Chupacabra sighting in Texas!
Current mood: excited
Category: Pets and Animals

Ever since I first learned about it in Spanish class in college I've been fascinated by the legend of the Chupacabra (which is pretty much a Mexican version of a werewolf). I was bummed when the strange animal they found last year in Texas was just a Texas coyote but now there's been a more recent sighting and footage of another possible Chupacabra:

Did Texas deputy get video of legendary 'chupacabra'?

Currently reading : Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution By Caroline Weber Release date: 2006-09-19

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Scientist commits suicide before arrest for anthrax mailings
Current mood: shocked
Category: News and Politics

By LARA JAKES JORDAN and DAVID DISHNEAU, Associated Press Writers 2 hours, 16 minutes ago

A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.

The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions. The laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.

Tom Ivins, a brother of the scientist, told The Associated Press that another of his brothers, Charles, told him Bruce had committed suicide.

A woman who answered the phone at Charles Ivins' home in Etowah, N.C., refused to wake him and declined to comment on his death. "This is a grieving time," she said.

A woman who answered the phone at Bruce Ivins' home in Frederick declined to comment.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr and FBI Assistant Director John Miller declined to comment on the report.

Henry S. Heine, a scientist who had worked with Ivins on inhalation anthrax research at Fort Detrick, said he and others on their team have testified before a federal grand jury in Washington that has been investigating the anthrax mailings for more than a year.

Heine declined to comment on Ivins' death.

Norman Covert, a retired Fort Detrick spokesman who served with Ivins on an animal-care and protocol committee, said Ivins was "a very intent guy" at their meetings.

Ivins was the co-author of numerous anthrax studies, including one on a treatment for inhalation anthrax published in the July 7 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Just last month, the government exonerated another scientist at the Fort Detrick lab, Steven Hatfill, who had been identified by the FBI as a "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks. The government paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against the Justice Department in which he claimed the department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

The Times said federal investigators moved away from Hatfill and concluded Ivins was the culprit after FBI Director Robert Mueller changed leadership of the investigation in 2006. The new investigators instructed agents to re-examine leads and reconsider potential suspects. In the meantime, investigators made progress in analyzing anthrax powder recovered from letters addressed to two U.S. senators, according to the report.

Besides the five deaths, 17 people were sickened by anthrax that was mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida just weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The victims included postal workers and others who came into contact with the anthrax.

In the six months following the anthrax mailings, Ivins conducted unauthorized testing for anthrax spores outside containment areas at USAMRIID — the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick — and found some, according to an internal report by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, which oversees the lab.

In December 2001, after conducting tests triggered by a technician's fears that she had been exposed, Ivins found evidence of anthrax and decontaminated the woman's desk, computer, keypad and monitor, but didn't notify his superiors, according to the report.

The report says Ivins performed more unauthorized sampling on April 15, 2002, and found anthrax spores in his office, in a passbox used for moving materials in and out of labs, and in a room where male workers changed from civilian clothing into laboratory garb.

Ivins told Army investigators he conducted unauthorized tests because he was worried that the powdered anthrax in letters that had been sent to USAMRIID for analysis might not have been adequately contained.

In January 2002, the FBI doubled the reward for helping solve the case to $2.5 million, and by June officials said the agency was scrutinizing 20 to 30 scientists who might have had the knowledge and opportunity to send the anthrax letters.

After the government's settlement with Hatfill was announced in late June, Ivins started showing signs of strain, the Times said. It quoted a longtime colleague as saying Ivins was being treated for depression and indicated to a therapist that he was considering suicide. Family members and local police escorted Ivins away from the Army lab, and his access to sensitive areas was curtailed, the colleague told the newspaper. He said Ivins was facing a forced retirement in September.

The colleague declined to be identified out of concern that he would be harassed by the FBI, the report said.

Ivins was one of the nation's leading biodefense researchers.

