Motivation, Lost

I tell you. . . when Jake goes out of town, my motivation goes with him. I have both a G & H to share about our trip to California and give you all the gory details of the wedding, but I'm entirely too lazy to get it up tonite. Instead, I'll give you some photos :)

Short slideshow our photographer put together here.

All the professional photos here. (you have to register to see them, though!)

I ADORE our photos. .. . they really capture just how happy the day was!

F is for Fantastic Feat of Engineering

OK, admittedly this one is a bit of a stretch. . .. . but how else do I incorporate the fantastic Golden Gate Bridge (and don't tell me I could use it for G, I've got another for that!)??

We flew into San Francisco for the trip to Sonoma. Jake has a very kind friend from school who happens to live in San Francisco who let us stay at her place so no paying for a hotel or the ridiculous parking rates (and subsequent parking tax) hotels charge. We got in around 6 on Thursday night, and we were both pretty beat. We didn't end up doing much of anything that was 'San Francisco'. . . Unless you count driving through the city.. . . because let me tell you, I was glad the car wasn't a standard!!! Thursday night we just went out for Thai and a cocktail and called it a night.

Friday, I met up with some MalGals from Ravelry - trumom, darlingfloy, firegirlpj and sleep2dreamher. I'd link to blogs, but they aren't active, so you can check them out on Rav if you want ;) And we had SUCH a great time! How fun to meet a bunch of great knitters from the innernets in real life! And where did we go? Imagiknit, of course!!

Isn't Jake a trooper?

TOTAL.YARN.WONDERLAND!! Definitely one of the best yarn shops I've been to, though I may be biased due to the HUGE amount of Malabrigo in EVERY weight. I left with 8 skeins of Dos in two complimentary colors for a yet to be determined colorwork project, and 2 skeins of Chunky. Overall, my spending was quite tame :) The ladies also took us out to lunch, which was beyond sweet of them, no?! Friday night we met up with the family in town and had an early dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. (that's Jake's parents, my mom, Jakes brother & SIL, and sister hiding in the back)
I would have liked to do the more touristy things, but my mind was kind of elsewhere. Next trip, though, we'll do the cable car and all that jazz :)

The one thing I wouldn't NOT do is check out the Golden Gate. I'm a nerd for stuff like that. Of course, we had to drive over it to go to Sonoma, but I wanted to stop and see it, so after Muir Woods Saturday morning, we drove back down to check out the Vista Point. We made a slight detour thinking we could go to Golden Gate National Recreation area to see the bridge.. . . . but you can't (you can, however, sit at a very long light to go through a one lane tunnel!).

Instead, we checked out the old battery there and admired the view of the Pacific.

Then we realized to get to the viewing area, we'd have to cross the bridge, pay the toll and turn back Northbound. So we did!
Thankfully it wasn't crazy crowded or anything, so we had no trouble parking and getting up to the wall to take some photos & watch the ferry to Alcatraz, and get an obligatory photo to prove we were there :)

E is for Enormous

When Jake's dad found out we were going to get married in Sonoma, he was very excited about being able to visit Muir Woods. He has always wanted to see the Redwoods and especially wanted to go with his kids. All those years working in the woods and doing lumberjack shows, you know :) We weren't sure we were going to be able to swing going as a group, mostly because Jake & I had appointments in Sonoma on Saturday, and as nice as it would be to do 'family stuff', the wedding was kind of priority #1! When we saw the park opened at 8am, though, we were able to arrange a 'as soon as the gates open' visit. Amazingly, everyone was even (almost) on time :) It was SO COLD!!!! 8am + elevation + little sun = FREEZING! My mom was totally unprepared for 'not warm' in California, she was not so much enjoying the walk through the woods, but she pretended OK.

Jake's dad was kind of like a little kid. I'm not sure I've seen him that excited before. And the trees, definitely ENORMOUS! I can't imagine the Sequoias that are even bigger!
Why yes, that is Jake's dad (roughly 6", for scale) who brought a tape measure with him :) (And also ignored the 'stay on path' signs).

We didn't go on any of the 'hiking' trails, just the main loop when you enter the park. I wouldn't mind going back sometime when it was a little warmer and going on the hike to the beach.

