Swapping Out Presidents and Yarny Goodness!

Wow, what an amazing day! I watched the swearing-in and speech in my office's kitchen with a handful of my coworkers--all trying to hide the tears in our eyes. Does anyone else feel buoyed with hope today? I know things are bad in this country but I just feel better, reassured that things will get better from here on out...

And then I came home and found a package waiting for me from my swap partner. I'm part of the Mystery Book Talk Group on Ravelry and we are doing a round robin mystery book swap--mystery novel, knitting pattern, yarn and other goodies tied (at least loosely) to the book or to the knitter recipient's interests. This was my first time participating in a swap so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

First, here's what I sent my partner:
The first novel in the Aunt Dimity series--Aunt Dimity's Death which features a ghost who communicates by writing to the living in a periwinkle blue journal--another item I threw in. The pattern is Boo! Toe-Up-Socks available on Ravelry and I added some beautiful purple yarn called "cosmos" for the socks. Added some tea to accompany this mystery set in England. Threw in some candy from the UK, or so I thought. Turns out Cadbury has been licensed to Hershey so the candy bar I sent my swap partner was made about an hour from her Pennsylvania home and not across the pond. Also included some Milky Ways which my swappee added as a favorite treat.


And here's what my swap partner, Moonchick, sent me--I was blow away with all this wonderful stuff! Beautiful sock yarns, a cute sock pattern, knitter's balm, two mysteries & a "book thong" bookmark, chai tea, Godiva chocolates & coffee--how did I not know Godiva made coffee? And two of my favorite fruity candies--starbursts and skittles! And a raven which the lovely purple card said would make sense once I started reading one of the books--for now the cats find it extremely interesting! Thanks again Cindy/Moonchick!

One Christmas present down....like 20 to go?

Wow, time is just speeding along and somehow we're halfway through November--not that it feels like it since it's going to be in the 90s today but anyway... I'm trying to pretend it's at least "fall-like" by buying apple cider and pumpkin items at the grocery store this morning. It's hard to knit with wool when it's hot enough to wear shorts but I shall continue as Christmas is only 40 days away. Crazy. Well at least I finished one knitted Christmas present this week--socks for my father-in-law Dave. It's the Rockin Strat pattern I found on Ravelry.

Socks to fit a Men's shoe size 11 foot, made of Knitpicks essential in grass on size US 1.5 needles. Didn't take too long though, suprisingly. I started them October 20th and finished them up at the West Hollywood Stitch 'n Bitch on November 13th. Ok, now to get cracking on the rest of those gifts--before it gets too hot for knitting! Here's a preview--a blanket that's about halfway done, well almost halfway anyway. Those dark brown things are knot holes--I'm going to add echoing lines in brown to mimic wood grain. Well, that's the plan anyway but we'll just have to hope it works out because I'm making it up as I go along.
In other holiday prep news, the Christmas cards I ordered from the Humane Society just arrived today and they're pretty cute. I've also been cleaning and getting the house ready for a Silpada silver jewelry party tomorrow afternoon--if you want to stop by and knock some Christmas gifts off your list, just let me know and I'll give you the details.

Stay cool this weekend if you're in CA and stay safe if you're in the path of those fires in Sylmar and Santa Barbara. I was watching the breaking news coverage last night around midnight and the fires looked like molten lava--very scary. But for those of you not in CA, don't worry because I don't live close to those areas so Tristan and I (along with Amanda, Samantha, Magellan, Pierson, Post and Epstein) are just fine.

Ok, this elf has to get back to the workshop now--peace out!

WE WON!!!

What's that lovely scent in the air? Victory? Hope? Faith in the populace? Nope, a delightful blend of all 3. Barack Obama is our next president! This is history folks, history. Ok, I'going to cry now--I've been holding it in all day and need to let the tension and joy spilleth over. I got up early today, got to the polls at 7:05 (stood in line for an hour and 10 minutes) and cast my vote for the first African-American president of the United States.

While I was waiting in line an elderly African-American woman made her way slowly down the sidewalk, leaning on a cane, her head bowed down. As she got closer she looked up and tears were steaming down her face. The woman in front of me asked her if she was ok, if she needed some help and she said "I'm just so happy. I never thought I'd get the chance, in my lifetime, to vote for a Black man for President!" and then she did a little jig with her cane and shook with joy. God, it was a beautiful thing to see! Ok, I'm kinda crushing on this country of ours--after years of thinking we needed to break up.

Oh happy day!!! Now how am I going to sleep tonight--especially not knowing how these Propositions are going to come out?

Happy 30th Birthday, Danielle--you are missed

Danielle, you would be 30 today. Do you remember how far away 30 seemed when we met at age 19? You should be having a grand old party celebrating 3 decades on this earth (and ribbing me about having to do the same next month). You should be celebrating the end of a great year--a year that saw you earn your Masters in Social Work in May and mark your first anniversary with Geno in June. All this you should be celebrating but an undiagnosed brain aneurysm cut your life short and you never got to see 29, never got to finish your Masters and never got to marry and build a life with that wonderful Geno. Well college roomie, I'll try to live mine up and tell you all about it when next we see each other. And so I leave you with a song:

Thank you for being a friend.
Travel down the road and back again,
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant.

And if you threw a party
and invited everyone you knew
You would see that the biggest gift would be from me
and the card attached would say
"Thank you for being a friend."

You'll always be the Blanche to my Dorothy. I love you and miss you.

Danielle Marie Berger
(November 2, 1978 - January 19, 2007)

Reason #7,688 to vote NO on Prop 8...

Tristan and I attended a lovely backyard wedding in Santa Ana on October 19th. The couple is very much in love and had a wonderful, simple ceremony surrounded by friends. LeAnn & Tiff, may you have many many years of happiness together!

You might be an obsessed crafter if…

So last night I was up late reading the second in a series of vampire books written for teenagers by author Stephanie Meyers. The first one was Twilight which sucked me in. They are sort of like a cross between The DaVinci Code and Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret but set in Washington State and without the "we must, we must, we must increase our busts" episode. The first one had me up late reading it and last night I found myself in the same predicament with the second book, New Moon. I was only 75 pages from the end of the almost 600 page book and I considered staying up past midnight to finish it but, alas, my heavy eyelids made the decision for me. Anyway, in the book there are 3,000 year old vampires and do you know what my first thought was when I read that? "Wow, how many knitting, quilting and cross-stitching projects could I make if I had that kind of time?" Yes, seems I would sell my soul not just for the promise of immortality and super-strength but because it would give me more time to craft. Honestly.

