Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

I did the usual Friday things — posted a Friday Tip and send a newsletter to B.A.B.E. students. I also did the BeauTease Challenge and read couple of chapters of Goddess of Love.

I spent some time working on improvements to The Faerie Queene. They both rely on other people, so this was just getting things rolling.

Dear Constant Reader,

Today was relatively quiet. Did some B.A.B.E. work and read a couple of chapters of Goddess of Love.

I also spent half an hour working on the Challenge we discussed at rehearsal on Wednesday. It sucked. The goal is to do it every day and one assumes it will eventually suck less. Maybe I’ll even get better someday.

Dear Constant Reader,

Wednesday is BeauTease rehearsal day. We decided to set a challenge for ourselves. We’ll see how we do in a month. I’ll tell you what it was at that time.

I spent much of the time with Brigitte running through Pearl’s Spotify, trying to find music for my nascent act. We did find a contender, but I’m still looking. Also I scraped more silicon off the tub and measured the ends for curtains.

On the B.A.B.E. admin front, I made sure the party favors were all set for this weekend’s Burly-Q Parties and paired up all the newly-cleaned loaner gloves and put them away.

I closed out the evening with my now customary reading.

Dear Constant Reader,

I was going to give myself a pass for the day because I had some (minor) dental work done and even a small amount of novocaine renders me feeling cruddy for hours. However, I wrote a blog post before the appointment.

Later in the evening I was feeling better and practiced some slight of hand for The Faerie Queene.

I only managed to read one chapter of Goddess of Love (the Montreal years) before falling asleep.

Dear Constant Reader,

I’m discovering with this challenge that almost every day I do something burlesque related. Usually it’s work to keep B.A.B.E. going. It’s not very glamourous or creative, but it’s necessary. Also making time to read a couple of chapters of Goddess of Love Incarnate is a wonderful end to my day. I’m a voracious reader, but forcing myself to go slowly and savor this book has been delightful.

I brought all the teaching gloves from the studio after rehearsal on Sunday, so I washed them.

I started working on my application to teach at BurlyCon. I’d like to get that taken care of in the next week, so I don’t have to worry about the deadline.

Despite Albert’s best efforts to get me to just snuggle with him all night, I got some rhinestoning done. You might remember that last year I made some Victorian undies for Costume-Con with the intention of reusing the corset in a burlesque routine. I’ve since made a bra, garter belt, and panties from the same brocade and spent some time last night stoning the panties.

Dear Constant Reader,

I finished decorating those Guest-of-Honor pasties I had made the previous day and brought them into the studio for the goodie bags.

Speaking of the studio, it was rehearsal night. After a little B.A.B.E admin, I spent my evening removing old silicon caulk from my bathtub. So glamourous, I know. I’m hoping one more session with my scraper will do it. Maybe two. And then I can re-caulk it.

I decided the drapes on the short ends of the tub should be replaced, but foolishly didn’t take the measurements. For some reason I thought I wasn’t going to have time before next rehearsal to make them, but that’s just wrong. I totally could have made them Monday or Tuesday.

And I squeezed in a couple of chapters of Goddess of Love before falling asleep.

Dear Constant Reader,

It was a quiet day on the rhinestone front. I worked on organizing my sewing room/office (so much paper to recycle or shred!), made the bases for 4 pairs of Guest-of-Honor pasties, and, of course, a chapter of Goddess of Love Incarnate.

Dear Constant Reader,

On Fridays I always send out a newsletter to B.A.B.E. students and post my Friday Tip and today was no different. I also set up registration for the May Introduction to Burlesque series, finalized the registration for a Burly-Q party, and some other miscellaneous admin stuff.

Made half a dozen more teaching pasties. We should be good for the two Burly-Q Parties next Saturday.

I brainstormed more with Scratch about my new act and jotted down some notes. This is quite different for me. Usually I have a hook already when I’m designing an act — a costume design, a piece of music, a prop. In this case I started from “I want a new act” and a couple of very high-level ideas. We’ve narrowed down a few things, but it’s still very wide-open. It’s going to be an interesting process. I’m not sure if next step is designing the costume or finding music.

And as usual, I ended my day with a couple of chapters of Goddess of Love Incarnate in bed.

Dear Constant Reader,

So far I’m finding that I could fill my quota just doing administrative work for my school, but I’m trying to more than that. Anyway, on Day 3 I did some B.A.B.E. work and wrote a blog post.

I repaired 3 pasties from the troupe’s collection that had lost their tassels. Discussed the construction of my new Faerie Queene pasties with Scratch. We decided on an illusion base and I did a little on-line research toward that. I continued to tidy my sewing room and took care of one of those glamourous tasks — handwashing some delicate costume items.

I’m at the very beginning stages of brainstorming a new act. I have the highest-level concept of it. Hopefully it will continue to develop over this month.

And I read a couple more chapters of Goddess of Love. It’s very engaging.