In 2003, Ivins and two of his colleagues at the USAMRIID received the highest honor given to Defense Department civilian employees for helping solve technical problems in the manufacture of anthrax vaccine.

In 1997, U.S. military personnel began receiving the vaccine to protect against a possible biological attack. Within months, a number of vaccine lots failed a potency test required by federal regulators, causing a shortage of vaccine and eventually halting the immunization program. The USAMRIID team's work led to the reapproval of the vaccine for human use.

The Times said Ivins was the son of a Princeton-educated pharmacist who was born and raised in Lebanon, Ohio. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in microbiology, from the University of Cincinnati.

He and his wife, Diane, owned a home just outside the main gate to Fort Detrick.

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Check out this event: Jessica & Rebekah’s 30th Birthday Party
Current mood: excited
Category: Parties and Nightlife

Hosted By: Jessica and Rebekah Brooks
When: Saturday Aug 02, 2008
at 9:00 PM
Where: 319 A Street - on the roof!
Boston, MA 02110
United States
Description:
Jessica and Rebekah Brooks Rooftop Costume Party To Celebrate their 30th Birthday!

Click Here To View Event

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Check out this event: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Opening Night!
Current mood: excited
Category: Parties and Nightlife

Hosted By: Rebekah Brooks
When: Friday Jul 04, 2008
at 11:59 PM
Where: The Seacoast Repertory Theater
125 Bow Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
United States
Description:
Rebekah Brooks

Click Here To View Event

5:18 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

U.S. oil probe focusing on price manipulation: report
Current mood: annoyed
Category: News and Politics

Remember a few years ago when there were all those blackouts in California and everyone was wondering what the hell was going on? Then it turns out that a company by the name of Enron was intentionally causing the blackouts to increase the demand for energy and drive up energy prices. Something similar is going on with gas prices right now and someday soon we're going to find out who's behind it. - Rebekah


NEW YORK (Reuters)  May 30, 2008 - A U.S. regulatory probe into potential oil-market trading abuses is focusing on possible short-term manipulation of benchmark crude prices and the use of information related to important oil storage tanks to influence prices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The newspaper, citing people familiar with enforcement priorities of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said the CFTC is pursuing several oil investigations, and that many of them relate to one another.

On Thursday the U.S. futures market regulator had said it would step up surveillance of energy trading by tracking index funds, and had reached an agreement with the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority and ICE Futures Europe to share information on energy contracts.

The CFTC has been under pressure from U.S. lawmakers to crack down on speculators they blame for pushing energy prices to record levels.

U.S. crude oil CLc1 hit a record high of $135.09 a barrel last week, and is up by more than 40 percent this year.

The Journal quoted CFTC enforcement chief Gregory Mocek as saying the agency has about 60 manipulation investigations open in various commodity markets.

The CFTC has expanded an investigation, disclosed previously by the newspaper, into alleged short-term manipulation of crude-oil prices via a widely used price-reporting system run by Platts, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos (MHP.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

One suspicion, the newspaper said, is that energy companies and traders have at times issued a flood of orders during a time window used by Platts to determine its reported prices for physical oil transactions, then used the potentially distorted prices to make profits in other markets.

According to the Journal, Platts has said its system has safeguards to protect against manipulation.

Subpoenas on the matter have gone out in several stages, the report cited people familiar with the cases as saying.

The Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying the agency has also been questioning traders about similar activity in the jet-fuel market.

Another area of concern for CFTC regulators is whether the owners of crude-oil storage tanks use their knowledge to make bets on oil-futures markets.

In theory, the owner of a tank could issue misleading information about the tanks being full or empty, leaving the wrong impression about whether oil is in plentiful supply.

