The Seventh Sister

The post I was going to write yesterday ^_^

2012-04-11T21:55:11Z

I was going to post this yesterday but got a bit side-tracked... XD

My Cath Kidston inspired nails! (which I possibly based off about 3 YouTube vids although mine look cooler! XD)

Pretty? The other hand is exactly the same. I want to try this again some time with pale blue underneath ^_^

What else have I been up to? Sewing, sewing, sewing. I have finished two skirts for me, nearly finished a dress for me, for C and a skirt for T. I have to do the dress for T soon before I it becomes something that I just keep going, 'Yeah yeah I'll sew that soon...' as it goes to the bottom of the pile... XDDD

I'll post up some pics of the clothes as the skirt is super cute! Which reminds me I have to email L and M as I have finished their dresses and need to send them! Must do this!

And make a sales post...*sigh* So much stuff still to do!

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Bye bye 2011 ^_^

2011-12-31T10:36:00Z

あけましておめでとうございます！　Happy New Years! I hope 2012 is going to be a good year. What's the Chinese animal this year I wonder? THE DRAGON! Ooo I have a good feeling about 2012! (￣▽￣)ノ Hello 2012!!!

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DW is better than LJ!

2011-12-30T09:25:45Z

I'm going to try to start blooging here instead! Lets move from shitty LJ to DW! YAY!

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Exams :(

2010-11-02T09:19:22Z

Well I've done 3 of my 4 exams now and just the one more to go and it's the Japanese one...
Hopefully it won't be too hard and I'll have passed everything and can finally graduate an get on about finding a job and getting to M's wedding next year and Japan the year after that.
Here's hoping at least XD

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BLOG!!!

2010-09-05T11:51:29Z

I haven't blogged in ages and ages!
Hmm what's a-happening in my world. I watched 'Sherlock' and fell into that fandom so so so fast. Not surprising considering I was already a Sherlock Holmes book fan.
What's coming up? Must be a new season of Merlin going to come on to telly soon right? And crap I have to watch those last episodes of Hagaren: Brotherhood! crap crap crap. I should do that pronto!

Tomorrow I've got to fix G's areobics costume - needs some diamanté's put on it (they fell off!).
There's lots of sewing to do! Mum's skirt, M wants another hoodie, A wants skirts and possibly a dress and trousers (ah I don't know how to do trousers yet!) and bags. Then for me! - shirts, dress(es), waistcoat, skirt(s) and suit jackets. AND I said I'd make some stuff for xmas pressies for P's kids (and knowing me I'll also make stuff for J's kids)...WAY too much sewing to do. Luckily I don't want anything of mine made until next year.

Uni work is progressing. I wish it was next year already and I had finished studying!!! *sigh* Just got to pass this semester and I am freeeeeeee! Then I can get a job and get paid moneyyyyyyy! that'll be nice. The money part anyways.

Ooo I've put in my application for the Japanese Language Proficience Test (JLPT) for December! I think the level I'm doing will be kinda easy but I'd rather do the easy level than screw it up the first time by doing a level that's too hard...Next time I take the test will hopefully be in Japan! Osaka how I miss you, let me count the ways... which reminds me, I wonder what Y-chan is up to? I should email her...

Well apart from translating and reading like a mofo, not much planned for this week. Ah I lie! Tuesday I've got an interview at work for a different position. I'm not too fussed if I don't get it. It would mean that I get to start 30mins later (and thus finish 30mins later), get paid more and would have hopefully slightly less irritation...we'll see what happens.

I need a haircut.

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nails 2 designs pink and purple

2010-08-19T12:35:34Z

Two more nails designs from a few weeks ago. The last 2 weeks I've had just plain colours on - two new OPI colours that I bought. The colours themselves aren't new, just new to me! ^_^ I bought a fawn sort of colour that works as a sort of nude and a really dark plum that looks black on but not that dark...if that makes any sense...

Anyhoo...
PURPLE

And PINK

There's actually a white spot on the bottom and then the 4 darker pink spots. It's kinda hard to make out in the bad pics...

