Haitus, Interupted

There were some seriously bad storms in my area on Thursday. I tree went through the roof of my house. Thankfully, it happened in the best possible spot - you know, relatively speaking. If I had to have a tree through my roof, this is where I would do it. We lost a couch, and our kitchen table to water damage, and the floors are seriously warping. We're still without power. But, all of my books, which were in the addition, where the tree came through were spared, as was my wedding invitations, and my wedding dress. All good things.

We had some tree guys out at 6:30 am on Friday to remove the tree, and just as they were finishing, the roofer called and came over and patched up the holes. He actually finished before the tree guys were done chipping everything they removed.

I took a million pictures for the insurance adjuster and, at some point, I will post them. At the moment, though, we are still without power, so I can't get the shots here. I can only devote so much time at work to blogging.

I hope my Illinois readers (both of you) were spared any major trauma.

For those of you who are expecting wedding invitations - they were going to go out today. I'm staying late at work today to try and get the envelopes addressed. Hopefully, they'll go out this week.

96% Feminist

You Are 96% Feminist

You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

Are You a Feminist?

Hiatus

I'm not going to blog for a while. I'm studying for the comprehensive exam for my master's degree, and taking my last course and I just don't have a lot of free time at the moment. Also, there has been some tragedy in my family, and while I don't feel that it is right for me to blog about it because none of the involved members know about my blog, I also can think of little else.

[Deleted because I think my vague explanation was still more information than I have a right to share]

I expect to return after the exam, which is 9/8/07. So, maybe the Monday after I will have something to say.

Sigh: Update

I am not fretting over the bridal shower any more. I got our invitation in the mail the day before yesterday - so it probably had gone out when I wrote that post. Regardless, I've decided not to worry about it. I've decided to remember that the point of the party is to celebrate that Mr & I are getting married. I cannot force people to celebrate us and, if they would rather hang out in Cousin's backyard (which is, admittedly, a cool place to be) then that's where they should be. I'm not going to worry about being the center of attention because I don't really want to be the center of attention. I mean, I am very excited about being married - I love Mr, and I am thrilled that we will soon be Mr & Mrs, but that is the only thing that is important here: the fact that I am excited about it. The shower is for other people to join us in the excitement and if that is inconvenient for others, then I would really rather they be where they want to be. Does that make sense?

The day my deal starts is always an emotional roller coaster, and the evite reminder came at a bad time. The shower will be fun even if only my parents and their friends show up - my parents have fun friends and our friends are fun. My cousins are fun, too, but there will be other opportunities to socialize with them if they choose to go somewhere else that night.

The Shortest Torso in the World

Apparently, my torso is freakishly short. I've always known that it was on the short side, but I just thought my legs were long for my body. I mean, that sounds better, right? I have really long legs v I have a really short torso... it just sounds better.

One time, a year or so ago, a friend of mine learned that the length of your arms from the tip of one middle finger, across your back, to the other middle finger, is supposed to be equal to your height. She was very excited about this information and insisted on measuring everyone. My wingspan is like 4'11" or something like that. I am 5'3" (and a half! I'm tall! ok, no). This, I thought, supported my theory that my legs are long for my body.

But, no. It seems my body is short for my legs.

I went to Ann Taylor Loft yesterday, on the advice of a friend who said that they have a great petites section with lots of stuff cut for our height (she is probably an inch shorter than me). While I did get a super cute, black, linen, trumpet skirt, I could not find any kind of top that fit me.

I recently applied for a job, and while I still don't have an interview, I am naturally shopping for my interview outfit (though I will not be wearing the skirt I bought. Linen on an interview is a bad idea. You want to look crisp and put-together, not all wrinkly).

ATL had these short-sleeve button-down shirts that seemed perfect. First, they were a shade of blue that really looked good with my eyes - kind of soft, gray-blue - and they had darts so it was fitted and was made of a material with a little give, but no so much Lycra that it never looks pressed. Plus, the first button was placed perfectly... You know what? I'm just going to find a link to it. Hold on... Here. The v-neck is perfect in that it opens up my face, and isn't too low where I'd be worried about being indecent.

So, I grabbed two - the size I was before I lost weight, and the size I usually am now. I've found that petites tend to be slightly smaller than regulars and I still have a bit of a tummy, so sometimes fitted shirts have to be a size up. I optimistically tried on the smaller size first. Too big. Not a lot, and I worried that the next size down would really show the tummy, but it was all weird in the boob area, so I tried the next size down. Now, it was definitely as small as I could go, but the boob part was all goofy. Then I realized, it wasn't that my boobs were to small. I picked it up at the shoulder seams and folded it about an inch. The darts raised up to the proper position, so that my chest was where it should be, the waist just skimmed along my tummy and the bottom on the shirt was perfectly placed so that you could wear it untucked and still look good because it was clearly meant to be untucked.

So, even in the petite sizes, my torso is too small. They seem to decrease/increase the shirt in every way every two sizes or so. Because women who wear a petite twelve are taller than a woman who wears a petite four. Because no one is just bigger. Right? It is so frustrating. When I was heavier, it was downright hilarious trying to find tailored women's shirts. By the time I got a size big enough to fit my width, I would generally have about six extra inches of height on a shirt that had no where to go. It is frustrating to find that, even now, at a pretty healthy weight, I'm still not the right proportion. Because I'm not 100 pounds, and I'm under 5'6", most clothes just don't fit. Of course, I could starve myself for the next six months, lose ten or twenty pounds until I fit into a small enough shirt that the proportions have shrunk, but I just don't think it is worth it.

Good thing I like my tailor. I wonder how hard it is to adjust a blouse?