Ah, renaissance, renaissance!

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Definitely, this has always been in me!

I started with putting my fur coat on around my waist, closing its top button, which gave me an impression that I was wearing a "fluffy princess' dress". Also, I would tie a couple of pillows to my waist and cover them afterwards with a blanket. This was also a nice imitation of a fluffy mideval dress. Then, my mom even sow me a special skirt, which was fluffy because of the way my mom stitched the fabric to the waist of the skirt.

Unfortunately, in all the described above cases I could wear my made up dresses only inside of our apartment. And I really wanted to walk around in a real fluffy dress outside somewhere, for a long time.

On the day of my wedding, of course, my dream has come true - and I was a princess for the day. But, if one is lucky, one will only marry once in their lifetime. And I believe, that I am just one of those lucky ones, and therefore, I won't be getting married again, and hence, won't be wearing a wedding dress again either.

But there is a solution to such a difficult situation, my dears! Our friends, Nick and I went to a renaissance fair today. Oh, that is simply heaven for people like me!

This was the second time that Nick and I were attending such a renaissance fair. The first time
was when Nick and I were visiting his mom, who lives near Sacramento. At that time I bought myself a corset, a shirt, and, of course, a long skirt. However, that corset turned out to be not very comfortable, because it was pushing too much on my lower back.

Therefore, this time, today, I bought myself a corset of a different type. It ties at the front, not at the back, and it is not as long as my first one.

Also, today at the fair I bought myself a new crinoline, specifically so that I could wear it when I wanted to - I do still have my crinoline left from my wedding dress, but I can't just wear it outside, where it might get dirty; after all, it is the crinoline I wore with my wedding dress, and I want to save it for my future daughter if Nick and I have one. She would be excited to see it, as I was excited to see my mom's wedding dress and veil from her wedding with my dad.

By the way, corsets that tie in front were considered to be worn by those belonging to a lower class. That is so since to be able to wear the one that closes at the back, a lady would have to have a maid to help her to dress, and that was possible if the woman was rich.


Also, women would wear at least two skirts at a time. The upper skirt would be more expensive, and the one underneath - cheaper. So, today I also wore two skirts. :)


Wow!! It is not so easy to walk around in a dress like that all day. It reminded me of Nick and I's wedding. The back is killing you by the end of the day, it is very tiring. Besides, wearing a corset did not make it easier for me to breath. Hehehehehe. It's a good thing that I can just wear such a dress for a day, and take it off in the evening, getting back into my normal clothes. At least my shoes were comfortable today. I wore my snickers on purpose. I've learned my lesson the first time I was at a renaissance fair! :)))

Nick also renewed his wardrobe today. We bought him an over-the-shoulder sword-belt, on which he can now carry his sword. By the way, the sword comes up to my shoulders - this is so that you can compare how big the sword is. Also, we bought him leather arm bracers. Impressive! :)))


Everyone at the fair were addressing us as "My Lord" and "My Lady". Hehehehe. So cute! There were many people dressed up in pirate costumes, tsigans costumes, renaissance costumes. Some people didn't dress up and just came in and walked around in their normal comfortable jeans.
Time to time, on the streets of the fair, queen's procession would parade by, as well as renaissance protestant christians, screaming that everyone better get saved by Jesus now, or else!

This was a good day! And we didn't just sit at home all day - and that happens sometimes.

Yesterday I made some pirojki again - this time I made them stuffed with cabbage, with apple paste, and with frozen cherries. So, now we are enjoying those! :))

Initial Experience Team

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After being in Operations Queue team for four months, I now have transferred to a team, called Initial Experience.

Operations Queue team works on projects that are small, and which, therefore, could be worked on and completed very fast - within two weeks. These projects, though small, are very high impact and high value projects. So, our project and product managers are constantly looking for things and places on our site, which could potentially bring more profit to the company fast. Such projects and ideas come to Operations Queue team for implementation. It is very interesting to work in this team - you are never bored, and since it is so fast-paced, there is always something to do. Everything here happens very fast - seven days for implementation. Then for three days the Quality Assurance team tests the software, finds bugs in the newly developed parts of the software. We, programmers, then fix those bugs, and then the project goes out into the world.

Working in this team, there is an opportunity to work on many different parts of the web application. Therefore, usually you are working with the code that someone else wrote, and which you don't know very well, and which you have to understand before you could fix it.
Such an ability of being able to understand someone else's code is valued very highly in a programmer. So, it is very good for my resume that I got a chance to work on this team - it is a great experience for me.

Initial Experience team is very different. Here, projects usually last six to eight weeks, and therefore, we can fit more content in it for the release.

This team works on projects, which explain to our customers the privileges that they get when they register on our site. That's the team I am on from now on. :) Being on this team has its own pluses also. Since this team is responsible for a specific part of the site, programmers have a chance to get to know the code they are working on really well. This really increases the productivity of the team. :) Such deep knowledge of the code that you are working on is also really valued. Therefore, I will be able to learn a lot in this team. And isn't it the idea - to always learn something new, and to always grow in what you know, and professionally.

I would like to constantly grow, in this case, as a programmer. Truth be told, I was starting to get tired of being on Operations Queue team, and wasn't learning as much anymore as I was in the beginning.

By the way, today was Friday - and, as you might remember, our company decided to feed us lunch every Friday. I skipped breakfast today, because I was in a hurry, so my stomach was grouching. And there I was smelling something very delicious all around the office. I kept smelling it, thinking that maybe because I am so hungry, I am just imaging it, and that the wonderful smell was not real. But after a while, I finally gave up and followed where my nose was telling me to go to - straight to the kitchen. And, what I saw there...! Simply heaven. I couldn't help it, and just had to record all that beauty, so that I could share it with you later in this blog.