.
Having forced your eyes to see the unseeable, dear friends, have a happy Friday. Stay cool and look over your shoulder because you never know where Darcy will pop up next.
Did you read Pride & Prejudice? Did you crush on Mr. Darcy?
What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, so we can check in with each other. To join, just check out Jaime Morrow or Erin Funk's blogs for the link widget and sign up!
WHAT I'M READING
I read How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, which was a short but powerful read. I picked it up thanks to a recommendation from April Tucholke, and I don't regret listening to her. It's a great book for voice. The story is told almost conversationally and casually, but somehow it manages to still be beautiful, vivid, and raw. Definitely something to check out if you're into something that falls into a weird between space of coming-of-age, contemporary, and war-survival story or if you'd like to study a well-done voice-driven story.
I'm currently reading THE DREAM THIEVES (Book 2 of The Raven Cycle) by Maggie Stiefvater. Amazing I-owe-her-a-slice-of-my-soul-or-something Mindee Arnett and a generous blogger who went to BEA made it possible for me to get my hands on an ARC of this gorgeous, fantastic book. I've barely started, but man, have I missed the Raven Boys and Blue! The writing is superb. I'm savoring each word.
WHAT I'M WRITING
Honestly, I didn't really write this week. Things got away from me! :( In my defense, I was finishing Siege & Storm and squeeing over the Darkling & Sturmhond with some of my RSW ladies about it, and I finished yet another book. And, uh, I mentioned I have THE DREAM THIEVES now, right?
The bright side is that I think I figured out a plot point or two for both "Luck" and another WIP. Looks like my shower daydream sessions are working again!
Goal: Same as last week - finish the backstory story.
All of you! The What's Up Wednesday posts, the #ReadySetWrite twitter sessions, the general writing tweets have been so inspiring and motivating. It's nice to know everyone has moments of doubt and it's so fun to cheer each other on. Hugs and cookies for everyone!
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
I feel like this is always the longest section for me. Some exciting things happened after the Fourth of July.
1. I got a new phone! Technically, it's the phone my mom ended up not using - as is my phone case. But that's cool because we bought the phone case in Berlin last year. It is adorable. (You should know that I love bears and took a few years of German in school.)
2. If my sister is to be believed, I became a unicorn this weekend. Which is to say, I went to get my hair re-dyed and trimmed. Since it's summer and Comic-Con is coming up, I went for something bolder than usual. Translated that means, my hair is now 3-ish colors: my natural black with red color treatment, violet/violet-red, and bright red/pink at the ends. Apparently, I'm pretty dazzling in the sunlight.
Alz says I look like I dipped my head in red. The Sister says I'm a colorful unicorn.
3. Yesterday, Loki maybe most likely killed a bird. -_- He is a mighty hunter.
Quick picture post today. I actually have work on Friday (boo, no long weekend), but the holiday in the middle of the week helped. Funnily enough, the Sister and I spent most of the day watching Downton Abbey.
Anyway before I go sleep to the sound of "rockets bursting in air" (since I'm writing this blog post on July 4th), here are some pics from our Fourth of July celebrations.
Before we started watching Downton, we did some decorating. The Sis got out the flag and her Common Sense shirt (a Penguin Civic Classics shirt!), and I got out my President PEZ dispensers and Penguin Civic Classics copies of The Declaration of Independence and The Federalist Papers.
Yes, I would have Presidents PEZ dispensers. Those are the first 5 presidents.
What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, so we can check in with each other. To join, just check out Jaime Morrow or Erin Funk's blogs for the link widget and sign up!
WHAT I'M READING
I'm currently reading Siege & Storm, which I'm glad to report I am quite enjoying! It's actually kind of a relief because as some of you might remember I wasn't that enamored of the first book Shadow & Bone (here's Alz and my double-review of Shadow & Bone if you're interested). Nevertheless, I was interested in S&S because I did enjoy the world and thought the story had a lot of potential (even if I didn't love Alina), and no lie, I'm kind of in love with the Darkling. What can I say, at some point in recent years I've become a sucker for pretty villains (I blame Loki).