There were plenty of empty trees big enough to fit in, but most were off the trail and we're rule followers :) This one was made for going in, though. The picture also makes me chuckle because I think it looks like a small bear or a giant chipmunk is trying to eat through the tree and get Jake!


And, because we're cheesy, we bought a sapling "so we can watch it can grow just like our love". barf, I know :) Jake wasn't really serious with that as the rational for purchasing it, but I like to tease him about it!

D is for Dining

One of my favorite parts of travelling is eating out (for a while, at least, by the end of the trip I sometimes just want to cook something at home already!). California absolutely did not disappoint with the food offerings. In San Francisco I had the most delicious pineapple fried rice at Thai Stick. Really, everything we ordered there was delicious but the rice was over the top!

Sonoma was amazing. Nothing like wine country to have dozens of fabulous restaurants all in walking distance from your hotel. We at at Deuce, Harvest Moon Cafe, Meritage & Cafe LaHaye. The wedding dinner was at Meritage, so really not fair to judge the restaurant overall by what they will offer as a catering menu, but in comparison to 'normal' catering, they were fantastic. . . . particularly the desserts! The award for introducing me to a food I've never heard of and now adore goes to Harvest Moon. We ordered a beet & fennel salad that was topped with Kampachi. I didn't even notice the kampachi in the description, I just jumped at beet & fennel, but when it came, there was clearly sushi on top and OMG! It was ridiculously fantastic. We asked the waiter what it was, and turns out it's a type of yellow-fin tuna. Delicious!

The overall, blow every other fabulous restaurant out of the water restaurant has to be Cafe LaHaye. It is a tiny little restaurant off the square in Sonoma. It was slam packed on a Tuesday night, which is always the sign of a great restaurant. The kitchen is tiny, staffed with just the Executive Chef & a sous chef. It was fantastic to watch them work in the kitchen, very quiet and calm and measured, none of the banging and swearing I am used to from my restaurant days. It's a very small menu, as well, I believe 6 entrees + 2 specials and the same number of starters. We shared soup & salad. The soup was califlower & celery root topped with cashews & golden raisins. The soup was sooooo yummy & smooth, though I could have done without the cashews. The salad - butter lettuce with avocado, boiled egg, bacon & blue cheese. YUM - so many of my favorite things all on one plate!! For dinner, Jake got a mustard braised pork chop served over mushrooms and corona beans and I got the rissoto of the day, which was green garlic & balsamic grilled radicchio. There aren't enough adjectives to do the food justice. And the serving sizes were incredibly generous, which was unexpected. In such a 'foodie' place, I would by no means have been surprised for a 6 bite serving to show up on my plate, yet it barely looked like I touched my rissoto when I was done! We finished off the meal with meyer lemon cheesecake, coffee & port. I wish I didn't live 3000 miles from this restaurant, because I'd be there as much as I could! And it was even affordable. .. . everything we ate plus wine, and our bill barely made it to $100.

I can't take credit for this photo, but I'm using it for my ABC-along, anyway. Jake is dabbling in photography and this was his 'artsy' shot at dinner. I think it's pretty cool.

And finally, here's a shot of us at Cafe LaHaye (note the wedding ring on Jake!). We had spent the rest of our time in Cali with friends and family, we got to go out Tuesday night, just the two of us, and we couldn't have picked a better place to do it!

I'm back, I'm married, and I'm behind!

Wow. . . it's been a while :)

A LOT has been going on, most notably that I'm MARRIED :) My goal over this week is to get caught up with ABC-Along-ing and tell you all about our trip to California and the most perfect wedding we could have hoped for!

I hope all is well with you all and you enjoy your Easter weekend!

Fill you all in on the details soon !

Someone's looking out!

I was born and raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school from Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. When we were little and went to Church, our teachers would make us sit in the pews, reach our hands out and only let us sit as close to the next person as our finger tips would touch. This was to try and discourage talking, of course, but they told us it was to make sure our Guardian Angels had space to sit next to us.