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nails 3 designs ^_^

2010-07-19T07:27:25Z

So I've been kinda neglectful about putting my nail designs up here so that I can remember what I've done...

So multi-coloured nails - purple, green, pink, blue and white >

Bronze with pink hearts >

Blue with dark grey/silver dots

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Sewing

2010-07-19T07:25:10Z

Well I've been sewing quite a lot lately and bought quite a few new patterns too. Here's a list of the patterns used with the finished piece! Thanks to mum I'm getting better and am able to figure out more how to alter the patterns so that they fit over my bust better without then being too big/small anywhere else. Also I'm so happy with my sewing dummy RED (yes I named her, not very original thou). I was playing with her dials today and getting all the measurements right for me. The only thing that is different is the body length one. Don't know how to change the body height on her (from neck to waist)...( .:Sewing Pictures:. )

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purple base, flower design

2010-05-26T08:14:11Z

Sunday I painted my nails with OPI 'Done Out In Deco' (base coat Revlon) which is a very pretty purple. For the flower design I used BYS White and BYS Black. These two polishes have long very thin brushes which I used with the black, but to put on the white I used the end of a hair pin (bobby pin) pulled out flat. And as always the top coat was with OPI's topcoat. They turned out pretty well considering I hadn't used the hair pin trick before. There's a little bit of bubbling and unevenness on some of the nails but that's mainly due to the underneath nail surface which will slowly grow out back to smooth...
Anyways on to the pics! And back to my linguistics assignment ^_^

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sleeplessness

2009-10-28T13:03:54Z

It's 2 in the morning and I can't sleep b/c I keep thinking about my upcoming written Japanese exam which leads to thoughts of my finished oral Japanese exam which I have the feeling that I cocked up completely. Unfortunately I won't get the results for ages so I won't know how bad I fucked up until then. fingers crossed I passed. damn I want to go back to Japan, but that's not possible until I finish studying... GAH!

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Natsume Juujinchou fic

2009-06-22T11:31:36Z

Title: Untitled
Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou
Rating: G
Pairing: None
Characters: Fujiwara Shigeru and Touko, Natsume Takashi, mentions of Nyangoro (AKA Nyanko-sensei, Nyankichi and Madara!), Nishimura and Kitamoto
Spoilers: all episodes just to be safe
Disclaimer: I don't own Natsume Yuujinchou

Notes: Ishiyama is a name I chose for whoever it is that organises where Natsume goes to live since we're not given a name in the manga or anime. This is only the second story I've ever written (and the first in this fandom) so any feedback is welcome even if I doubt I'll write anything again. I'd love to see someone re-do this idea though and add all the details in that I just don't have the skills to write (conversations are so not my thing!)

Fujiwara Shigeru had lived in the same house since he was a child. He had left briefly for university but had soon returned to settle into a job. His marriage to Touko had been a good match and they lived happily, although sadly they had never had any children, so when Shigeru received a phone call about a young relation Natsume Takashi that needed somewhere to stay Shigeru after discussing it with Touko had said yes. His relation Ishiyama had explained that they needed him to promise to keep Takashi-kun for at least a year. Shigeru had questioned Ishiyama as to why it sounded like such a hardship to look after Takashi-kun, was he a boy off the rails perhaps? It had been explained that Takashi-kun had been a known liar as a younger child and he was a little creepy at times but the family thought that being more in the country might help Takashi-kun. Shigeru noticed that they didn’t say what it would help Takashi-kun with, but as he’d already said that he’d take the boy he wouldn’t renege on his word.

Touko had been excited about looking after Takashi and had made sure that the upstairs room was clean and fresh smelling with everything ready to make up the futon. Shigeru in his own way was excited about receiving the boy into his home. He felt a little sorry for Takashi, that he’d lost his parents at such a young age and glad that he could help him.
Takashi was due to arrive a few days after the end of the school year and would start the new school year at the same school the Shigeru had attended in his own adolescence. Takashi had a couple of boxes that were to be sent down early before he’d arrive with the rest of his belongings. He was coming by train and would arrive late afternoon. Both Shigeru and Touko were looking forward to it and had told their neighbours in the area about the relation that was coming to stay with them.