Then they could make trades to profit on the misunderstanding.(Reporting by Steve James; Editing by Jonathan Leff and Michael Urquhart)

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Gypsy is safe and sound at home!
Category: Pets and Animals

I found Gypsy tonight! I found her hanging around near the dumpster outside our apartment. I didn't know if it was her at first because she ran away from me when I called her but I continued to call her name and the next thing I know I see a black cat in the woods staring at me. I called her name again and I noticed she was meowing at me. I got really excited and started off into the woods after her but she took off and disappeared into a thick briar patch/woodsy area that I couldn't get into. I realized running around like that wasn't going to get her to come to me and I figured she must be hungry if she was dumpster diving so I went inside and got her cat treats and came back out and started calling her name again. As soon as I start shaking the can of treats she pokes her head out of the woods and starts inching towards me very hesitantly while meowing the whole time. Eventually she came right up to me, ate a few treats and I grabbed her and brought her inside. She's as skinny as a rail, the poor thing! She had a couple of ticks on her that our friends Jim and Nicole helped remove and I gave her a flea/tick bath. I don't know why she's been living only a few feet from the apartment building all this time but never came to the building. I guess she must have been scared. I'm so glad I found her and I want to thank all of my friends and neighbors who have been looking for her with me and calling me about sightings of her! I'm so happy!

6:45 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

DOVER NH PEOPLE! PLEASE BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR MY CAT "GYPSY!"
Category: Pets and Animals

She ran away last Wednesday night through a door that was accidentally left open and she hasn't been back yet. She's very timid around people, hates loud noises and loves to hunt so I suspect that she's living in Garrison Hill Park hunting birds and chipmunks. I've had her for 14 years, even since she was a little kitten, and I miss her so much! If anyone has seen her please let me or my husband Matt know!

9:27 AM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

New myspace page for my shop!
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

Hey everyone,  I recently set up a new myspace page for my shop at www.myspace.com/garrisonhilldesigns so if I haven't added you yet feel free to add me to your friends. I will be doing all of my blogging for the shop over there from now on. I'm slowly adding more and more stuff to the shop so it's starting to expand a bit. In the coming weeks I'll be adding new dresses, more tops and some cute cropped jackets as well as other things so keep checking back.

6:09 PM - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

"sitting laughing between me and a woman with bare shoulders, at a table full of drunks.
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

I'm in love with this new dress I made this week for my etsy shop www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com. It's a two-toned Mod dress. I've been wanting to make a Mod dress for a while but couldn't settle on a specific design. The funny thing is I still can't. After I made this one I decided I like it so much I wanted to make more in different styles. I think I'm obsessed :-)

This dress is made out of 100% cotton. It zips up in the back and has bust darts and an a-line skirt. It has a yoke in the front and back of the dress which can be the same color or a different color from the rest of the dress:






The photos really don't do this dress justice. It is way more adorable in person and I really wish the photos came out better but black and white clothing is really hard to photograph so I'll just deal with it.

I've named this design the Brett Ashley dress after the Lady Brett Ashley from one of my favorite Hemingway novels The Sun Also Rises. She wore a lot of sleeveless dresses and tops and I remember finding the quote about her bare shoulders really funny because it seems like the most innocent and least-controversial part of a woman's body. I always thinking about that quote now whenever I put on something sleeveless.

I'm hoping to have a new design finished by next week to show you but I've got a busy week ahead of me filling orders and I need to make a dentist appointment for sometime this week and then Matthew and I will be going to the Boston Symphony next Saturday night for a Mozart and Schubert concert so I'm not sure if I'll have enough time. I will try my hardest though.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekends and hopefully some of you have an extended weekend due the storm. I had a quiet but nice weekend with Matthew watching James Stewart movies (The Man Who Knew Too Much and Harvey), going out to dinner (Chili's - we had a gift card. Their vegetarian burger isn't half bad but everything else is pretty horrendous) and then we went to the movies to see Sweeney Todd which I absolutely loved. I can't get those songs out of my head. Still, I can't wait till the spring when we can get outside again and don't have to spend all of our time sitting indoors. See you all later.

6:56 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

"But this is all a chasing after the wind."
Current mood: artistic
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

Happy New Year! Technically it's a new year but it never really feels like one for me in January mostly because my birthday is in August and I seem to measure out my life by my birthdays instead of calender years. That's kind of weird, I know.

