Happy Valentine's Day!

Our third Valentine's Day was fabulous! We had a wonderful international dinner in our own little private room of the restaurant, then we spent some time in the jacuzzi. Michael got us a new Blu-ray player over the weekend, so we ended the evening (early morning) watching movies in HD. It was incredibly romantic and relaxing. Being Michael's wife is the best part of my life! :)

AND... to top it all off he got me a sewing machine for Valentine's Day! This will be the 2nd vintage machine that he's gotten me and I can't think of a better gift! I'm so lucky!

Remember this cute little pink machine?

Well, I made the right decision and I didn't get it.

Instead I ended up with TWO blue machines:

I started out with just the Singer 347 because I loved the cabinet it came with. Then when I was visiting Gail and Jerry today, they told me about an old sewing machine they had sitting in their basement. They said that they would like to see it used and that I could have it! WOW! Now I'm the proud owner of a Morse Fotomatic III. It's a 3/4 bed machine, so I'll have to do a little modification to the cabinet, but it's worth it. Morse were made in the Toyota factory in Japan and are 50lb, all-steel, work-horse sewing machines. I love the Robin's Egg blue Singer 347, so it and the Rocketeer will go into storage and I'll use the Fotomatic in my Valentine's Day cabinet here at the condo, until we move.

Poor Little Black Dress

So, the most recent issue of Threads has been sitting on my nightstand taunting me with it's cover threatening about "Simple Steps to a Couture Dress!" And every time I read the article about "Little Black Dress from Start to Finish", I think that it's some kind of moral imperative that I have a Little Black Dress. And that, my Little Black Dress come as close to a couture garment as possible. After all the Threads article depicts a beautiful couture Little Black Dress being completed in less than four pages. I can do this! I have to do this!

I made myself a Little Black Dress with the intention of wearing it for Valentine's Day. The dress turned out great and fits really well, blah, blah, blah. But as soon as the dress was sewn I had completely moved on to a new obsession.

I must wear this dress only with leopard shoes. I don't know why, but I was convinced that this dress would never taste right without a side of leopard print pumps.

I went to every shoe store in North County Fair. No leopard pumps. I also didn't find any in the little junky shoe stores here in Escondido. My quest for leopard pumps was failing miserably. But, there was one option left, I had a gift card for stupid Victoria's Secret. I don't like stupid Victoria's Secret, their stuff is crap. But I figured, I have a gift card, if they have leopard pumps... we might have a deal. And they did! They were pretty cute T-strap velvet leopard print platform sandals. I ordered them a couple weeks before Valentine's Day (which should have been plenty of time) and thought I could rest easy.

Then I got an email from stupid Victoria's Secret. It said some nonsense about how my order couldn't be processed and they apologized that refunds would be issued promptly. Then, the next sentence said your item has been shipped and will arrive February 20. What?!?

I called stupid Victoria's Secret, and they were complete idiots on the phone and didn't know what was going on. I told them to cancel my order and that I was very unhappy. So they offered me a complete refund including shipping, and they threw in another gift card. That was a very nice, and unexpected gesture, except for the fact that their stuff is crap and I don't want to buy anything from them.

Now, I have no leopard shoes, and more stupid Victoria's Secret gift cards than I know what to do with.

My poor little black dress didn't get worn for Valentine's Day. I didn't have the leopard shoes and it was too cold. I wore some black slacks and a black shirt with black shoes (on the cutting edge of fashion, I know).