While we never learned much about the patron saints in school beyond whomever we chose our Confirmation names after, my family was big on praying to whomever the appropriate saint was for a given situation. I spent a lot of time talking to St Anthony, since I misplace a lot of stuff! And while I never necessarily prayed to him, on my 16th Birthday along with my license I was given a St Christopher medallion for my car. I've had several vehicles and the same medallion has come with me in them all. I got in an accident 2 months after having my license - broadsided by a steel hauler going 45MPH. The driver was certain he killed us in the car, since he pushed us nearly 1/4 mile down the road before we twisted up an embankment. All 3 of us in the car walked away with no injuries. The police had sent a traffic fatality reconstruction team to the site when the trucker called in the accident, everyone was amazed that we were fine. In 2004, I hydroplaned on the 401 outside Toronto in a terrible rain storm. I ran into the cement embankment which spun me back into oncoming traffic, hit the embankment again spinning me back 180 degrees and leaving my car half in the left traffic lane with no real visibility. No one else hit my vehicle and it turned out to be drivable so I could get home to Michigan. I've been pretty lucky.

Yesterday, en route home during rush hour with my wedding dress in tow, I got in another accident. A driver cut across 2 lanes of traffic cutting into the exit lane, causing the line of cars to jam on the brakes. The result was a small Toyota rear ending me and my car hitting the car in front of me. I have no recollection of hitting the car in front of me, so I honestly don't know if that happened first or if the vehicle hitting me pushed me into that car. Nevertheless, it set off the airbags, which is quite shocking if you've never experienced it before. They smell really badly and your car fills with (what looks like) smoke, but apparently is some sort of powder. The good news is no one in any of the 3 vehicles was hurt. I have a small abrasion on my chin from the airbag, but that seems to be the worst of it. Hopefully it goes away or is light enough to be covered by makeup for the wedding. The bad news is that my car is 8 years old and airbags are expensive, so there is a very real possibility my Escape will be totaled, despite very little damage (basically just a new bumper and fender). I'm hoping not, since I'd really prefer not to have a car payment all of a sudden, but if so, there are worse things that could happen.

I'm not really a laid back person, so I have no idea why I'm so relaxed about the whole incident. I barely even cried after I was sure nothing happened to my wedding dress (I'm not going to lie, I was super upset at first!). It took the state troopers over an hour to get there to do an accident report, Jake came down to wait with me and we called AAA and had the tow truck there to move my car and then went out for a beer and pizza. I had dropped rental coverage from my insurance since I worked at home, but luckily we have two friends who offered use of their extra vehicles so I'm covered there. Maybe this is a new leaf for me to not get so stressed out and worked up over things, so I'm trying to stay positive. And I don't know if it was St Christopher or my Guardian Angel or something else that has made sure I've made it through these accidents unharmed, but THANKS to all of them for looking out for me :)

Up for air. . ..

Sort of. . . .

Having to drive to a job and actually do the whole shower/hair/makeup routine. . . well that really puts a cramp in the day! New job is going as well as can be expected for day 5. Bit of a shift from having a manager who was very much a micromanager to a new boss who trusts me despite my short 5 days of tenure and throws me projects already!

I'm already behind on ABC-Along, and have resigned myself that I won't catch up until post-wedding. Check back later :)

Oh, yeah, that wedding thing. . .. 3 weeks from today! And because I'm crazy, I'm reworing the itinerary, which is adding just a wee bit of stress. At least my dress is finally finished and fitting properly. Score one for me :)

Knitting? What's that? The rest of my hectic-ness leaves little time for knitting. Which, of course, is slightly stressful as I still have to finish a second Wisp for the aforementioned wedding :) Knit-wise, I finally have a photo of my first official original design. Nothing fancy, just a rib, but I wanted a top down hat and in the depths of Ravelry, there was only ONE pattern tagged a top down hat. I'm considering writing it up, what 'cha think?

(why yes, yes I am bitter Jake has such long eyelashes)

The increase pattern is pretty, though, no?

So that's all I've got. . . . I can't promise much by way of posting until things settle down a bit, though :)

No, really, don't be Sorry!

Today was my last day at the first 'real' job I ever had - you know, the kind you 'resign' from and don't quit :) It was the job I accepted coming out of college that made everyone so proud of me. (My starting salary was more than my mom made.) It feels kind of weird. My office phone is disconnected, my computer is boxed up waiting for the UPS man to pick it up and deliver it back to my boss. The weirdest thing, EVERYONE (and their brother) assumes I lost my job. I had to call to cancel a lot of services. . . I say 'I need to cancel, I'm leaving my job today' and I get a 'Oh, I'm so sorry'. I'm tired of telling people 'Nothing to be sorry about, I quit - I have a new job!' Not sure why I feel the need to tell random customer service people this, but I do!

