My 30th birthday came and went, and all in all, it was a pretty good birthday. Whateley had no idea what to get for me as a present, so he just said, "I'm forcing you to spend money, now get what you've always wanted but never bought."

So I got myself a sewing machine.

I'm so lame, but ever since I started watching Project Runway, I've always wanted to make my own clothes. Well, I've been "designing" since I was a kid, but it's mostly me doodling characters, usually women, and coming up with costume ideas for what they're wearing. I used to take old clothing scraps and make fugly Barbie clothes out of them. Anyway, since Whateley made a mandate, I went ahead and got the best sewing machine I could find at Target.

I also got some fabric and a pattern for a nice, simple dress, and I was thinking, I'll have this done and ready in no time! Then I actually opened the pattern and started reading the directions. Let me tell you, sewing is a lot more complex than it looks! Actually, the hardest part is all the terminology that has developed since the invention of the sewing machine, and the people who write the patterns just use them like a sailor littering their speech with "colorful" language.

So my machine has yet to be set up, and instead, for the past week, I've been poring over Sewing for Dummies, which, unfortunately, contains way too much of the same terminology and a dearth of illustrations. So I picked up another book that proudly proclaimed on the cover that it had over 1100 photo illustrations. It helped a lot.

Anyway, I think I've got the book knowledge for this stuff. Now it's just a matter of sitting down to actually make the dress. I got some extra fabric since I fully expect me to mess up a lot. I thought about getting a really simple pattern, like a tank top or pajama pants, to start off with. But then I thought, that stuff is usually ugly and frumpy and I'll never wear it, so I'd much rather struggle and take a longer time with my first project, especially if it seems like it'll be something I'll actually wear.

There's a small part in the back of my brain thinking, maybe I'll get good enough to get on Project Runway! But I don't think I'll devote enough time to it to get that good. And with my luck, I would end up being the person they portray as bitchy.