My new design this week that I'll be listing in my etsy shop www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com is not really new but it's one of my favorite skirts and one of my favorite designs overall. It's my ruffled mini-skirt or as a friend of mine who bought one calls it "the shortest skirt I've ever worn." Hey, it's a mini. It's supposed to be short. It's made out of 100% cotton and measures about 13 inches long. Like the circle skirt from last week it zips up in the back and has back darts for a fitted look. Seeing that this skirt is so daring and rebellious I thought who better to name it after than the free-spirited Lux from the Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. It looks exactly like something she would have put on only to have her mother send her back inside to change into something less revealing:




The Lux Mini

The title of the blog, of course, is also a quote from the last page of the book when the boys try in vain to understand why the girls did it. It's such a sad but beautiful novel.

I also tweaked the design of the Lotte dress a bit this week by shortening the sleeves. I made the dress over in a light blue and I think it looks much better with these short sleeves:







Well I have a million ideas I'm working on right now but I never seem to have enough time to do them. I'm working really hard to get more stuff in my shop but it just seems to be going so slowly that it frustrates me. I need to clone myself or something in order to get all this stuff done. Oh wait, I have a clone but she doesn't sew and she has her own art to work on. Speaking of which, if you haven't checked out my sister Jessica's paintings yet you really should. She's an amazing artist and so talented. I literally love everything she does. Her web site is www.jessicagracebrooks.com
and her myspace is www.myspace.com/jessicagracebrooks.com


That's it for this week. I'm hoping to have more than one thing to show you next week but we'll see how that goes. I'm working on a two toned a-line mod dress this week and some other dresses and designs I've got in the works. In the meantime, don't forget to vote on Tuesday (if you live here in NH of course)!

Currently watching : Say Anything Release date: 05 March, 2002

7:53 PM - 4 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

"for if I have any genius, I shall find it out in Rome, and will do something to prove it"
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

I'm really crazy about this new skirt I'm listing on Monday. It's darling and cute and very feminine. This is the pink circle skirt that I've been working on this week:








The outer skirt is 100% cotton and the underskirt is nylon tulle. The outer skirt measures about 14 inches long and the tulle peaks out about 1.5 inches from the hem. It zips up in the back and has back darts for a fitted look.

Though technically it isn't a mini-skirt (if you can't reach past the hem of your skirt with your arms straight down by your side it isn't a mini) it's still short and most people would probably consider it one anyway. I will be listing the skirt in my Etsy shop www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com with option to choose any color tulle to go with the skirt (which is available in Black, Buttercup, Dusty Pink, Royal Blue, Sky Blue, Royal Purple or Scarlet). Tulle is available in almost any fabric or craft store in almost any color and shade so there are no limits to the colors you can pair this skirt with. I like contrasting colors (pink and black being my favorite) but matching or complimentary colors can be nice too.

I've dubbed this design The Amy Mini after one of the more precocious and fashionable sisters from Little Women. The title of this blog is a quote from Amy about why she's leaving home to study art in Europe. I read that passage with longing because I miss Italy and Europe (especially Rome) very much and hope to go back again this summer. I like the idea that you can discover and learn more about yourself when you step out of your little corner of the world and I definitely found Europe very inspiring

Another design idea I have been toying with lately is making garters. My friend Julia gave me the idea when I made one for my wedding day and she ended up wearing it when she caught the bouquet and her boyfriend caught the garter. "Oh my god this is hot! You should sell these!" is the gist of what she said. I love lingerie and anything delicate and lacey so it would be a lot of fun.

That's all for now. Have a great New Year's Eve everyone! See you in 2008.

9:30 PM - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

"First time somebody made something and name it after me"
Current mood: cheerful
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

I'm back again. I must admit that I'm a little frustrated lately. It just seems to take me twice as long as ever to make things lately and I keep running into problems and delays left and right. But complaining about it just frustrates me more so I keep plugging away and hope that things will turn out like I want.