So now, I have 4 days off. I start the new job Tuesday. My plan is to close anything open for the wedding in my couple days off. That mostly includes choosing the wines we'll be tasting, and selecting the appetizers and desserts for dinner. And hopefully, having a FINAL dress fitting. You are only supposed to have two fittings. . . an initial and a final. I went for my 'final' and the dress was ALL effed up! The hem was like 2 inches short, the straps gouged my arm pits. . . it was bad news. The seamstress ripped out her work (thank GOD she didn't cut any fabric off yet!) and repinned things and I went back yesterday for another 'final' fitting. The hem was corrected, but the bodice is still not quite right, so the seamstress ripped again and I'm going back Monday. I really hope it's right, because (a) the wedding is barely 4 weeks away and (b) the seamstress works only 10-5 M-Th and with the new job, I'm not sure how much 'I need to leave' I want to do in my first few weeks :) The dress is awesome now that it's fitting better, though. I love it! If you want to see, you can check it out on my flickr here.

I swear, there is knitting, but I've been wrapped up cleaning up things with the old job and my bachelorette party last weekend that blogging just isn't making it to the top of the list!

Hope you all are well!!

Prize Disclosure :)

OK, it's a terrible photo, because it's COLD outside today and I wasn't about to take outdoor photos :) These are the prizes I decided on for my contest winners. I won't tell you what is going where, though!
SOMEONE is getting a Cookie A pattern and sock yarn. SOMEONE else is getting some super-soft merino and a Ysolda Teague pattern and the OTHER someone is getting a bag of Debbie Bliss yarn! I hope everyone enjoys! The two of you who get patterns, I have the PDFs for you, so let me know when you get your packages!

Three Winners!

So I had the trusty electrons at Random.org select 3 winners this morning.

Drumroll. . . . . . . . . .

#9 - Valerie

#12 - Kate

#20 - Desiree

Congratulations winners! I know who you all are on Ravelry, so I'm going to spend tonite figuring out what I think you all would like.

Valerie - I'll see you in person & Kate, I have your address, so Desiree I'll email you to get yours.

Thanks to everyone for playing! I think I'll post pictures of what I decide to send, but not tell you who gets what :)

Zoom!

OK, Really, where is the time going? Here it is Friday and I haven't blogged and I feel like the only thing I accomplished was putting in my official resignation (resignation makes me feel so much fancier than just plain quitting does, but that's the 'official' term when you are a professional I guess!). My last day at the current job is March 5. None too soon if you ask me :)

I've had both some knitting and some swapping and some yarn buying going on that I will get around to sharing (hopefully) soon!

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to enter the Good Karma Contest. I'll pick winners Sunday from everyone who comments before 8AM EST tomorrow (2/21)!

Good Karma Contest

Things have been going well for me so far this year, and so to keep the good karma flowing, among a few other 'good deeds', I think a contest here is in order. To enter, just leave a comment! I'll leave the contest open through Friday and pick at least two winners next weekend. I'm not sure what the prizes will be, as I'll try to pick something the winner would like.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

C is for California!

OK, it's not quite two weeks since I've been back, so I'm not THAT delinquent. And, well, if you're cranky about it - this is what I say to you:
Not really, this is just my favorite picture from the trip. We went to La Jolla twice to see the seals. I was way more amused by them than is probably normal for a nearly-30 year old!

The seals are funny waddling around on the beach and then so graceful in the water. Saturday was in the high 70s, so there was a lot of time spent with the seals swimming then getting out to sun themselves on the rocks.
The pup birthing season starts in late January, so I was hoping to see a baby, which is why we went back on Sunday. To our luck, we were able to see Bubbles.

It was a little bittersweet, as it appeared the pup was abandoned and he was being harassed by a seagull. I was happy to find out when we came home and I read up on the website and saw that Sea World came to rescue the pup and that he's doing well.