Hmm, maybe I'm only having these thoughts because I can't quite seem to get started on my Christmas knitting yet--too many other little projects here and there that I need to wrap up first. That will hopefully change by next week. I sent off a box to Socks for Soldiers with the never-ending black socks that I finally finished (forgot to photograph though their image is indelibly ingrained in my brain). Hoping to ship off a box to afghans for Afghans tomorrow for their youth collection--a vest, a pair of socks & a sweater made with scrap yarn (resulting in 10,000 ends).














And I hope to get some bath poofs finished by Sunday night so I can throw them in a box with some makeup and toiletries to send to a battered women's shelter on the Pine Ridge Reservation for their "Diva for a Day" event. Volunteer hair and makeup professionals come in and give the women at the shelter a makeover and they pass out goody bags of makeup, hair and body products. They are still collecting through Oct 22nd if you'd like to contribute. Once those are in the mail Monday I can turn my attention to presents, although I may be distracted by calls for Christmas mittens and socks for kids or something. How is it already a week into October?

Since the holidays are approaching, I decided I'd better book our airline tickets to PA last night and because we voluntarily got bumped to a later flight at Easter (and were given $400 vouchers each for compensation) we only had to pay an extra $50 each per ticket. Woohoo, both of us LAX to Reagan National for a total of $100. Also, the prices seem to go down on Mondays--they were $150 cheaper than when I looked at them Sunday night, exact same flights. Go figure. At least that's all set. Let's hope there's no snowstorms in Cincinnati since we'll be flying through there both going and coming...and if there has to be one, let it be the on the 22nd when we fly out because at least I could finish up the Christmas presents that I will inevitably be scrambling to finish and not on the way back when I'm totally sick of knitting and just want to read.

Ok, back to sewing in the ends of that afghans sweater...

How I spent the last 6 months...

Yeah, I know, I've been neglecting this blog for far too long... I've been working like crazy and mired in the details of everyday life. But I have had some fun since January.

For Easter, Tristan and I took a trip to Georgia to visit his Dad and his Uncle Ray and his wife Karen. I had never met Ray and Karen so I was very much looking forward to it. Tristan's Dad, Dave, lives a little bit north of the city, which is where our hotel supposedly was located, according to the travel site where I booked it. When I saw the coverage of the tornadoes that hit downtown Atlanta, I was like, "well, I'm glad we're not staying downtown." Except that when we arrived we discovered the travel site totally lied, we were 8 miles from Dave's apartment and smack in the middle of downtown...which looked like a war zone since all of the streets around our hotel were blocked off to prevent looting. We arrived at 9 PM and drove around trying and trying to get to our hotel which was on Peachtree. Oh, that's another thing, Atlanta seriously lacks imagination in its street naming because everything is Peachtree--Peachtree Place, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Center...ugh!! We finally had to go down an alley and then the wrong way on a one-way street to reach the hotel. Such a nightmare. Each time we left the hotel we had to go about 8 blocks out of our way just to make it to the road that would take us to Dave's! We stayed at the Ellis Hotel which was nice but the room was rather small and the restaurant in the building was crazy expensive so we only ate there the night we arrived. Here's a picture of our room with its ostrich leather headboard--the bumps totally freaked Tristan out (it was a bit like looking at a skinned chicken but without the sliminess!)

In addition to visiting Dave, Ray & Karen (who I completely neglected to photograph, bad me!) we went to the Georgia Aquarium which is the largest aquarium in the world--they actually have Beluga whales in tanks there (but, alas, caviar is not sold in the giftshop--not that I've ever tried it or have any desire to eat it). And the day we went there we got snowed on. In Atlanta. In March. Crazy!
My favorites were the otters and penguins.
















In June we went to the Pride Parade in West Hollywood with one of Tristan's coworkers and her girlfriend. It was a blast even though the day was very warm. I actually saw assless chaps on a person for the first time but did not have my camera at the ready to snap a photo, sorry! :)
It was very cool--they had the attorneys who worked on the CA gay marriage case there and it was just a week or so after that victory--history in the making folks! I was proud to be there and cheer them on for the work they have done. Check out the photos here

I've also been hard at work on quilt which is a gift so I can't tell you much about it yet but I finally basted it this weekend and have started the quilting, which I have about 5 weeks to finish! It's about 90" x 98" pre-binding. I've been working on it off and on for 2 years. It was machine pieced but I will be hand quilting it. Here it is, pre-basting:

The cats were worried the layers wouldn't stay together unless they sat on them...












Finally shooed them out of the room..

And a closeup view. I'm quilting catty-corner through the chain of squares and then around each star with muslin colored thread. Cross your fingers that I get this sucker done in time! I will post pics of the finished project, promise!

Quilting a queen+ sized quilt is not a normal 4th of July activity and I don't recommend it unless your spot on the couch is directly below the air-conditioning vent, like mine is!


Happy 4th everyone!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Ok, so winter has arrived here in SoCal--rain, rain and more rain. This chilly rain makes me want to cuddle up on the couch with a few of my favorite things (or least favorite things of the moment):

1. a cup of Celestial Seasonings Madagascar Vanilla roobios tea (caffeine free but a whole lot of flava'). It someone manages to taste "thick" like a latte or something, very strange but in a good way.

2. a cozy fleece blanket

3. a cat or three--preferably ones that just want to sleep and not pounce on my toes

4. either a quaint mystery (like any book from Nancy Atherton's "Aunt Dimity" series) or an engrossing novel (just finished The Kiterunner--amazing!)

5. Trader Joe's Belgian Chocolate pudding or Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus & organic white corn tortilla chips, or both so I can switch off and get both the salty and sweet tastes 'cause I like that kind of thing--I think one of the most perfect foods is the chocolate covered pretzel.

