The Awakening!

So, as expected, Getting Erin a suit has pretty much ramped up his desire to reassert his style again. He's looking all of a sudden at fashion blogs, and looking at vests, suits, etc.

This has also gone for me. You see, he found this lovely little suit. And I'll admit, I'm a little tempted. I mean, it's an actual blue suit, that's under $80! I mean, it will completely not match Erin's suit, and I'm not entirely sure how appropriate it would actually be to wear it.

But I'd own a Blue suit. And that would be extremely awesome! :)

Tailor Time!

Yesterday the Tailor came, and we had a good couple of hours spent with Erin and the Tailor designing the suit, and taking Erin's measurements. Indeed, as advertised, thousands of suit swatches came out as Erin got to choose exactly what he was getting with his brand new suit.

In the end, the suit decision was as follows:

• Solid charcoal twill
• Single-breasted
• Three button suit
• Shawl lapels (no satin)
• Single pockets
• Maroon lining and silver piping
• Inside the jacket will be embroidered in silver: "Specially Tailored for Erin Kyan"
• Flat front pants.

Along with that, we also designed Erin's shirt, which ended up:

• White shirt
• French collar
• Pleated back
• Square cufflink cuffs.

From this point, it will probably take another four weeks for the initial construction, after which there'll be a second fitting, to get everything just right, and possible third and fourth fittings. We're expecting to have the suit in our hands in around 6 weeks or so, give or take.

In the meantime, we're likely to go shopping. Erin has already gone shopping on his own for some nice cufflinks (pictured to the right), and I plan on taking him shopping soon for a nice tie and a good pair of shoes. Fortunately, time is on our side - we have at least a month before the outfit is likely to be complete. This is the unfortunate side effect of getting clothes made to order, but I think you'll agree that the results will most certainly be worth it!

I'll be honest with you, I'm half wanting the give the whole tailored suit thing a try myself. Imagine, two hot, sexy boys in tailored suits. Yum!

The Big Reveal!

And so, it all came down to this - Last night, Erin's gift is finally revealed to him. For those of you not able to be there last night, here's the video of that revelation:

And we're there!

So, today is Erin's Birthday. Yay! In less than 12 hours the big reveal will happen, and Erin will finally get to know exactly what's been being planned behind his back for the last few months.

Now, I've been told that a couple of people are planning to contribute at the party, but we have a final total of all pre-birthday contributions, and it's breaking all expectations! All up, we've managed to contribute:

$2169.03!

That's just absolutely phenomenal! Tomorrow, After I recover from the large number of Margaritas that Erin's likely to try and pump into me, All the photos and videos from the event will be posted here, and publicly elsewhere (As, I now finally won't have to use very badly-designed private messages anywhere!).

Here's hoping the big reveal goes off without a hitch!

That's a lot of money!

So, after tallying all the donations that have come in over the last weekend, guess how much we're up to?

You'd better believe we're past the $2000 mark!

In fact, our glorious total, as of right now, is $2013.58 precisely. That, ladies, gentlemen, both and other, is downright awesome! Just stupendous!

Cutting in close, but there you go...

With all the househunting and moving issues, I'd been having some issues with figuring out how and where I was going to book the tailor. However, it's finally looking like we're going to be moving after Erin's birthday, so this morning I finally got around to booking the Tailor!

For those interested, we will be using Germanicos Tailors for Erin's suit, for a couple of highly laudable reasons. Firstly, They'll come right to your home with all the samples and swatches to make the suit and shirt, which means Erin doesn't have to go anywhere. Secondly, they're happy to work with the prospective suited up gentleman to completely customise the suit - something that I know that Erin is going to be well-pleased about! Also, their prices are not that bad, and were the basis for our original goal of $1000.

We'll see how their service goes once we get into it, but considering I've heard quite a few good reviews of their services, I'm quite optimistic!

And it's the Final Week!

We are now officially in the final stretch of this fantastic journey. This Saturday, at a Taco Bell in the City, this grand project will be revealed in all it's glory, and these months of planning and secrecy will come to an end.

But my god, what a fantastic time it has been! I have been witness to so many beautiful, glorious acts of kindness, friendship and generosity. When I first started this, I was expecting most people to give just a tiny amount each, figuring that enough people would give enough that we'd have the suit by Erin's birthday by the skin of our teeth.

Instead, we had the suit pretty much stitched up in about 2 weeks, with more people still wanting to donate. And donate you have! At this stage, with 6 days to go, we have a total sum of $1858!

I know that for a lot of this blog, I have waxed lyrical about people's generosity, but people, this is just an incredible effort!

But! Here's the last run - last opportunity for people to contribute. The card will be printed out on Friday night, so for those wanting to be on the card, you'll need to have your contributions to me by that date. On Saturday, we'll be doing the Big Reveal during Erin's big birthday dinner (I will accept contributions on the Saturday, right up until the Reveal, however!)

For those of you who've lost the original letter Here's the original mailout, with all the information on how to contribute. Good luck to everyone, And remember, the blog doesn't finish on Saturday! Here will continue to be the place to watch as the Suit takes form, and will of course be the place to see photos and videos as they become available.

Thankyou everyone for helping me seize the opportunity to give Erin a fantastic birthday for his 25th, and to give me an opportunity to show just how much he is loved, by me and all of you.

On the final stretch!

Hey followers!

Apologies for no update last week, househunting has been absolutely hectic for the two of us, so I haven't had much time to get personal things done.

However! In the last two weeks we've had quite a few donation from people, bring us $131 closer to our goal! Also, thanks to me setting up the account to get interest, the NAB has chipped in an extra $4 as well, which brings our total so far up to $1695! Which is phenomenal! And we still have just under two weeks to go, for anyone who's still planning to donate, but just hasn't gotten around to it!

Also, (and I'm aware that this is short notice), I'll be attending Kinky tonight in Northcote, if anyone reads this and wants to donate in person. Also, please remember that I'm happy to arrange to meet people to grab donations off them, if they're otherwise unable to attend events and still want to donate. Also, slightly less short-notice, I'm planning to attend Provocation with Erin, so people can also donate direct to me there.

In news regarding the Reveal, it's looking like we're going to end up going out for dnner for Erin's birthday, and it's looking very likely that we'll be heading to Taco Bill in the CBD. For those who are interested in being there for the reveal, please send me an email at kirby1024 AT gmail DOT com so I can include you in the booking!

This, ladies, gentlemen, otherwise and neither, is going to be utterly fantastic!