So, I'm all about skirts again lately. I'm going to be listing a lot of skirts in the coming weeks because I had so many cool designs from my last shop that I wanted to incorporate into this new shop.

My latest creation is one of those previous designs and it's very cool and chic. It's an asymmetrical skirt. It measures about 13 inches on one side and 20 inches on the other so it has a very dramatic slanted hemline:







I actually made a dress with a slanted hemline like this a few years ago and it is one of my favorite dresses ever. It just looks so cool and fashion forward.

I love the color of this skirt too. Red is so bold and sexy.

I named this skirt "The Shug Skirt" after the very fashionable and bold Shug Avery from Toni Morrison's The Color Purple. The title of this blog is also from the Color Purple though it is actually a quote from Celia about a song Shug is singing about her. It seemed apt.

Some new stuff I'll be working on this week is a pink mini circle skirt with a black tulle underskirt and I've also tweaked the design of the Lotte dress a bit by shortening the sleeves to cap length. I'm redoing the dress in a pretty light blue color so I'll post photos of the improved design when I'm done. Other stuff in the works is a jumper dress, a trapeze dress, a mod a-line sheath, a two-layer circle skirt (also a design from my previous shop) and of course my favorite skirt of all: the ruffled mini-skirt (On a funny note, I recently wore my pink Aargyle mini to Aaron's Xmas party and he promptly referred to me in a mini-skirt as "creepy" because he is, of course, part gay).

Also, I have not abandoned the idea of doing cropped jackets. I want to do them more than ever but I'm trying to find the right fabric (corduroy - very seasonal. Twill maybe? Perhaps linen - it wrinkles terribly though). I want my clothes to be stylish yet easy to wear and care for.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far and you're all ready for Tuesday. I never really seem to enjoy Christmas until about a week away when I'm wrapping presents and getting excited to see people's reactions when they open their gifts. Suddenly it becomes fun again and I don't even mind the annoying music. I've also eaten a good amount of chocolate, cookies and peppermint bark by this point and that'll get anyone excited. Christmas isn't even here yet and I'm already spoiled with cool presents and have spoiled Matt rotten with his. We had a little holiday party with our friends Jim and Nicole this weekend and exchanged presents early (we won't be together on Christmas because both of our mother's would have a heart attack if one of us had to miss Christmas with them to go to the other's house for the holidays so we don't even try). After much whining Matthew bought me the Bobbie D'orsay ballet flats that I wanted so badly. They're so cute and adorable and I'm crazy about the ribbons and the little decoration on the toe:



Matt's birthday is the day after Christmas so I always get him a little something for both days. This year for Christmas I got him a gift card to the local movie megaplex (he has more stuff than one person could possibly need so instead I buy him fun things to do) and for his birthday I bought him tickets to Boston Symphony Orchestra's Mozart and Schubert concert next month. Our seats are on the top balcony just a few rows from the front so it'll be a nice view.

Well, I hope you guys get spoiled rotten too. Have a great holiday! See ya next week.

7:48 PM - 5 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

"Never thinking that the way would lead here"

Well, after a hiatus and a number of delays and revisions I'm finally back and updating my shop, Garrison Hill Designs on etsy. There's going to be some changes to my shop. Apparantly it turns out that it is harder to find a steady supply of stretch knit cotton than I previously thought so after weeks of searching and looking over samples and prices I gave up on the idea and decided to go back to working with cotton (one of my favorite fabrics) which comes in a really large selection of colors and is available pretty much everywhere. No more running out of supplies! I will still be offering the stretch knit designs that I currently have listed in my shop until I run out of the fabric I have in stock (which is actually not a lot so if you want something you should order it soon). I will, though, be remaking the designs in a non-stretch version at some point so they won't be completely gone from the shop after my fabric stash runs out. I'm actually glad to be going back to woven fabrics because I feel like stretch fabric designs are nothing more than a t-shirt with a little more flair. It feels like cheating to me because I don't have to worry that much about fit and shape because the stretchiness of the fabric kind of takes care of that for me. With woven fabrics I can play around with gathers, darts and pleats to get the fit and silhouette that I want. It's a lot more fun and challenging.

