if we have it, they will come..

we're having our annual halloween party tomorrow..always fun, but i can barely contain my excitement this year as my housemates have allowed me to create my very own daisy-steiner-party-room..i've made a glitterball out of tinfoil:

..and i've covered a whole load of other things in tinfoil as well, like this phone:

plus i've made some tinfoil stars, which i think really complete the look:

(more pictures here)

i myself will be dressing up as daisy tomorrow night..i'm a bit worried about the authenticity of my hair, as it's far too long (any suggestions are welcome, except for cutting it off)..and i have also compiled a playlist, consisting primarily of prefab sprout, spandau ballet, huey lewis and the news, and, of course, the 'timewarp'..

..this is going to be the best party ever..

music for sundays in autumn..

i like sundays, and i like autumn..sundays in autumn are, therefore, one of my favourite things..with that in mind, i have done a playlist in appreciation of all things sunday and autumn..enjoy....

baking..

i made a pizza from scratch the other night, using hugh fearnley-whittingstall's recipe in the guardian t'other week..now, i normally trust hugh implicitly, having followed a good few of his delicious recipes in the past to great success (my favourite's probably the spicy bean stew w/ sausages..brilliant in winter)..

..however, my trust was somewhat shaken when the pizza dough recipe he suggested produced nothing more than a sticky, glutinous mess, which was only saved by the arrival of a friend of mark's, who has plenty of pizza making experience and just added a shedload of flour..i probably would have worked it out on my own eventually, but more likely i would have just thrown it in the bin and opted for beans on toast..i shouldn't be too harsh on hugh, though - after all, it wasn't really his dough recipe, just one of his mates'..another saving grace was his guide to making roasted tomato pizza sauce..yum....it all worked out ok in the end:


the following night i baked my first cookies..oatmeal..and they were freaking sweet:


i did make more than this, but they were so assome that they were almost all gone before i had the chance to record them for posterity..

RIP john hughes..

mildred..

..found her today in an otherwise uneventful trip to morrisons..

edit: lex told me earlier this evening that he doesn't like the name mildred..well, he can bum off..for one - it's my plant, not his, and for two, i named her mildred after the worst witch herself..i read the books when i was little, but i have to say i preferred the film (but not the later tv series), part one of which is here for your enjoyment (and it looks like you can watch the entire film on youtube..it's worth it, i promise..tim curry as 'big daddy wiz'):



i love 'the worst witch' so much i dressed up as mildred to my friend's birthday party many moons ago:

..i also realised that i hadn't yet named my ivy plant which i bought a couple of months ago, and she was the only one without a name..so i named her maud, in honour of mildred's best friend in said book/film..take that, lex!

....

i know i've already posted about kate beaton's 'hark! a vagrant' comic before, and i hate to come across like a crazy obsessed fan and all, but her latest installment is possibly my favourite yet (for obvious reasons)..go look at it..

..unfortunately her link to sally bloodbath's awesome comic journal has provided me with yet more distraction..i'll never finish this chapter now....

apologies..

no blog posts for a while because my days generally look like this:


which isn't very interesting for anyone, not even me..

however, some good things have happened..
1. lex has moved in next door to me and changed life up here for the better..
2. been trying to take him on outings, the best of which was the ouseburn festival last weekend..saw b>e>a>k and drank too much booze on the saturday night..then on sunday we wandered over to the craft market at the star and shadow to see stacy at her stall, then moseyed on down the hill where i bought this:


his name is damo, after damo suzuki, because he is from japan..we finished the trip off with a drink outside the cumberland arms..in the sun!
3. also went with lex, schmark and schmoph to see 'moon' at the tyneside..really good..

other than that, though, i have mostly been spending a lot of time in a small concrete bunker in the library..hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly, but i wouldn't count on it..

conference rundown..

lowlights:

* having to evacuate during the wine reception due to a fire alarm..20 minutes of standing outside in the rain..
* calling a paramedic for a delegate who had collapsed..
* realising half an hour before lunch at 12 on sunday that we had booked the caterers for 1pm..
* the 40 minutes of panic when it looked as if dj shaz (the dj for our 'historical karaoke') wasn't going to show..
* the distinct lack of sleep..
* the pub in which we were having the karaoke running out of red wine before i got a chance to buy any..
* having to drink disgusting pink wine instead..
* schmark deserting me..
* missing 2 roddick matches..

highlights:

* all the keynotes, but especially deborah cartmell's address on adaptations of jane austen, and kate mosse's very engaging talk..
* the few panels i managed to get to being really interesting, and hanging together really well = yey for me as programme editor..
* not having to worry about the little things thanks to our fantastic conference assistants..
* all the nice things the delegates said to us, especially the lady who told me it was "the best conference she'd ever been to"..
* getting more drunk than i meant to on sunday evening..
* managing to avoid a hangover all the way through..
* surviving it..