Other than seal watching, we spent time wandering through Balboa Park and looking at all the gorgeous flowers in bloom. We used the flowers to practice using the macro setting on my new camera. Like everything else, Jake is way better at the photos. I think he has a steadier hand or something. Here are some of my favorites! (click to make the whole mosaic bigger, or the bottom links for the individual photos over on flickr.)
1. IMG_0301, 2. IMG_0360, 3. IMG_0334, 4. IMG_0328, 5. IMG_0326, 6. IMG_0324, 7. IMG_0323, 8. IMG_0319, 9. IMG_0315, 10. IMG_0312

The rest of the time in California was spent eating good food, enjoying the fabulous hotel right on the beach and watching the sunsets trying to catch a green flash. Jake has to go back to San Diego for another 13 days for work. I won't get to go again, though.

Now, I need to make my shopping list for Valentine's Day. I am making Jake dinner and attempting a souffle for dessert (a la Mark Bittman's Column). We don't really do much to 'celebrate' the day, so we'll mostly do errands, but cooking dinner seems a good excuse to use the funky silver candlesticks I got for my shower!

Have a great weekend!!

Blink!

Sheesh. . . . I blink once, and suddenly it's February. . . . I blink again, and I've been home from California for a week and haven't shown any pictures! Well, I'm still not going to because I have 2000 other things to do. I'm not sure why I've suddenly become so busy (gee, could it be an up coming wedding or an impending job change?), but I hope it doesn't last too long.

I've been knitting on my Oblique and am almost done with the back. I almost finished a pair of socks in San Diego. I am sort of panicking about finishing the 2nd Wisp.

I am pleasantly surprised by my taxes. I was avoiding doing them because I thought for sure I'd have to pay this year. Jake wanted me to at least do his instead of avoiding, so I did a quick version of them last night (after searching for a good hour to collect all the relevant receipts and forms) and lo and behold! No paying!

I haven't officially accepted my new job yet. I asked for a larger salary and they just got back to me yesterday with their response. I told them I'd give a response today. I'm nervous! Saying yes means all sorts of change. . . and while I want something new, change is scary :) And, to be honest, financially, it's not the BEST move I could make. It's a bigger salary, but overall because of giving up bonuses, discounted stock purchase, etc, overall $$ is even at best, despite the new job being clearly more responsibility. Hopefully this doesn't bite me in the behind in a few years, but for now, probably worth it for the change of scenery.

Then to REALLY make me think I blinked through too much life, it was 72 degrees on Sunday! Gorgeous! Is winter gone?! Of course, rather than enjoy it properly, Jake & I spent a few hours raking the yard. It was nice to be outside in a T-shirt and sunshine, but I loathe raking. We did grill some pork chops for dinner, though, to celebrate the early spring temps! It's supposed to be in the 70s for a few more days before going back to more normal 50s, but we surely seem to be on the spring-upswing!

Newsflash!

So I got the call that they are offering me the job!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

I'm awaiting all the formal details, and minimally will probably end up asking for some additional moolah (they offered me a salary increase, but the net of my current salary and annual bonus, so it's overall not actually an increase as it stands).

But I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quickie

I am back from California. It rocked, will elaborate later.

I still have not heard word on the new job, though I got an email on Friday from one of my references to let me know the HR director called her. I hope that means they selected me for the position and just have to do the due diligence of verifying a reference. I hope I find out soon, as it's very difficult to knit with my fingers crossed, and they are coming dangerously close to falling off due to lack of blood flow from constant crossing :)

Now, off to bed and try to convince myself to wake up in the morning back to the job I am SOOOOOOO over!

I'm off

I'm headed to sunny Southern California :)

See you when I'm back (hopefully with a new pair of socks from plane knitting!)

An-ti-ci-pa-a-tion

In the words of my namesake (yup - I was named after Carly Simon)

Word on the new job is imminent. The HR Director was on vacation last week, but at my interview, they told me they would make the decision the week of the 19th, and that I'd hear the week of the 26th. I'm trying to remain patient, as having been out for a week surely means she has a list of things to do, and I'm sure notifying the new hire of the decision and specifics aren't necessarily top of her list. So I'm hoping Tuesday to find out. . . but it'd be really great if it were today!

Movie Meme

I saw this over here, and given that I've seen a lot of movies recently, I thought it somewhat appropriate. We usually watch the same movies over and over again, or find some horrible B-movie on cable - as Jake adores a REALLY shitty movie. In the last few weeks, though, we've both rented and gone to the theatre more than we normally do in a whole year.

What have wee seen?