6. My knitting (you didn't think I would leave that out, now did you?)
Currently I'm working on a baby sweater from a Pingouin book I bought on
Ebay--says "automne-hiver" (Fall-Winter) but there's no year. I'll post pictures
when I get a little more done.

How do you like to "weather" the rain?

Stay warm & dry out there people!
Ok, back under that blanket I go...

A Sad Day...

In case you haven't heard, Australian actor Heath Ledger was found unconscious today in an apartment in New York. Paramedics tried to revive him but they weren't successful and he passed away. So sad--they think it was a drug overdose. He was only 28 and had a two-year old little baby at home. I personally thought he was talented and had quite the sexy hint of a smile kind of face. And of course I'm a sucker for an exotic accent (ok, so Tristan's California accent isn't so exotic but I'm from the East Coast so it sort of maybe could be). You can view that sexy smile in a photo montage put together by the LA Times. Brokeback Mountain was probably his most famous movie but I've also enjoyed him in 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot and Casanova. I wonder what he would have done in the future...

And an update--have you seen what that awful Westboro Baptist Church sent out today? Makes me sick.

2007--a Knitting Retrospective

A year in pictures...well, most of the year anyway. I don't always remember to take photos of my projects, particularly some of the smaller things I send off to various charities...

January: Shawl for my boss's birthday in green variegated fingering weight 100% alpaca purchased on ebay several years ago, followed by a close up of the fir cone stitch
Socks for afghans for Afghans youth items' campaign, followed by a close up of the slipped stitch check pattern from the Reader's Digest knitting and crochet stitch compendium. Used up some yellow & green scrap wool.
Close up of the check pattern (sorry for the flash blur):
February: I know I made a few more items for afghans for Afghans and a pink stuffed elephant for a friend's baby but I failed to take pictures of them...will do better in 2008!

March: Bunnies for Easter Baskets for the Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation. Friends Darcy and Claudia came over and spent an afternoon helping me to stuff the "baskets" (the pink Easter bags seen in the background (had some blue & purple ones too)) with treats and small toys in addition to the bunnies--I think we made up 36 bags in all...Used various white acrylic yarn--mostly Simply Soft and leftover pink and purple acrylic for the ears (the fuzzy ones are some pink mohair leftover from another project) Also crocheted a baby sweater and some bibs for a baby shower but again, no picture!
April: Baby blanket for afghans for Afghans made from Mission falls wool purchased from Supercrafty. Love that yarn--so soft! Crocheted in a very simple pattern from where else but the Reader's digest book.
May: Purple sweater for my friend April. The top back and panels are made of a lovely cotton hand-dyed yarn (possibly from Blue Heron???) purchased during a Black Sheep sale. The solid purple used for the sleeves and the spider-web type lace at the bottom is 100% corn yarn called Cornucopia purchased from Compatto in Santa Monica. I was very excited--this sweater was completely my own design--1st time not even using another pattern for a "start"-- and it actually fit my friend perfectly!
Close up of the i-cord edging and the lace detail...
June & July : I know knitted several things during these months but darned if I took a picture of them! I did one pair of Big Black Socks for Soldiers but the rest are a blur....I think I was doing some quilting since it was too hot to hold yarn...

August to September: Baby blanket for my friend Claudia made from the now discontinued Cotton Angora (purchased during Black Sheep's sale). The blocks are from Debbie Abrahams' book 100 Afghan Squares to Knit and include a triangle, a hexagon, a heart, a circle and a square. Several of my coworkers wanted to learn to knit so we started a Friday lunch knitting group and in October/November we used these same patterns to make a baby blanket for afghans for Afghans using Mission Falls wool purchased from Supercrafty (the pictures are on my computer at work--I'll have to dig them up)

Close up of Triangle Block--I also added a pair of crocheted baby booties as a "garnish" for the wrapping...
October: did some more knitting for afghans for afghans--several pairs of mittens, two children's vests and two hats--thought I took pictures but I can't seem to find them.

November: worked on the baby blanket with my knitters at work and started my Christmas presents but spent most of my time finishing up my graduate e-portfolio (I barely got any sleep for most of the month and promptly ended up with acute bronchitis and a double ear infection after Thanksgiving which meant a week and a half sick in bed--still trying to recover as the cough continues to linger and I am still soooooo tired).

December:
Pink Snowflake sweater for my sister from the Spring 2007 issue of Knit It. The yarn is a wool/cashmere blend (you got it--purchased during the Black Sheep sale) but the only problem was that I bought it in the summer and when I started to work on it in November I thought I had originally wanted to make it just like the pattern--substituting purple for the grey at the bottom and using the same pink for the top. Realized when I was about a quarter of the way through the sleeves that I apparently had originally planned to switch the colors--so that's why there are purple stripes on the sleeves, as I ran out of yarn and couldn't find the stuff anywhere! Oh well, my sister liked it. Tracking down a zipper (and sewing it in) also made this a challenging project but at least I have figured out a way to knit with both colors at once for the snowflakes, using my regular knitting style and a modified continental style for the color in my left hand--much, much faster than dropping one color and picking up another! I also shortened the sleeves and took off about 2 inches of the length to make it more suitable for a petite.
Knitted Tam for Tristan's Aunt Marilyn (from Knitty--it's Tam "C"). Used some off-white wool/alpaca blend purchased on ebay last year and some rainbow Koigu. Only took about half a ball of each so I'm thinking of making myself one too! The knitty pattern is for worsted weight so I did some crazy math and modified it so I could use my sock weight yarn and do it on size 2s (ribbing) and size 3s (pattern). It only took one weekend day to knit and then another day and a half for it to dry over a dinner plate (stretched it out to the perfect size!).
Ties for Tristan's Uncle Ken (Ellen & Natalie--I too was inspired to make knitted ties! Well, the green one is knit and the blue is crocheted--pattern calls for an "E" hook but I only had an "F" hook or larger so F it was). The green is a Cascade wool/cotton blend and the blue is an alpaca/wool blend purchased on ebay.Close up of the stitches. The blue one needed a tie tack but I couldn't find one I liked so I used a small vintage rhinestone pin (and told Ken he didn't have to wear it but could pass it off to Marilyn if he wanted to, instead!)