But yes, I'm enjoying it! I'm liking Alina a lot more this time around; there was Darkling early on in the book (but alas, I think he will be MIA for this next chunk); and I'm starting to come around to this Sturmhond fellow. (But I will never abandon the Darkling ship! Never!)
WHAT I'M WRITING
Still working on that backstory story! I'm going to try to make a Ready.Set.Write twitter session one of these days, but the downside of being on the West Coast is that I'm usually at work or eating dinner or at the gym during the times of the write sessions. BUT ONE DAY!
Goal: Finish this stupid backstory story! Until then, since Tracey suggested it, here's an excerpt:
She was taught to read and write, to sing and dance - footsteps I would follow in my own education. They adorned her with silver hoops, woven shawls, and brightly patterned skirts.
It was no wonder then that my father took notice of her when he and his party arrived at their remote village.
The story is unclear here with accounts varying as to the reason for my father’s presence in such a far flung nook of the empire. What is clear is that he was on his way home when he heard tale of a heartrending beast lurking in the dense forests of the Northern range. Whether he was goaded by his men to pursue it or wished to gain glory for himself is a mystery, but it was this local superstition that sparked the beginning of my father and mother’s own legend.
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
I just picked up this book, and it is kind of awesome. Alz and I have already been fascinated, boggled, and amused by the many strange things found in this book. See that round thing with 4 wings and 6 feet on the cover? Apparently, that is a god.
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
It was ridiculously hot this past weekend in Southern California. Like it was probably around 100F in my area, but I hear it was 134F in Death Valley. In any case, to stay cool, we went swimming and took Loki (and my cousin's dog Sadie) with us. Loki knows how to swim, but as Alz posted last Friday, Loki is too scared to leave the first step by himself.
But thanks to the heat, he figured out how to do it himself! He will now voluntarily launch himself from the top step and into the pool! He became so confident that he kept showing off to Sadie while we were trying to teach her not to be afraid of the water. (Sadie really hated swimming, haha.)
This weekend was also my cousin-once-removed (is this correct? The daughter of my first cousin?)'s birthday. We ate BBQ, played Just Dance (well, I watched - I am NOT coordinated enough for that game), and made balloon animals.
I made a tiger. Rawr!
Hope the rest of you had cooler weekends than I did!
Q4U: How is your RSW or Camp NaNoWriMo going? What's up with you?
P.S. Our blog/writer friend and awesome blog layout designer Caroline Richmond sold her book - and it sounds like a fantastic read! Definitely go congratulate her if you haven't! Here: It's a Book Deal
It's Friday and we are going through a heatwave. It's supposed to spike over 100 degrees in ye elde Fahrenheit here.
In order to combat the heat, we dress appropriately (Krispy in shorts and tanks and flipflops, Alz still in black and long sleeves and jeans but summerweight rather than winterweight), eat frozen yogurt and fudgesicles, and indulge in iced teas and copious boba. Tangerine juice tea and orange-kumquat tea with rainbow jelly are refreshingly delicious.
Poor Loki spends his days panting in the shade, eating ice cubes, and taking the occasional dip in the pool. And by "occasional dip," I mean "prolonged torture session."
What it boils down to is this: our resident Overlord of Cute turns into Kentucky Fried Loki when it comes to swimming--he gets scared when his paws don't touch the ground, but at the same time he likes the water and actually seems to enjoy swimming, and would probably swim on his own if he wasn't too chicken to take that first step. Or second step, rather, as he will willingly hop into the first step of the pool by himself and lie down in the water. It's just that the second step is a wee bit too far down for his paws to reach and he cannot muster bravery enough to dip himself in a little further.
Krispy and her Sister even got him a life jacket to help him float, but I don't think he realizes that's what the life jacket does.
For your viewing pleasure, here is Krispy, her Sister, and Loki, Pool Version:
Swim, Loki, swim! Look at him go! I was his favorite person that day since I didn't drag or dump him into the pool, and he demonstrated his affection by rubbing all over my legs while still in his life jacket and freshly saturated from the pool.
Happy Friday, folks! What's your favorite cold treat to beat the heat?
PS Love Star Wars? Are wookiees your favorite walking carpets ever? Then you'll be pleased to know that there's something even better than Chewbacca! Check out Krispy's Sister's article about how Chubaka is the new in-thing.
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