Moar Money and suits to drool over...

Hey Everyone!

Sorry that it's been a while since the last update - Erin's moved into my sharehouse for the time being, so it's getting more difficult to get time to make posts! However, I get a bit of time right now, so here we go!

In the last while, we've received another $45, bringing us to $845! Fantastic work!

Now, to tide us over for a while, I thought I'd introduce a few suit shots to the blog. Always nice to drool over some nice suits, I think!

Weekend Tally

Hello Everyone!

The donations keep coming, piece by piece - it's really brilliant to watch so many people's generosity, and to hear so many stories about how Erin has had such an effect on people. It touches me, right down to the heart, to hear such things from you all.

This week, another $150 has come through to the account, and I'm still slowly going through Erin's friends on Fetlife, spreading the word (Fetlife - such a wonderful place, but so woefully inadequate for mass-mailing!). That brings us up to $800 with over a month and a half to go. I just... wow, people. I was expecting to struggle with this, but you all have proven me so wrong!

Thankyou everyone who has sent their donations, and thanks everyone else who has pledged, even if the money hasn't yet arrived. This will be absolutely fantastic by the end!

Opening Weekend

My god people, I really had no clue how many wonderful, generous friends Erin had out there.

As you might be able to see by the total, I've updated the tally goal, because we're already at $650 received. That's right - thanks to some of very generous people, we are at 65% of our original goal 1 weekend after I started mailing people out.

With so many people donating, and so many more people pledging money within the next couple of months, I've realised that we kinda need to adjust the goals somewhat here. $1000 was enough to get a reasonably cheap, tailored suit, but I'm almost certain we're going to get more than that, and I know that a lot of people still want to donate, and I want people to still contribute! So, as well as the tailored suit, any extra money donated will be going to the following, in order:

1. The Suit
2. A waistcoat
3. A good, tailored shirt
4. Formal shoes
5. Belts, Cufflinks, Ties and other suit accessories.

Also, as a note, I'm planning to have a card that will include the names of people who have contributed to the gift. I'm keeping a register of people I know have contributed, and if I know their names, I'll be putting it to the card. This is a good time for people to let me know if they do not want their names on the card (in which case you will be known as "Anonymous" on the card), or if they explicitly want to be known by a pseudonym (such as, say, Fetlife usernames or such).

Once again, I am utterly gobsmacked by the incredibly generosity that so many of you have offered already, and I'm certain that Erin will be gobsmacked even more when the gift is revealed!

Keeping Track

So, when I started sending people information about Erin's birthday surprise, I sent it to a whole bunch of different places via any number of different means. What this meant, unfortunately, was that getting information sent around to everyone is going to be a pain. A real pain.

So, I'm setting up this blog so that anyone who is interested in tracking this lovely little birthday suprise can do so, easily and simply. I'll send the link out to everyone, letting everyone know about what's happening. I'll make sure to update the Donation tally as things progress, and let people know the progress of the plans to get the Suit arranged.

Since Erin's hanging around my place at the moment, I'm going to wait until Tuesday until I make the first update (also, because any payments made over the weekend should go through by then). I'll make sure to spruce up the blog a bit by then!

The Original Mail-out - with the donation details

Hello Friends of Erinkyan!

For those of you who aren't aware of me, I'm Erin's boyfriend Lee, and I've set up this blog for a purpose. A very secret, birthday surprise-like purpose.

In just over two months, it will be Erin's Birthday, and in the last year or so, Erin has become a lot more interested in fashion, and buying clothes that make him look good. As his boyfriend, I absolutely want to support him in this endeavour. In particular, there's one part of his wardrobe that I'd really like to help him out with.

See, Erin has not had a suit that fits him in years, not properly. Not just because he can't afford it, but because his body size makes it incredibly difficult to find off-the-rack suits that will work for him. I'd love to go suit-shopping with him, but of course, that would just end in disappointment and bad feelings, even if we did find a suit for Erin, and I don't want to put him through that.

So, I have another plan.

I have been looking into the possibility of getting a Tailor to make Erin a suit. I've done some looking around, and of course, these things are very expensive - I'm looking at around AU$1000 to get a full suit made for Erin, assuming I can't find someone else cheaper.

As such, I'd like to ask for a little help from Erin's friends.

In the next 2-3 months,I'm asking if anyone is willing willing to donate money, no matter how small the amount, to the Erin's New Suit fund. I'm planning on donating a pretty sizable amount myself (I'm putting around $300), so I'm mostly looking for about $700. I'm asking people about this so early in advance because I want people to be able to contribute if they want, even if they can't quite get the money right now.

Please remember - this is planned to be a surprise! The idea is to get it all arranged behind Erin's back so the first hint he gets is when he's getting measured at the tailors.

I'm offering any number of ways to donate to the Erin's New Suit Fund:

Paypal: Donations can be made to erinsnewsuit@gmail.com, anonymously or otherwise.

Bank Transfers: Those living in Australia can transfer funds directly to the following bank account:

Name: Lee Davis-Thalbourne
BSB: 083-315
Acct: 175982800

Those who don't want to transfer electronically can directly deposit cash to this bank account at any NAB branch.

Non-Australians can send Telegraphic Transfers to this account if they so desire, although I recommend Paypal as it's likely to be much, much cheaper, and a lot more convenient. Send me a private message, and I will happily provide all the details necessary to transfer the funds if you're overseas.

In Person: Alternatively, I will be trying to be present at multiple events and parties over the next few months, and am happy to accept donations of cash from people in person. I am also happy to arrange to be places for donations to take place.