I still have one more Christmas project that's not quite finished (yes, I do realize it is now January but what can you do?) so I'll wait to post pictures of that one. I'll try to keep up with the pictures, posting my projects at least monthly because now I can't remember where I got half of the patterns for the above items or the name of the yarns that I used. I also bought myself a handy dandy notebook from the Socks for Soldiers Cafepress store so I can keep track of all my project schematics (so I have a better shot of recreating some of what I've made). I'll let you all know how that works out. Happy New Knitting year!

Resolutions...also known as "decisions"

Happy New Year! Ok, so it's just another day, right? There are very few years when I actually feel that divide between old and new on New Year's Eve. This year was not one of them--Tristan was sick and I pulled something in my neck while stretching to reach a skein of Koigu on the top shelf of my closet the day before...so it was a quiet evening at home, catching up on movies and working on an afghan that should have been mailed out before Christmas. Oh well.

My quiet evening also gave me time to think about things I want to do differently this year or do at all, now that I have all of this free time. Oh, you didn't hear? I finally finished my Masters in Library and Information Science so now I'm looking at about 30 extra hours of free-time a week. Somehow I don't think I'll have trouble filling that time as my to-do list is about 2 1/2 years long. Anyhow, maybe if I post them for all the world to see (meaning the 2 people who actually stop by to see this blog since I haven't updated in months) then maybe I'll actually keep them this year. I need to borrow some of Tristan's thinking. He refuses to call them "resolutions" because you can resolve to do something but not really, truly commit yourself to do it. He prefers the term "decisions." So, I have made the following "decisions," in no particular order:

2008:
1. I will read more books this year (made it to 79 this year, aiming for 104 next year)
2. I will call my sister more often--not just on her birthday and major holidays
because her laugh just can't be heard in an email.
3. I will exercise more (or really at all)--gonna wear that pedometer even when it doesn't match my outfit.
4. I will lose some weight and fit into those expensive wool suits I bought in Boston 3 years ago (hopefully as a result of #3)
5. I will try to finish some of my UFOs, particularly the ones for me (selfish, I know):
Black mohair beaded sweater (bottom left)--started it about 3 years ago to wear to a holiday party but every year it gets bumped out of the running by Christmas presents for other people
Brown skirt--really, I think I'm only 1 or 2 pattern repeats away from finishing it
Hexagon Skirt--I have all the yarn, Rowan 4-ply Tweed, now discontinued so lets hope I ordered enough! (still available on ebay, though!) Blues, greens & purples separated by charcoal grey
Brown coat from Rowan's Vintage Knits book (Rowan Tweed chunky--also discontinued...)
6. I will knit at least one item for charity each month, rotating between the following (and any others that strike my fancy):
afghans for Afghans wool children's items, afghans etc.
Socks For Soldiers
primarily big black socks but they also take beanie caps and washcloths for those who
don't do socks
Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation many different groups--last year crocheted 13 bunnies for
Easter baskets
Native American Support warm items like mittens, socks & hats for children & adults
Stitches From the Heart items for premature babies
7. I will make an effort to get to Stitch n Bitch more frequently--I sure do love the WeHo Group!
8. I will try to blog more (aiming for once a week)
9. I will not eat anything from the vending machine in the kitchen at work
10. I will eat more vegetables and fruit (and carrot cake muffins do not count)

Ok, that's my head start. I'll probably think of some others but those can wait until Chinese New Year's.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday and let's hope 2008 is a better year.

Stay tuned for pictures of my 2007 knitting projects--I promise!

Best Books of 2007!

Well, actually this is a list of my favorites that I've read so far this year. I'm posting the list early so you have time to get them all read by December 31st! :) I got mine from the LAPL--even had it shipped to a library near me for easy pickup but in case you are not so fortunate as to live or work near an LAPL branch, I've included links to Amazon.

1. These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy E. Turner
This is actually the first in a trilogy (with possibly more to come) about a girl who's family moves from the East Coast to the Arizona Territory in the last half of the 19th Century. It's a great book full of emotional relationship and the descriptions show an amazing amount of research on the part of the author. It is based in part on true stories of Turner's great-grandmother. I also read the follow-up Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden which was just released this year.

2. City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling
Clearly this was the year of the saga, right? This is a hefty fast-paced fictionalized history of Manhattan from the time it was Nieuw Amsterdam up until the Revolutionary War. The major events are all true but some of the characters are pure fiction. If only high school history could have been this fun! There's also a sequel, City of Glory, picking up after the Revolutionary War and continuing up through the War of 1812.

3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
This book has been reviewed everywhere. It's descriptions are great and transports you back in time to 1930's carnivals far better than HBO's Carnival ever did. The animals in this book are characters in their own right.

4. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Caution, this Southern Vampire Mysteries series is highly addictive! This is a unique blend of mystery and fantasy with some very real human emotion thrown in. Sookie Stackhouse, barmaid and mindreader finds herself romantically involved with a vampire named "Bill" shortly after vampires came out of the coffin, er, closet and had begun living opening in society, following the invention of synthetic blood and releasing them from the need to feed on humans. Just a great series, I practically run to the library as soon as I finish one! One more book and I'll be all caught up and will have to wait a year for the next one, such torture! Definitely check out this supernatural thrill ride! And, according to IMDB, HBO is currently making it into a TV show called "True Blood with Anna Paquin starring as Sookie.

5. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Ok, so I couldn't let a year go by and not read any "knitting fiction," right? This book surrounds a knitting circle in New York. The book is just beautiful--terrific descriptions of female friendships. I highly recommend having tissues at hand for the last few chapters, though!

Stay tuned for the second installment. Sorry I can't write more right now but I'm in the middle of one of Sookie's adventures!

More to come-- promise!

Hey all, long time no post! I bet I've been deleted from everyone's daily "blogs to check list" right? Anyway, things have been just nuts lately. Add to that the fact that I can't find the cord to connect my camera to my computer and it equals no blogging. If it makes you feel better, I haven't even had time to call my mom in the last 2 1/2 weeks so....

I will order a new camera cord this weekend, I hope, so I can get you some pictures of what I've been doing--knitting-wise and socially (ha! Like I have a social life these days. Well, I think I did leave the house once or twice in the last 4 months...).

