Fashioning My Cyber Microcosm: 27 Things To Do Before 27... Oh, wait.

June 24.

The day that officially marked my place on the slope where one is no longer considered a "young adult".
Or at least, that's what social media would have you think.

Some people are scared of this turning 30 thing, like that's when all the "adult stuff" really kicks in and you won't have time for adventures. The thing is, I don't feel like my adventures are going to stop suddenly because I'm 27... and I am not one who avidly seeks thrills of any kind. I like things quiet and predictable... but that rarely happens.

I was planning on spending my birthday alone playing my games, and eating corn dogs; my hubby was away on business, and I had all that time to myself.
Well, my colleague ended up taking me out to a dive bar where we soon discovered is was karaoke night. We didn't sing, but there were a number of colorful people who gave it their best... to say the least, heh.

Come the weekend, my hubby returned home only to take me out to White Sands national park.

I have never seen any sand dunes before... and White Sands was quite a sight.
It had rained the previous night, so there was still some initial cloud coverage-- the sand was cool and refreshing... and so easy to build sand skulls out of!

One of my few temporary contributions to the dunes... I failed to take a picture of my rabbit on a platter, my beetle, and my spider. Maybe someone out there came upon these before the sun dried them up, and wind blew them away, heh.

That tiny figure back there be my hubby.

I could not have had better weather to visit-- they say it becomes too unbearable to enjoy during the summer, but because of the storm we were able to stay out and enjoy the sand for several hours. We saw a few people sledding on the slopes... it made me wish we had a sled to do the same, but lying back on the sand felt like a good consolation.

You'd never guess that these vast white dunes is just past mountains covered in green aromatic pine.

You can juuust make out the dunes to the right of this panorama, if you enlarge it-- the weather changes from pretty cold to pretty hot in that short distance. Nature is wild.

When we started our way back through Cloudcroft, we decided to stop, do a little exploring and get some lunch. 

A town whose mainstay is pine, cherries, and some damn fine Texas style barbecue. There is something about these sleepy towns tucked away in the woods that makes my heart flutter. We ate at Mad Jack's Mountaintop BBQ... and I just gotta say, I never had bbq that good before, and I love bbq. The smell of the smokers lured us in, and a lady in the line kept us there. She told us how she never goes anywhere else for her brisket. 

She was right. After having a simple brisket sandwich with a few jalapenos, and some awesome mac n' cheese, I wouldn't want to go anywhere else either. I washed it down with some black cherry soda and a cherry cobbler. Mmmm.

Mad Jack buys his meat fresh, and in limited quantities so when he sells out, there's no more for the day.

All through the drive, it felt like aromatherapy... the wet pine gave off an almost sweet and fresh smell, I could not keep my window closed-- even though I was cold as hell. I only packed warm weather clothes for the dunes...

I really wish I had found out about all this before moving so far away...

Just today I hear of Sitting Bull falls, just outside of Carlsbad. Damnit all.

My hubby never tells me anything... only when we're just about to leave...

I wasn't able to kick off my one pattern a week because of this weekend getaway. Not that I'm complaining by any stretch. I was able to cut and make some quick adjustments to the latest pattern: McCall's 6887. I am cutting out view A, and drafting in a peter pan collar.

I have my fabrics all chosen. We got in some cat fabric at the shop... and that got me to thinking; I need a cat dress. I chose a black sequins material for the collar, which I will embellish with pyramid studs. The only thing keeping me from completing this dress quickly is the rather troublesome need to shorten that open-back-princess-seamed bodice. I just haven't had a chance over the weekend to really tackle it properly, though perhaps my quick adjustments may have done it... I still have to make up the mock to see for sure, but the tissue fit looked ok. 

I got pretty excited over my Joann's haul when I visited San Antonio just the other night-- I bought many of Simplicity's retro line. I busted many of my retro reprints out because... because I could.

I am very likely going to make up to-do list for this pattern a week endeavor of mine. I have so many cute halloween prints to make all of these up, and then some. Perhaps in the subsequent post, I will feature my intended patterns on a month by month basis. I am very excited about this!

Yet another thing to be excited about is Professor Z's currently running contest. It ends on the 4th so enter quick to have a chance at winning Gertie's Book For Better Sewing!

I haven't been following Gertie, but if her Butterick collection is any indication on the amount of awesomeness she exudes, then I'll quickly become a big fan.

Spooky ya later!