The design that I'm showing you tonight is a pretty little dress with puff sleeves, ruching at the bust and an a-line skirt. It zippers up in the back. I think this dress is adorable and while I originally pictured wearing it with dark tights when I went to take the photos I discovered I didn't have any so I threw on some gray knee high socks and realized they look really cute together without being too girly. If I were to wear this in the winter though I'd probably pair it with some gray or black cable knit tights to keep warm and save the socks for the spring. I'll be listing this dress tomorrow morning:











Have you ever noticed how clothing companies name their designs after certain fashionable celebrities in hopes of conning people into thinking they'll look like that celebrity if they wear it (like the "Cameron" dress or "Ashley" top) or that it was possibly endorsed by said celebrity? I always thought it was kind of cute but kind of lame at the same time (I liked that the clothing had pretty names but thought it was an insultingly obvious marketing ploy - at least to me) . I've been getting bored giving my designs descriptives names like "puff sleeve top" and "ruched top" so I thought it would be fun to give them more creative names as well except I didn't want to associate them with ridiculous celebrities. So I got the idea to name them after some of my favorite fictional characters. I don't think these are outfits these people would have worn if they were real. They're just pretty names. So this week's design has been named the Lotte Dress after the beautiful Lotte from the Sorrows of Young Werther (Goethe). The title of this blog is also a quote from Werther's suicide note.

I hope everyone had a great weekend you're all ready for the holiday season. I don't care much for Christmas but i love the parties/celebrations/food of the season. My weekend was spent sewing, watching "No Country for Old Men" (great movie but the air gun scenes = gross) and celebrating my brother-in-law's birthday at his parents house by drinking wine in the middle of the day like a European (I miss Italy already) and eating yummy food (even though something I ate was inconspicuously dairy-rich and made me a little ill later that night). All and all it was a fun weekend though. Ciao bella!

3:28 PM - 6 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Another Day, Another Dollar
Current mood: tired
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

I meant to post this last night but I got a bit of a late start. It's not surprising and almost expected considering how much I have on my plate lately. I'm seriously running myself into the ground lately and it's worrying. Only a little over a month to go, though, until the wedding and then I'll have a lot less to worry about, which will be nice.

My new design in my etsy shop, www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com, that I'm showing you today is something that I've been wanting to make for a while and just never got the chance. It's a flounce sleeve top with a v-neck and a v-shaped hem. I'm in love with this and it's one of my new favorite designs:





It's funny because that's how most of my designs come to life. I have a long, long list of designs that I want to make but haven't had the time yet. I rarely ever find myself sitting around wondering what I should do next. My biggest problem is having too many ideas and not enough time to do them. This often works out well for me because it allows me to weed out the not-so-hot ideas that I come up with occasionally due to some phase I was going through at the time. Usually by the time I get to an idea on my list I've thought it through enough (meaning moved on) to realize whether it's worth trying out or not.

Some other things I've been working on this past week was this ruffled black skirt with a pink tulle underskirt:




that my sister Jessica commissioned me to make for her and a puff sleeve top that Tara ordered from my shop (which is almost finished). While working on these things recently I realized that I really love doing custom work. It's so much more fun working on something that is being specifically made for someone and knowing that they like it and want to wear it. When I was working on pre-made items in my old shop I would worry the whole entire time that I was wasting my time and that no one would like it. It got to be a little depressing at times. I'm glad I'm not doing that anymore.

Oh I almost forgot, I'm holding a clearance sale in my old shop at www.rbrooks.etsy.com. Everything in the shop is 50% off. I'm trying to clear everything out of there so I can focus on my new shop. If you want something get it quickly because things are selling pretty fast.