My job at the law firm went full time in February so that's kept me busy, on top of taking almost a full load of classes this semester and still working (well, sort of) at the Skirball part-time doing their cataloging. I'm almost at the end of my semester--May 15th is the golden day! Only two huge papers, 2 small papers, 2 discussion posts and an oral presentation stand between me and summer vacation...oh wait, that's right, I'm taking a class this summer too. Just one though! It will be my last official class and then in the Fall I put together my e-portfolio and then I graduate. I totally want to have a party in December. Is that totally lame, to throw yourself a graduation party? I mean I'm not asking people to give me money like its a high school graduation party or anything, I just want people to come have a good time. And I saw some totally fun graduation party supplies in the Oriental trading catalog. But I have to buy them fast because the ones with the year on them seem to disappear forever by mid-June. What about all the people that graduate in December? They never have grad party stuff available then. So unfair. What's even more unfair is that my school is too cheap to have two graduation ceremonies so I can't "walk" until May. Not that I really even care about the ceremony but my mom seems to want to fly out here for it. I'd think she'd be sick of seeing me in a cardboard hat by now--this will make graduation number 4 if you count high school....

Tristan got a full-time job as well in March. He is teaching math to a bunch of juvenile delinquents at a continuation school in the suburbs east of LA (I'd say the name but I don't want to get slapped with a defamation suit since I called them delinquents and all). More on this later--he's got stories for days...

Anyway, sorry to be away so long and next post I'll talk about my adventures in knitting (which I try to do every night to relieve some of this crazy stress!)

How is it December?

Yes, just to get it out of the way, I suck. I haven't been blogging. But for the record, I haven't been doing other things I like such as sleeping or even charging my cell phone. Same old story--school and work are kicking my ass. I actually found time to type this only because I can't sleep and my school's virtual classroom is currently down for its nightly maintenance, otherwise I'd be doing schoolwork. But the end is near--after December 8th I'll be a free woman until the end of January! Well, I'll still be working 2 jobs but at least I won't have any schoolwork to worry about. How will I fill my days... Oh right, with the 17 bazillion Christmas presents I have to finish. I must say that I am doing better than last year (last year I had to give people parts of gifts, like sleeves or the front of a sweater which I then took back to finish about 10 minutes after they unwrapped them). I actually finished a few things so far and I am well on my way with a few others. I totally do this to myself each year. I know that Christmas comes the same time each year and I should start on the presents in February. But you know what, it seems like in between Christmases there are a bunch of birthdays and weddings and new babies to make crap for so really, it's not like I have that much extra time.

Aside from working on the presents, I'm having a tough time getting into the whole Christmas spirit thing. I love Christmas--this is the time I look forward to all year. I like the flowers and the smell of spring but it usually only feels like spring for the last few weeks of Spring semester so I spend them attached to a computer instead of napping in the green grass. I love Fall, well Fall on the East Coast with the changing leaves, crisp air and rainy afternoons perfect for sipping tea. I totally hate summer and as a kid when we would go to the beach in July or August I'd lay on the hot sand slathered in SPF 45 and think of snow and Christmas carols and cider and people being nice to each other for approximately 25 days straight (aside from the people at Toys R Us fighting over the last Cabbage Patch or Tickle Me Elmo). But you know, now I'm living somewhere without snow, where they string lights on PALM TREES and it's 90 degrees (well, it was last week, anyway). Last year at least I was going home to Pennsylvania for Christmas so I could get excited about that. This year the flights were no less than $500 a ticket and Tristan and I can't really afford to lay out $1000 to go home for 4 days. It totally sucks. We couldn't go back for Thanksgiving either because of our work and school schedules. So you know what, we're celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with my family (my very pale family of German and Swiss abstraction). My mom has invited all the cousins over to recreate Christmas dinner that weekend and they are buying a fake Christmas tree this year because my mom was worried that the dog would drink all of the water in the base of a real tree and it would dry out long before we arrived on January 13th. The upside of this arrangement is that I get a few extra weeks to finish their gifts! And I will probably see some snow. Oh well, being with family is all that matters, no matter the actual date that you visit them. I promise you all some photos in a few weeks, when I have time to find my camera.

Well, I really should make another attempt at the whole sleep thing. Lots of schoolwork to do tomorrow and Tristan wants to go chop down a Christmas tree--he "knows a place" where they give you a saw and let you have at it. This could end in a trip to the emergency room but it wouldn't be the holidays without someone getting injured!

I'm looking forward to returning to the world shortly--and I'll be doing it as a 28-year-old. Yep, that crazy B-day is coming up on the 16th. I actually forgot all about it until Tristan's aunt asked me what I would like as a gift. Seriously, I want to tell her a secretary to remind of things like MY BIRTHDAY. Oy! I'm thinking this year I'd like to do something fun, maybe dancing or some totally drunken karaoke. Anybody in?

Oh Baby, that was a bad idea

Last night I decided to take the night off from schoolwork and veg out on the couch. It was also a good opportunity to catch up on the 7 bazillion catalogs I've received in the last few weeks when I've been too busy to really sort the mail except to pull out the bills. Catalog number 7 was a makeup catalog that I have no idea why I get--can't say as I've ever actually ordered anything from it but it has been following me around the country on my various moves. It offers a variety of discontinued and hard to find brand name cosmetics--including a few "relaxation tools" for women that seem a bit scandalous when juxtaposed with wrinkle cream and eyebrow-shaped wax strips. They also have a huge selection of perfumes--mostly of the "old lady" variety. But there was one that flashed me back to middle school--Love's Baby Soft. I had no idea they still made this stuff. When I was about 12 or so every girl in my class had a bottle of this stuff, in one of its variations--I think there was a blue one, a green one, the original pink one and a yellow one. I had the green which I think was called "Rainforest Rush" or some other such nonesense. At the time, we all thought these were so cool but looking back I really wonder about this perfume. See, Love's Baby Soft smells like baby powder, like a baby's behind if you will. I suppose it was fine for adolescent and prepubescent girls to wear this stuff and maybe that's the age group they were marking it to. But really, did any woman of dating age really wear this stuff? Picture a lovely date and at it's end, the guy leans over to kiss his date and she smells like BABY! Wouldn't that send most men running away in a panic? She's got a kid! Or she really wants a kid! Something along those lines. Doesn't seem like a good way to get a second date. Totally ridiculous train of thought, yes, I know, but I'm too burned out to tackle the important issues at this moment in time. I am voting on Tuesday, though. I might be up all night cramming with the voter book that explains the propositions just so that I can pick the right ones on Tuesday morning. Don't forget to vote! Because if you don't vote you don't get that cool "I voted" sticker which means people won't look at you as "an informed, politically active intellectual" which we all aspire to be, right?

As one departs, two arrive....

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye...

I am so sad. My friend Michele is moving to Pittsburgh, this weekend! We haven't had much time to say goodbye but we did have a "going-away dinner" Wednesday night at McCormick & Schmick's where Michele used to be a server. It was a fun evening, despite the occasion. But we know she'll be back. One or two Pennsylvania winters oughta have her running back here to sunny California (at least we hope so!). Who is going to catalog the things that suck about LA with me now? Michele and Darcy were the first people I really met here in LA that a) gave me the time of day and b) didn't think I was too weird or too "girl from rural Pennsylvania" to hang out with. Seriously, the night I met you guys at SnB I came home and told Tristan "I think I made friends!" Something that I worried might not happen so thank you!

Here's Wednesday's gang:

Back row: Me, Michele, Christian, Emily and Mike
Front row: Sarah, Sam, James (also Annie in the second pic) & Mike

We dressed up for fun--see Michele's blog for more info. I'm wearing a dress that Tristan bought me about 5 years ago when we first started dating. Since it still fits, I had to wear it (overlooking the fact that it is made of stretchy material, mind you).

Christian, Michele & Me. Christian was at a swank Louis Vitton party. Quite dapper in that hat, no? Doesn't Michele look great? Pardon my cleavage...

Saturday we are off to Runyon Canyon. I've never been and I'm glad I have one more chance to say goodbye...to Michele, not to Runyon Canyon although since I go hiking like, once ever 15 years it might seem like that.

I am so sad to see Michele go and I will visit her next time I go home to PA. Only a 45 min flight from Harrisburg or 1 hour from Lancaster (thats Lanc-astor, not LAN-castor like you crazy Californians say)!

On a happier note:

Tristan and I added to our family in the last few weeks. Magellan needed a playmate so we went to look at some kitties up for adoption at our vet's office (Laurel Pet Hospital in West Hollywood--awesome vets, by the way). These kitties had been brought in when they were 3 months old and relinquished to the vets. They are now 8 months old--5 months of living in a little cage together! Well, we wanted just one when we left the house but they were obviously bonded and if we took them both they would neuter them for free so we got them both. Yes, we are officially CRAZY CAT PEOPLE. That's 5 cats. But the two older ones spend most of their time under the bed or in the closet so it's really like we only had 1 to begin with...

But the kittens are just so damn cute. And they lay (ly? lie? never did get that right in English class) together so much that it's really like we just got one large, 2-headed cat. We named them Pierson and Post. It's a law school joke. The first case that just about everyone in law school reads is Pierson v. Post, about a guy (Post) who is tracking a fox through woods and valleys for hours only to have another guy (Pierson) step out and shoot it as it went past, having expended zero effort to actually hunt it down. The question was "who owns that fox?" The court decided that the guy who shot him had dibs. Yeah, that's exactly how they said it too. Anyway, Tristan and I met in Property class and we joked a long time ago when we first started dating about getting two cats and naming them after this stupid case which is really a hallmark of the law school experience. So here they are. See, 2-headed kitty...
Close up of Post--who is a bit more skittish than Pierson. He is more grey with very pronounced black stripes. He is also very sweet and likes to eat my hair. When scared he runs and sits in the litter box. Ew! But he makes up for it by doing this very Stevie Wonder head rolling thing when he is puzzled by something that is just adorable.

His wiley brother Pierson (see why we didn't name him Post?) waiting to pounce on his brother's tail. He pounces on everything. He's especially fond of biting my kneecap through the comforter which hurts even more than you imagine it would. He also gets confused by our sheer curtains and on more than one occasion has tried to leap through them to get from the windowsill onto a nearby chair, bringing down the curtain rod, the curtain and a floor lamp or two. He finds that this activity is best undertaken at 3:30 in the morning.
Two sleepy kitties. That's Pierson in the front. He is more of a brown-grey and has white tips on 3 of his paws.

Close up of Pierson. He had to inspect the camera's zoom....See his black mouth? I think he's sort of Goth.


And here's Post after I'd taken like a zillion pictures. He figured he'd better just pose and get it over with. Doesn't he look like he's about to say "are you quite finished?" I think he has a Bitish accent though I can't explain why...
Just to give you an idea of how big these boys are. They are only 8 months old and their paws are huge....and they are lying on a king size bed. We may have to move to a bigger condo in the next year or so just to accommodate them.

Well, I have other fun things to tell you and I promise to do so soon. I got a new job, we just had to make some major, super fun emergency home repairs which might mean some fine dining on Ramen until, oh, about Christmas and I have some finished knitting projects and works in progress to share with you all...

But now I'm going to go get some sleep so I can get up early to do my homework. Because, um, tonight I had to watch Grey's Anatomy and stuff and all the things I thought I would get done are still, um, not so much done (or, ahem, even started).

My newest obsession

A few months ago Tristan and I were shopping for a new dining room table so we decided to go to Venice Blvd and see if there was something suitable at Levitz or one of those other furniture stores in that area. We parked across the street from the store and when I got out of the car I turned around and fell in love. No, I'm not leaving my husband. I fell in love with a car.Yes, you read correctly, this girl who HATES to drive fell in love with a CAR. But not just any car. No it was a pristine white Karmann Ghia. A who with the what-now? Yeah, that's what I said when I read the name scrolled near the tire.


(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

It is just too cute. Really. Don't you think I'd look cute in this car, tooling around town or zipping down the coast? I just have a few things to do before I'm ready to buy one:

1. Figure out how to drive a stick. I've never tried it but how hard can it be? I multi-task a thousand times each day, surely I could handle driving with both feet...

