Gr.

Yesterday was a lovely day. I met up with snugglyevil, and we went looking for a new Tangentland. I have some fairly specific needs for a place. I need a large open space, and a separate space for working. I'd like somewhere I can close off, so the animals can't get to my fabric and works-in-progress, but the space itself is more important. The litmus test now is, "Can I cut and drape a ten-foot train here?" So morriganswitch, you can tell Chris she's now my new standard.

We started at this place: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/1085256712.html. It's absolutely adorable, in a great location, and has a front room I can completely close off. It has no AC, though, which could be annoying. And all the rooms are comparatively small. Oh, and the basement is definitely somewhere I wouldn't go alone at night. I'd expect to see someone standing in the corner with a strangled rat, smiling silently at me. It also doesn't have a fenced backyard-- rather, it has two other houses in the backyard. Behind them, however, is a small grassy space, and then the Radnor Trail, which is kind of cool.

Next, we were off to this place: http://www.shermanmills.com/ , which wins, hands down, as one of the coolest places ever for an artist to live. It's a complex, centered on an old mill, and split between retail spaces, artists' studios, and lofts. They're all different sizes and shapes, and most of them have those amazing huge beams I drool over. They also have amazing huge prices.

Not, however, as huge as most of the jaw-dropping apartments at the next place we stumbled across: http://www.dobsonmillsapartments.com/ . I'd never heard of it, but as we were driving away from Sherman Mills, we saw it. snugglyevil said, "Hey, wanna?" and I said, "What could it hurt?" As it turns out, they had cookies. Score.

They also had the most soul-crushingly beautiful apartment. I mean, it was...it just...G-d, I wanted to cry. It was decorated to the nines. I would burn every piece of furniture I have rather than bring it into that place. Seriously. I would tape up my animals on both ends just so they wouldn't sully the carpet. I would take at least one bath AND one shower every single day just to make the bathroom with its jacuzzi tub feel well-loved. I would move in and never leave my home. Sadly, however, the prices on these babies were just as prohibitive. Even worse, though they have a bark park and are very dog-friendly, Clue is too big for their small-dog requirement. I tried to stall the very nice lady by being a little vague, because had things progressed, I would have brought Clue for an "interview." People love her when they meet her. Then, of course, snugglyevil had to say, "Oh, she's about 60 pounds." Oh, well. And they would have insisted that I be on the first floor-- and I don't like that. Okay. I'm not gonna think about that any more. I'll just weep.

So. Off, then, to cruise around Manayunk for a while, since we wanted sushi, and Hikaru was calling. Of course, by now it was about 3.30, and they were closed. Wonderful. So, being the logical women we are, we decided to get a snack and hang out until they opened again. Machismo Burrito seduced us with the siren call of pulled pork nachos. Oh, G-d, were they good. Temporarily sated, we moved off to wander Main Street a bit. It's been a while since I was there. Lots of empty storefronts, surprisingly. And I won't tell you I didn't look at them twice. Or three times. But I'm not there yet. Not by a longshot. We stopped in Century 21 and talked rentals for a while. Cruised Main Street Music, too, which holds a special place in my heart, since I used it as the basis for the store in my novel. I bought some used CDs to fill holes in my collection. snugglyevil bought a CD that I really may have to beg to borrow at some point: "To Lose My Life" from White Lies.

By that time, of course, we'd given Hikaru enough time to get ready for us. We started with pan-seared scallops that were to die for. I then had this roll that...yum. Instead of being wrapped in rice and seaweed, it was sashimi wrapped in delicately thin slices of cucumber. Oh, it was delightful. Slightly overpriced, but that's Hikaru for you. After that, well, there was really only one thing we could do: dessert. Since we'd already done Mexican and Japanese, the only logical thing to do next was crepes. Yummy, yummy crepes. Nutella, banana, and strawberry. Oh, G-d. Oh, sweet G-d. Set the fabulous 80s soundtrack of their XM station.

By that time, of course, I was pretty fried. Happy, but fried. It was well past time for me to leave the delightful snugglyevil, and return to my extraordinarily humble abode. Sigh.

Today, it's sinking in that I have so much work to do to find a good place and pack up this one. I'm looking forward to a gigantic purge, though. I'm so freakin' tired of losing things every damned time I put something down. I'm tired of feeling like if there were an earth tremor here, I'd be buried under piles of crap. I thought last night I'd actually lost the Rapunzel corset. Yeah. It's that bad. I just have to find the time for it all, between getting ready now for Fairie Fest and finishing all the remaining orders I have. Gah.

Oh, and the first Palimpsest corset? Bad loops. First, once yuki_onna sends it back to me, I will rip the bastards out, And then I will throttle them. Then I might set them on fire. After THAT, I'll relace it in satin down the back. Until then, I'll be the one over here in the corner, bashing my head against the wall.




Oh, and apropos of nothing? I love John Barrowman. I even more love hearing him speak in his native Scots burr. Sigh.