The day of Takashi’s arrival Shigeru drove to the station to pick him up, Touko fairly buzzing in the passenger seat. They arrived at almost the perfect time, the train was to arrive in a few minutes. As they watched the passengers leaving the gates pushing their tickets into the slot on the gate they spotted a young boy weighed down by two heavy looking bags. He was a slender but a good looking boy with brown hair. He made it through the gates and began looking around. Shigeru and Touko moved forward to greet him and introduce themselves when he spotted them and started to move towards them also. After introductions, “Touko-san and Shigeru-san are fine Takashi” they set off. Touko was talking up a storm pointing out things to Takashi as they drove home. Takashi seemed a nice lad, he spoke to them in polite language, not keigo but not slang either. He responded carefully to Touko’s enquiries as to the journey on the train and what activities he enjoyed but Shigeru noticed he didn’t volunteer information and he didn’t ask questions. As Shigeru looked in the rear view mirror to catch a glimpse of their new charge he saw the boys’ expression pale, his eyes going wide. His eyes which had been focused out the window where very hurriedly averted to back into the car onto the back of the seat Touko was seated in. Shigeru saw no more than that glimpse as he shifted his eyes back onto the road. When he glanced again in the rear view mirror Takashi seemed back to normal and Shigeru could almost believe he’d imagined the expression he’d seen on the boy’s face. Back at home Touko had watched Takashi easily and efficiently unpack his bags of clothing quickly deciding places for things and emptying his bags. Shigeru had retreated to his study to do some work and didn’t see either Takashi or Touko until it was time for dinner.

The next morning after breakfast Takashi followed their suggestion and went out and about the neighbourhood to acquaint himself with the area. He’d been greeted by neighbours and introduced himself repeatedly, wondering how he was supposed to remember new names again for more new neighbours that he would only know for a year at the most. Takashi didn’t hold any hopes for longer than a year. More moves than he cared to count had taught him that. He recalled the youkai he’d seen yesterday from out the car window and shivered. He really hoped that he could keep the Fujiwara’s from thinking he was creepy, but to do that he needed to make sure that he didn’t say or do anything that would lead them to think strange things about him. He really wanted a whole year and they seemed so nice. Their house was warm and he hoped against hope it remained that way. He wondered what his new school would be like and how long it would take before he’d be labeled as ‘creepy’ there. His last school hadn’t been too bad. The other students had stayed away and he’d never tried making friends with any of them. He hadn’t joined any club and just focused on school work and trying to remain unnoticed, because if they didn’t notice you, they didn’t notice the odd things about you any more.

The weeks slipped by and Shigeru realised Takashi had been with them around a month already and he barely knew the boy still. He found that essentially Takashi seemed like a really good kid, but reluctant to show his true self to them. He didn’t ask them questions about themselves or the area they lived in but Shigeru realised it wasn’t a lack of interest, it was a fear of overstepping his bounds. When Takashi brought Nyangoro home and asked if he could keep him it was the first time Touko had seen such a hopeful look on his face and it was also the first time that Takashi had reached out to them. Touko and he had readily agreed to keeping the cat hopefully encouraging Takashi to be more open with them.

More months passed with the slow turning of the seasons, spring had moved into summer which had had Takashi fainting from the heat. He seemed to spend days with friends Nishimura and Kitamoto from school. Shigeru and Touko were both pleased that he’d gained the two boys friendship so easily. It wasn’t easy moving into a new area and they had both noticed that Takashi had no correspondence with friends from his last school. Summer slowly moved into autumn and Touko had been concerned the night of the festival when Takashi stayed out without letting them know where he was. Shigeru felt far more comfortable with that behaviour. It was something he would have done as a boy, too caught up in having fun to remember to tell your parents where you’d gone. Shigeru hadn’t had a chance to meet Natori but Touko assured him that he seemed a responsible young man and they had both again been happy that Takashi had friends. Winter saw more illness for Takashi with a number of fevers. Each time the boy was sick Touko would worry and make nutritious soups and teas for them all.

They had been looking after Takashi now for nearly a year and apart from the occasional odd thing that he would do they had never seemed to have run into the reasons why his relation Ishiyama thought that they wouldn’t keep Takashi for at least a full year. He was a good boy, he’d made friends and settled into life here. He wasn’t a very open boy and when asked he was always ‘fine’ and ‘nothing’s wrong’, even when he looked tired, sick or exhausted. Touko had a few times given Takashi a telling off for his thoughtlessness, but whilst such moments were worrying at the time he always remembered with them with fondness. Boys will be boys after all.

One afternoon he found himself finishing up his work early and packing the rest into his bag to take home with him making a beeline for meeting Takashi on his walk home from school. He knew Takashi’s schedule pretty well now and sure enough there was Takashi walking with his two friends Nishimura and Kitamoto. He hoped he hadn’t interrupted or embarrassed Takashi by meeting him on his walk home and as he was so reticent it was hard to tell. He’d been so pleased when Takashi had come to him the next day asking about the girl he’d mentioned the previous night. Anything that would draw Takashi out and let him realise that this was his home and he was allowed to ask questions and be himself was a good thing. As he remembered the girl in his story to Takashi he was struck by a number of similarities in Takashi’s and her demeanor. They both seemed to be lonely and a little strange. Late that afternoon after hearing such a loud noise from upstairs and then seeing the destruction of the room the image of the girl and Takashi almost seemed to overlap. The similarities of the situation were obvious as were Takashi’s lies about what had happened. Shigeru’s heart constricted at Takashi’s desperate lies and promises to pay them back for the damage. If only he would realise that there is no need for a child to pay back for damages - damages are expected! And that Touko and he just want Takashi to be himself and tell them when things bother, upset or make him happy.

Ishiyama’s call was almost a year to the day. It was the start of March and he said that he thought he’d found someone who could take Takashi off their hands. Ishiyama seemed amazed that they wanted to keep Takashi “for as long as he wants to stay” and had asked to speak to Takashi to see whether or not he truly did wish to stay. Takashi’s eyes had widened with shock, his jaw dropping slightly at the question and realisation that they wanted him to stay. He looked up at Shigeru eyes still large with surprise not saying a word. Shigeru could hear Ishiyama on the other end asking if Takashi was still there. Takashi stammered out that he was and that he wished to stay on with the Fujiwara’s. Shigeru had watched with some amusement as Takashi had wandered dazed from the room with Nyangoro following after him. Well, Shigeru thought, maybe one day he’ll tell us his worries and problems, but gaining Takashi’s trust would never happen overnight but if the tears he had seen in Takashi’s eyes were any indication asking him to keep staying with them had been a definite step in the right direction.

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japanese exams...

2009-06-16T04:31:01Z

Studying Japanese at the moment. Three exams down only one left to go! It's a mid-semester exam so it's only a hour.
My French exam didn't go very well and I don't think I passed the paper. It was first year French and it was the first semester of the paper but seriously I don't think my brain works in French at all. Perhaps if I lived there for awhile?

My head is again pissing me off today with another headache. Seriously I'm so over getting headaches, what's this about 15 years or so now? But I am thankful that I very rarely get migraines. Maybe once a year at the most and they tend to be quite mild (compared to people who can't bear light/noise/touch etc)
Although trying to study when you have a headache is pretty hard, when I concentrate on something for long periods I tend to block out the pain but then when I come back out of that concentration I find that I've been clenching my jaw and now not only does my head hurt worse but my jaw aches as well (trying to read a book for pleasure also has this problem). It's annoying as hell.

Anyways was talking to Y-chan the other night and am super duper excited about going to see her in about 5 weeks! JAPAN! How I've missed thee let me count the ways (probably to start off with grape chuhai!)