2. Learn about car repair because apparently these babies need a lot of TLC but like human children, they look so damn cute that you forget about the bodily misfunctions and the disconcerting noises....

3. Pick out which color I want and then try to find one on ebay. Preferably find one in a city close to where friends or family live so that I can squeeze in a visit when I fly out to pick up my new car (see multi-tasking yet again!)

4. Pick out a fabulous scarf and big dark glasses (should I decide to go with a convertible)

5. Think up a plucky yet lady-like name for my new transportation

6. Stop hating driving (this may involve moving out of LA but it's a small sacrifice to pay for a pretty car)

7. Graduate from school, get a full-time job and finish some of my knitting/crafting projects before I pick up this new "hobby."

Oh, the best part? They are starting on ebay for between $500-$1000 and most are selling for less than $5,000.

Good night all, I'm off to dream about myself behind the wheel of a sporty little number....

30 Days and this is all I have to show for it?

Wow, yeah, so it's been 30 days since I updated ya'll. Mhhmm. Yeah, I'm not sure what I was doing, probably just sitting on the couch eating bon-bons and watching Lifetime. Oh wait, that's the dream I should be having right now, if I were actually sleeping--which I should be. But no, I'm wide awake and sitting in my dark kitchen typing on the laptop (trying to save some electricity--of course I do realize that this laptop takes way more juice than the floor lamp to my left but whatever, I'm trying...).

Let's see in the past month:

1. Went to my sister's wedding. Yep, my baby (and only) sister got herself hitched to a wonderful boy (I suppose I should call him a man since he's married and stuff...). I took a bunch of pictures which you can see here. And, before you ask, I'm only in a few of them because I WAS TAKING THE PICTURES. Rest assured, other people took photos as did the photographer and I'm pretty sure I got into at least a few of them, which I will share with you when I get them. Feel free to comment, particularly if you can think of titles for the last 10 pictures or so--I uploaded them pretty late at night and I just can't be witty after midnight unless I've been drinking. And no drinking after midnight on a Weds, unfort.

The wedding was beautiful, the couple was happy and in love and it seemed like they got a pretty good haul in the gift department. And so did I--well not really, I actually just HAULED the presents from the reception site to the car and then from the car to the house.
It was hot in PA but not as hot as it's been here in the last few weeks. The wedding was at my parents' church and the reception at the local Jewish Community Center (as an aside, when I was home in May I went to the JCC with my sister for a final look-see and casually mentioned that I worked at the Skirball in LA--Yeah, I got the full-on tour after that!). Other than a few minor mishaps--seriously, I don't think it would be a wedding without some tiny, last-minute crises--everything went just wonderfully. I had a few dress issues though. The bridesmaid dress was in junior sizes and apparently my hips and bust (ha! yes, feel free to laugh, I am aware that the only bust I have to speak of is courtesy of Victoria's Secret and their well-placed wires and elastic) are not in "junior proportions." I vaguely remember mentioning this to the saleswoman back in December but she apparently didn't hear me.... So the dress was a bit tight. Well, actually it was so tight that I was worried I wasn't going to be able to take a deep enough breath to get through the one-page reading I was giving during the ceremony. And I only ate about 2 bites from my plate at the reception before my dress hit maximum capacity. I was complaining about the boning in the dress and how it was cutting into my hips when my cousin goes " is it maybe too tight because you're expecting?" Ha! I said "oh that is so definitely not it." It seems that when you have been married for 2 years, people expect you to start popping out kids. Sorry folks, no popping here anytime soon. And by soon I mean never. Seriously, I do not have the energy for children.

2. I've been working. Two jobs. At the same place. I've been both an Administrative Assistant and a pseudo-librarian for a few weeks now. It's been fun. No really, I have enjoyed it but I'm phasing out the Admin work as the library project heats up. Each day I think I breathe in about a pound and a half of dust just moving the books around--or at least that's my explanation as to why none of my shorts fit. I've found like 20 books I want to read as I sort the books but I'm not sure how to squeeze them in....

3. Yep, I'm still in school. Well, actually I'll be out of school in about 3 weeks but then two weeks after that I'll be in school again. I know, hard to keep up. Just assume that I am in school until I say otherwise. I've had some marathon reference scavenger hunts for my research class. The good news: I finally went to Central Library and it is beautiful. The bad news: I had to miss a day of work, walk about 6 blocks in the heat and then spend 5 hours in the library, running from floor to floor looking for the answer to a very important question: "What is the most landed on space on a Monopoly board?" Well, thank god I found the answer because I don't know how anyone would have slept if I'd have failed my mission. But YOU have to wait until my next post to find out what it is...

4. CNN-crafting news nuggets:
a. I've been working on this brown skirt forever and still not done. It's for me so it merely gets a purple flag (ha, ha, office joke for those of you who are regular users of Outlook).
b. I finished a purse for my mom for her birthday--first time I crocheted something without a pattern--I'll put pics up soon, I promise.
c. Crocheted a hat for my friend Grady's birthday. And of course I forgot to take a picture of the hat and him in the hat. I am so bad at that! I hear he's been wearing it a lot so one of these days I'll corner him and snap a photo.
d. Finished a ladies small size sweater for the Afghans for Afghans drive, unfortunately not in time for their current deadline so it will be going in the closet until their drive at the end of September.
e. I'm still working on some other projects--I have a few things I'm doing for people at work or as I keep saying "I'm taking in piecework to supplement my income"
f. I just started a pair of mittens for the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation--I found them on yahoo groups. Check them out, they are looking for a lot of different things and not just wool, like the Afghans for Afghans, which can get to be expensive.
g. tried to get to SnB, but not as much as I'd like to!

5. Went to a Flaming Lips concert with Michele, Mark & Darcy. Loads of fun even if it was hot and sticky at the Hollywood Bowl. Check out Michele & Darcy's pictures on their blogs because I am so lame--I totally thought cameras would be verbotten.

6. Sleeping--I'm gonna get on that one right now! She says as two cop cars go by her house and a helicopter shines a giant searchbeam into her kitchen (Damn, did Tristan not pay that parking ticket he got in May?) Oh, gotta love LA and their stupid car chases. I swear this happens at least once a week...I have got to update more frequently--it's so hard to squish everything into one post.