Well that's all I have for now. I'm working on a couple of new designs for tops this week and I'm really excited to see how they turn out.

My weekend was kind of a bust. I hope everyone else's was better. I did have fun though on Friday night watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie, Rear Window, with Aaron and Matt but I had to work Saturday which made my weekend kind of short (I was returning a favor to Ashley who was kind enough to cover my shift last Friday so I could go to Adam and Katie's wedding). On Sunday Matt and I were all excited about our plans to go for a bike ride along the pond trail from last weekend but of course seeing that it was our one day off together it rained all day long. It was kind of a bummer. Let's hope this week is better.

See you guys later.

7:43 AM - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Welcome To My New Shop
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

After much delay I finally opened my new shop on etsy.com called Garrison Hill Designs at a brand new web address www.garrisonhilldesigns.etsy.com.

It took some time getting this shop together because working full time, planning a wedding and trying to design, make patterns and sew prototypes for the shop all at the same time isn't easy.

What will be different about this shop, as I said in my previous post, is it will feature all made-to-order items.

Some of my ideas and designs have changed since I first announced them. I was really excited about offering hoodies in my new shop but after a few small disasters trying to find a sweatshirt fleece supplier online I decided to scrap that idea. I will still be offering jackets though. Some of the designs that I showed you in my earlier blog post have been tweaked a little as well. Here are my newest creations:




Ruched top. This was originally supposed to have cap sleeves but I decided it looked better sleeveless. It has ruching down the front and back center seams.





Babydoll Top. This design originally had contrasting straps. I opted instead for cute little cap sleeves.





Puff sleeve top. This top hasn't really changed from the original design. It's pretty much what I planned on.

I'm so proud of these new creations and I really feel like I'm branching out and growing as a designer/seamstress/whatever the hell it is that I'm doing. I worked particularly hard on these designs and am continuing to work on new ones. I also tried really hard at improving my photos this time around because I feel like that was a real weakness in my other shop.

So if you haven't done so please come by and check out my new shop.

Some new designs that will be coming soon include palazzo pants, cropped jackets, dresses and more tops!

I hope everyone has been having a good weekend. Unfortunately it's back to work for me tomorrow but I had a great three days off nonetheless. I managed to get friday off from work so I could attend my future brother-in-law's wedding and it was a really fun time. I didn't want to steal the spotlight from the happy couple by talking about my own upcoming wedding so I tried to keep quiet about it during the reception but every single person I encountered brought it up and wanted to discuss my plans. It was fun throwing around ideas with them though and I don't think the Adam or Katie noticed or minded.

On Saturday Matt and I had planned to go to Paxton, Mass to meet up with his family for a post-wedding "Beni bash" (a Beni bash is when the Benincaso's - Matt's mother's family - get together for a big family party) but Matt got out of work too late and it was too far away so it didn't happen. What did happen instead was fun and very typically random of Matt and I. We went out to the local Pizza Hut for some really gross pizza that neither one of us liked and somehow ended up going for a hike around a nearby pond. The only problem is we didn't really know where the trail we were on was headed so we thought we were looping around the pond on our way back to the car but somehow ended up wandering farther and farther away until we wound up behind a nearby Target store. We were really confused and started walking down the busy main road to the restaurant where we parked our car when everyone's favorite nerd, Aaron, spotted us on his way back from Target and asked us why we were wandering around out there. He got us back to our car and we invited him to come over later that night to watch zombie movies and "dork out" as Matt put it, which he did and we had a really good time.

Sunday was pretty much uneventful as I had to put the finishing touches on my new shop and I tried to make my way through the gigantic new fall issues of Vogue and W ( I only made it 1/4 of the way through Vogue and haven't even touched W yet).

So that was my weekend. How was yours? I hope everyone got outside and did fun labor day weekend things - whatever that may be. Have a some fun for me tomorrow because I'm going to be very bored at work.

See ya'll later.

7:53 PM - 8 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment