The 12 days in Sicily were awesome. That was the first vacation ever that I just managed to lean back during, relax, and just enjoy. Planning? Sightseeing? Travel arrangements? Not my problem. That had all either been prepared in advance or else was someone else's responsibility. Hah. By the way, Etna? Is just a black desert of ashes. Vulcano? Smells like rotten eggs, and the hot springs gave me a burn mark on the sole of one foot. Stromboli? No late night lava fireworks - the trip was canceled on us due to bad weather (and therefore high waves). Drat.

My parents looked after my cats while I was on vacation, and my mother introduced them both to the concept of "roaming in the garden". In Yuki's case, on a leash, but nonetheless, even Elena learnt to creep out and take a few steps outside under the threatening sky before fleeing back to safety.

I drove back home the very night I got back to Germany, and immediately got thrown head-first into the chaos surrounding the preparation for my first-ever LARP con. The colleague and friend who'd convinced me to attend (and who'd agreed to sew a period gown for me) had miscalculated the time necessary to sew costumes for four people, and so she, her boyfriend, their buddy, and I had to pull an almost (in her case, scratch the "almost") all-nighter in order to get finished. Four people sewing against the clock - scary.

Anyway, the con was great - it was more or less an "eye-candy and atmosphere" con with an overall plot, but no battles or enemy attacks, and the masquerade ball on Friday night was breathtakingly beautiful. So many truly extraordinary costumes and masks, Baroque music and dancing... just: WOW.


The coat unfortunately covers quite a bit of the dress.

On a less happy note: First day back at work today, and I manage to trip and fall so badly during lunch break that blood was dripping out of my shoe. My big toe has such a deep cut in it that I had to go to the doctor and now need someone from work to drive me there and back home each day for at least the rest of the week. Walking? Out of the question for now. Great. Well, at least I didn't fall onto my newly-bought cherries, or else I'd have ended with a different type of red fluid staining the sidewalk. /sarcasm

:::sigh:::

Isn't life just great? At least the burning in my toe has stopped now that I've taken half a pill against the pain. Painkillers are an awesome invention.