Hello, Blogland.  This is Celeste.

I noticed that we haven’t updated on the blog in a while.  From the looks of it, you’d think that all we’ve been doing is running around town doing community events in Noel’s Stormtrooper armor.

If that’s what you think, you’re exactly right!

All kidding aside, this (the whole Stormtrooper thing) has been such a blessing to us as a couple and new members of our community.  Noel gets to do one of his greatest loves - dressing up - and I get to do one of mine - watching him play:).  Really, I love it but I also love the things we get to experience as a result of being part of this group.

As for other news, Noel and I have the first round of company here at the house this week.  From there, the revolving door on the guest room will not stop until the end of June!  We love living in a home where people can come and have plenty of room.  Loft living sure didn’t lend itself to that!

Speaking of lofts, Noel and I were waxing nostalgic the other day when we saw this picture of our most favorite loft we ever lived in (we lived in 3, so, yes - we had a favorite).  So I’ll leave you with this fun pic! Have a wonderful weekend!

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We had a great time doing the American Cancer Societies Race for a Cure here in Albuquerque. There were 5 Stormtroopers, 1 Biker Scout, 1 Tusken Raider and 1 Rebel X-Wing pilot (obviously part of the Rebel Alliance), plus Celeste and other family members of other who showed up to walk.

There were a reported 19,000 walkers who raised almost $540,000, and it was great to be involved in such a worthy cause! While Marko (TK-7172) was the the only one of us who wore his helmet the entire time (great job Marko!) , we all walked the whole 5 miles in full armor.

When we crossed the finish line together you would’ve thought we were real celebrities the way everyone cheered and took our pictures. It was great fun

Thanks to Andre for the last 9 pictures.

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We went to the UNM Children’s hospital tonight for my first “official” troop! We dressed in conference room, then spent the next hour or so walking around and seeing the kids.

Our “docent” would knock on the door of the child’s room, tell them there were some Star Wars characters here to see them, then, if the they wanted, we would go in and say “hi.” Sometimes the kids had “contact restrictions” in which case we’d wave from the door. Of course some of the kids, or the kids’ parents, didn’t want us to come in for whatever reason, but for the most part everyone wanted to see us.

In fact, the first wing we went through was pretty quick… 10 or 15 minutes to do the whole thing. We would wave, say “hi”, and move along, move along. But the 2nd wing we went through was a Star Wars fan club! Children had Star Wars books, parents had Star Wars tattoos, one young man (probably 15) had a poster of himself someone had made for “Episode VII”. So, needless to say, we spent much more time in that wing taking pictures and just interacting with everyone.

It was as great of an experience as I’d have hoped it would be. The kids (and parents) were all so excited to see us. “You’re the real deal,” one parent said. “You’ve met the Stormtroopers,” another told his son. It was sad in many ways to be there, but the smiles and laughter of the kids made it much easier. What a great first troop!

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I put on my Stormtrooper armor and Celeste, Jason and I went up to the neighbor’s house to let their kids see it, and to give them the presents we brought from the UAE.  It was a lot of fun, and they loved being visited by a TK.  Their dad is a huge Star Wars fan, so they know well “who” I was.

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So our local 501st squad (the Dewback Ridge Squad) all got together today for a photo shoot. Celeste took some pictures too… here they are.

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They said that once you wear your armor around you’ll notice things that need to be fixed, tweaked, and altered… and they were right. I did some alterations today, mainly on my leg pieces.

First I had to “shim” my calf pieces with something besides vinyl fabric… just for my own tastes. I did that last night.

Today I started out by tightening up my right upper leg. It was a little loose on the bottom and looked more like a “tube” than a “cone”. That was easy. Then I went onto the left leg. It too needed to be tightened a bit a the bottom so that the “sniper plate” (that little square that is in front of the left knee) wouldn’t slide behind the upper thigh piece when I walked… which it was doing. Tightening it worked well, but, when I walked for a while I had to be careful not to bend my knee too much because the sniper plate could and would still slip behind the thigh.

I cut a corner piece off of white plastic storage bin (the same material I used to shim my calf pieces) and hot glued it just behind the sniper plate and the top of the calf piece. Now the plate stuck out a bit… perfect! But, when I walked around for just a few minutes my calf piece would “slide” around to the inside of my leg… allowing the sniper plate to get behind the thigh piece again. So I cut a small piece of Velcro and attached it to the top of my boot and the inside of the left calf.

Now it doesn’t rotate and all is well

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Yesterday we had invited all the local 501st members over to help me put together my TK armor. Our new friend, Alex, who is also a 501st hopeful, was here too putting the finishing touches on his armor. It’s pretty amazing to finish it all in a day, AND to have it done so well! Some people take months to put their armor together… and I understand why. It was a lot of work, and I could NOT have done it without everyone’s help. Everyone just grabbed something and started working. Thanks again guys!

So, around 2:30 a.m. I had my armor on and was getting my pictures taken for submission to the Legion. Here are pictures of the process.

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I got my Stormtrooper (a.k.a. TK) armor, boots, under armor top, and blaster this past week. In fact, much of it was here when we got back from the UAE.

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