G'night!

Nocturnal Amiss....

Ok, so we'll add another anecdote to the "only in LA" category. Last night I'm lying in bed reading a novel (about a ghost that helps her niece solve mysteries--quite cute and very British!) when I hear this gigantic BOOM. My first thought--somebody had a ginormous accident on the 101 (which is about, oh, 50 yards from my bedroom window). I listened for sirens but didn't hear any and the traffic seemed to keep flowing. So not an accident. Oh, I know!! It was gunshots. Oh my god, someone got shot near my house. Two minutes of panic and still no sirens. At this point, Tristan comes to bed and says "hey, did you hear that thunder?" Yep folks, apparently I've been living in the big city too long because I no longer recognize the sound of THUNDER. Or maybe it's because it doesn't rain here during the summer and I was subconsciously aware of that fact--thus my brain thought it couldn't be thunder.

I've been experiencing a lot of things that go bump in the night lately. Most of it has to do with the construction on Cahuenga. Ok, so they can't start their jackhammers until a civilized 7:30AM (whatever, that is still WAY too early) but they can drive their HUGE dumptrunks and earthmovers and other digging machiny-things made by Caterpillar (shout out to PA) past my house at 5:30 AM. I hear their air brakes as they stop at the stop sign and their backing up alarm noises as they realize they cut the corner too short and can not possibly make the turn onto the next street. I want to write to the city and complain. For a week and a half I've been awakened a full hour and a half before I have to get up (on work days) and about 4 hours before I have to get up on non-work days. That's precious sleep that this busy girl can't afford to lose, people!

As if the trucks weren't bad enough, we've got some nightingales living in the tree outside our bedroom. Well, they might be finches or some other bird creature, I don't know my birds. All I do know is that they are night owls--hee-hee--who chirp incessantly like it is dawn at 2AM. They call out to other birds, they chat it up and they sing--which I'm sure to themselves is a beautiful noise and if I were hearing it at 3PM instead of 3AM, I might just agree. But how do you shut birds up? I thought maybe we could shine a huge search light directly into the tree, thus mimicking the sun which should send those bird-brains straight to bed, right? The problem, that tree is directly between our house and the building nextdoor which might not be so thrilled to have a searchlight shining in their window. But then again, maybe they are bothered by the birds too....

Lastly, all the scantily-clad, drunken club goers park on our street to avoid having to pay for parking or to tip the valets. But they don't just go to their cars and leave, no they mosey down the street to their cars, usually treating us to an off-key rendition of some ridiculous club song that's most likely made with computers and was never intended to be mimicked by the human voice. When they do get to their cars, they have a nice little chat, about thirty decibals louder than normal speech because they just blew their eardrums out dancing in front of the club's speakers. I do get to live vicariously through them as I get to hear "I can't believe she did it with that ass, whatever, she's got no standards..." yadda, yadda. On tuesday I actually heard someone say "foshizzle." I kid you not. I thought the only person who said that was Snoop Doggy Dog--or maybe it was him, the lighting is a bit dim down there....

Oh well, I'm off to PA tomorrow for my sister's wedding so maybe I'll get some sleep there. Or maybe not. I'm hoping to get some knitting done, though. Hmm, maybe I'll knit myself a eye mask and some cotton earmuffs before I return home....sweet dreams, ya'll, I'm taking a nap.....

Completely Unforgiveable...

So yeah, it's been, um, AWHILE since I've posted. Funny right since I'm finally done with school. Oh wait, no I'm not. I'm in my second week of summer semester. Woohoo. I'm also planning my fall class schedule. I'm hoping to graduate next spring so that I can FINALLY have a summer free from studying. See, I've been going to school during the summer since the summer of 1998. Three years of summer classes in college, three years of year-round law school, studying and taking the Massachusetts bar exam in 2004. After I passed that exam I thought, that's it, I'm done with school and studying. I figured I'd just go get myself an attorney job and that would be the end of it. Until months of job searching failed to turn up anything--anything at all. I wasn't being picky, my only requirement was that it not be insurance defense because I really don't need a one-way ticket to Hell. Not that I believe in Hell but if anything was going to send you straight to burning brimstone (do not pass go, do not collect $200) it'd be doing insurance defense work.

So then we moved out West, like true pioneers (I our U-haul truck and thankfully no wheels got mired in mud and we never had to form a circle with other moving vans for protection in the Holiday Inn parking lot) to seek our fortunes, or at least enough to live on. But what to do once we were here? Well, sticking with what I knew, I decided to study for and take yet another bar exam. Yep, I decided to take the July 2005 Cal bar exam. So yet another summer spent sweating over an open book instead of working on my tan (er-freckling actually since I use SPF 45 and I DON'T TAN). Then I started working on my library science degree and here I am again, taking classes during the hottest months of the year. It seems that from September to May I forget how hard it is to concentrate when you brain is melting. Seriously, it is that hot. Yesterday while waiting for the bus in the Valley, my plastic sandals (vintage 60's? or 70's? They were my grandmas) actually melted onto my foot. Yeah really, it sounded like velcro when I tried to pull them off after I got home---ew!!!

So I've been working and going to school now and I promise to try to write more. In between everything else I'm doing since in July I'll sort of be working 2 jobs for the same museum while I continue to go to school. Well, I hate to be bored. Although I suppose this post is sort of boring but after like 45 days of silence, this is sort of the chit-chat leading up to the meat of the conversation, if you will. I've also got to remember to bring my camera with me when I go places. Like to PA or just downtown to the Fashion District with Darcy (we went on Tuesday to buy ribbon and stuff for my sister's wedding--Thanks Darcy for trudging through the heat with me in search of variegated pink fading ribbon in pale, petal and fuschia!)

In crafting news...I've been working on a project that I can't talk about because it is a present and it is not knitted, it's some other crafty thing I do. More details to follow ...see how I got you to come back? Other than that, I have about 8 inches of a brown skirt knit in a pattern from the free patterns section of Elann.com

Ok, back to that schoolwork--gotta be at work early tomorrow!