P just picked up the aerobics costume that mum and I made for D. Looks pretty sweet - black shorts and a white top with two mid-blue panels. The panels have Japanese written on them the one on the front reads 蛟龍 (kouryuu) and means hidden genius or rain dragon and the one on the back 功夫 which is actually the Chinese for Kung Fu. D's routine/theme is Kung Fu and he should look good. He's a skinny little thing (seriously we took his measurements and his chest and waist are the same! Also we cut out the size for a 6 year old and he's 10!) and the whole costume is lycra and looks really clean and fresh and bright. I'm bummed that I'm going to miss the competition this year thou as I'll be working. I asked P if anyone's going to video it. I hope so *fingers crossed* cause I really want to see G's performance as well as she'll be doing a group routine and a solo.

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gah!

2009-05-26T11:12:13Z

I really wish my sister C could get some bloody work - hire her you morons!
In other news I told my sister A about something my other sister AM had said (cause I don't want WW3 at AM's bloody wedding) so they could sort their s**t out now. Sister A didn't tell sister AM who told her so when sister AM called mum on mother's day she blamed mum for telling sister A (on Mother's day! selfish much?). I had told mum if she got blamed to tell sister AM that it wasn't her it was me and mum did so (cause why the hell should she get blamed?!). So now I guess I'm probably getting cursed about by sister AM but I really couldn't care less (although I do hope M is being reasonable. She usually is to me). AM's being SUCH a PRINCESS about her wedding. Yes I know it's an important day, but remember we are coming halfway around the world for it and our money is basically divided by three to get to the pound, so why exactly are you making us go to some out of the way little place where we have to pay 65 pound per night ($195!!!!!!) and we need to stay there for about 3 nights... and then she has the gall to be annoyed that family time is not our number one priority. I've paid $2700 for the return flight to London via Japan. This is a holiday for me. Yes her wedding is important and yes my family is important but that doesn't mean I want to spend my entire time over there doing things only with family! We'd drive each other madder! I want to see a lot of places that I missed the last time I was there, but that people in my family have already seen. I also want to go to Paris to visit my friends. There's not much point in going half way round the world and not going across the channel to visit is there?! Get a grip honey!
Another whine - I'm videoing the wedding, which I offered to do because J and P can't make it to the wedding and now she's asked if I can make it into a DVD for them...ok fine. Then can I look at the editing on their friends DVD wedding and try to do it like that because they liked that DVD. Greeaaat. Excellent because I want to watch some random person's wedding. Nothing could please me more in fact. Have you noticed I'm quite sarcastic when I'm annoyed?
Oh and we've got P's kids E and K to look after for the next few days while P's husband is away. Just for while she's working. That means at at godawful 8:30 or so in the morning. I love em but seriously I hate getting up early!
F*** gotta finish my French assignment and start studying for exams in 2 to 3 weeks. Crap.

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headaches

2009-05-22T12:32:43Z

*sigh* another headache today. picked up some more hours at work today which is good, but also means I didn't get any study done...oops!

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travels

2009-05-21T13:03:42Z

So I've made a schedule for the trip that starts in July and ends in September. Been sorting out not only my thoughts but also my parents. Made progress though so Japan is all decided and most of the start of the time in London, but after London I'm going to Paris so gotta get tickets and tell my friends when I'll be arriving.
Y-chan is going to sort out the bus in Japan for me - yay! and I've got to ask her if she'll go to dinner with me and my parents when we meet with A-chan, H-kun and their family. I don't want to be the only one translating! My parents don't speak Japanese and A-chan and her family don't speak English, which would make me the only go between, which isn't too bad but I know that A-chan's dad will drink and when he starts drinking I can't understand him for 2 reasons, 1) he slurs and I can't understand him and 2) he speaks really difficult Japanese when he's been drinking (and I can't understand him) and even Japanese people can't always understand what he's on about!
I can't wait to see F and S again in Paris - that's going to be so cool! F told me today that I can read his new book soon but he won't tell me anything about it since it's not published yet...

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Chrome Shelled Regios icons

2009-05-19T03:34:22Z

Here's some Chrome Shelled Regios icons ^_^
These are the first icons I've ever made and posted so please tell me what you think even if you don't take any.

Original images taken from shockinblue's post and tales_fan's post







Please don't modify the images
If you take please comment
Please remember to credit seventh_sister or ree_rhea

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