Isaac Asimov

I was doing some googling to figure out where my town got its name (all accounts seem to indicate it was named after a town in England, which we saw on the Tube map on our trip in 2005 http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=244&pos=20 ). In doing that I found a wikipedia article noting famous Walthamites present and past.

I guess Isaac Asimov lived right around the corner from my childhood home! Go here
http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html and search for Waltham and you'll find it. I grew up on Crafts Street and he lived (according to google maps) between Crafts and Laurel Avenue on Lowell Street, right on the Newton line. I've walked by that house countless times! I wonder if the residents there have any clue at all.

Its dorky and all, but I think that's kind of neat. :)

We spent time walking around the hood on Saturday after breakfast at Joseph's Two http://www.bestofmenus.com/restaurants/ma/waltham/josephs_two.html and picked up some veggies, bread and cookies at the Farmer's Market. Oh, and some honey from http://www.landssake.org/index.htm .

There were friends and parties and Ikea goodness this weekend, too. Our cats keep taking down the shelves in our bathroom since the studs are in weird places and these are just in the drywall (the heavy duty anchors aren't even helping) http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=5&pos=65 . We picked up 2 horizontal Ikea cabinets with doors that look a lot like old metal kitchen cabinets from the 40s to go in their place (they look really cool with the Art Deco theme), but we'll probably go back for a third. Its a small bathroom and we can use all of the storage in there we can get! Pictures to come. :)

Sewing

I'm hoping to get my Leia finished in the next week (picked up some needed supplies tonight). I'll also be making some skirts to wear to faire - after finally going through my fabric stash in the attic I've found some goodies I can use so it won't cost me anything, save for a zipper.

I'll also be tackling another Inara outfit for Dragoncon - her Serenity battle costume:
http://serenifly.tripod.com/serenityinara6.html . I like it because its kind of different for Inara, and I'm trying to get away from the huge manly or mu-mu like costumes I've acquired recently. I could wear my kick-butt perfect shoes with it which I'll have for the Miranda outfit anyway since I'm bringing that costume to wear in the DC parade (notice in the Propstore of London photos in that link above that they painted nude character shoes to look like the ones she wore on Miranda). Brian wants to A) see me in it and B) make that crossbow so its definitely an inspiration.

The bellydancers probably know this already, but in case you didn't Simplicity has a "folkloric dance" pattern:
http://www.simplicitynewlook.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3101 that I picked up for the base for the top. Between that, a bathing suit pattern and an old Simplicity gypsy pattern I think I can mock up something. I found some black leather-looking fabric in the attic and some golds that may work. I'd like a better gold, and would need the black and gold embroidered looking fabric. The pants and shoes I have for the Miranda outfit will work fine. The arm stuff and all that trim should be an interesting challenge. :) That dance pattern is a neat one to have anyway. I'm not sure if I'll ever get back into bellydance but having the pattern would be good for mucking around or faire stuff.

I think this will call for a trip to Chinatown. Its been a while, so it will be a good excuse for a trip. Anyone want to go to Dim Sum with us at some point (to translate what things actually are)? Brian's never been and I've only been once (and I had a Vietnamese woman there to warn about the chicken's feet and those kinds of goodies that I'm not quite adventurous enough to eat).