Gran Torino - Totally worth paying movie theatre prices. FANTASTIC movie (and not just because it was filmed in Detroit, but I did recognize a fair amount of things in the movie!)

Burn After Reading - Typical Cohen brothers movie. Funny in it's own way, 3 out of the 4 of us that watched it enjoyed it, but Jake's dad - not so much!

Black Snake Moan - Ran across this sort of by accident at Blockbuster. I had wanted to see it at the movies when it was new, and never got around to it. I highly recommend it, excellent story.

Hancock - Meh.

Righteous Kill - Disappointing. I expect WAY better than this from Pacino & DeNiro!

Vanilla Sky - Came across it at Blockbuster, and I forgot how much I loved this movie. One of the few films I saw multiple times in theatre (though twice was at the cheap seats, only once full price!)

Now, onto the Meme :)

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life.

There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this . Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show though I don't think I've ever seen it start to finish. . .just in bits
(x) Grease
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander actually have this in queue in the DVD player
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total : 5

() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total: 3

() Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1 I hate scary movies, but for some reason Zombies are OK
(x) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
(x) Little Black Book
() The Village
() Lilo & Stitch
Total : 4

(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
() Signs
() The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
() Robots
Total: 2

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
()Eight Crazy Nights
(x) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG (The Original)
Total: 6

() A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber [the original]
Total: 0


() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From ***
(x) Hellboy
() Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total: 3

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child’s Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
() The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
total: 2

(x) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
() Ocean’s Twelve
() Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
() Bedazzled
( ) Predator
() Predator II
( ) The Fog
() Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total: 2

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn My babysitter let me watch this when I was like 7. . . I think that is why I can't watch scary movies!
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
() Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total: 5

() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
() Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total: 6

() X-Men
() X-2
() X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
() Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday (the original)
() Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total: 8

() Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
( ) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf’s Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total: 1

() Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
() Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total: 3

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Three
Total: 4

() The Jacket
() Kung *** Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
() Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
() Willa74
Total: 3

() High Tension (Haute Tension)
(x) Club Dread blame this on Jake's love of crappy movies
() Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total: 4

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total: 2

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
() Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total: 5

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total: 6

Grand Total 81.

Apparently I'm close to lifeless. . . though I'd love to know the rationale of whomever put this together to begin with. . . quite the odd mix of films!

Knitwise, I swatched for both Surface and Oblique this weekend. . . . . I am torn on which one to officially start, though!

B is for Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We're home! Well I should say I'm home. . . Jake was home for less than 12 hours before he was in the air for a work trip. He's now relaxing in a hotel room overlooking the Pacific Ocean :)

So I'll start with my official ABC-Along entry which mostly sums up the visit to NY. . . . Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was COLD while we were up there! The high temp on the coldest day was -3.3! I guess the good news was it was too cold to have any crazy snow storms. It had warmed up by the time we left and we had some crappy driving until we got past Syracuse, but it could have been much worse.

B also could have been for battery, since the one in my car died after the ridiculously cold night Thursday. There is no photo of the jump start, since I refused to take my hands out of my gloves!

B also could have been for balls. .. . . as in the most amazingly delicious oreo ball treats FSIL made. These little things are beyond addictive. . . and they shouldn't be! They taste like an oreo, not anything 'special'. . .. but they are special (nevermind terrible for you!). I don't have a photo of them, either, because I didn't want to ruin my new camera by getting the white chocolate that was on my fingers on it :)

I could go on with the b's, but I'll stop there :)

As a result of the trip, I have several FOs (the true measure of a good vacation, right?).

Firstly, Jake's socks that were started in APRIL are finally done. I am not certain what took me so long to finish these. I really like them, so perhaps I was subliminally averse to working on them based on the less than polite response I got from the designer on Ravelry when I PMd her a question. I had the tightest amount of leftovers to date. . . 4g! The socks didn't become nearly as tall as Jake would have liked, but hopefully he'll just wear them with shoes rather than boots so it won't be a big deal.

Secondly, and I guess I can't REALLY call it FINISHED because it doesn't have buttons sewn on, but I completed the knitting on the first Wisp.

Do you think I should block before or after adding the buttons?

Lastly, I can reveal my secret project #1 - a Fabrege cowl that was a gift for FSIL.
We planned to get her an OTT-LITE, then Joann effed up my order for 12 days and by the time everything got hashed out, they no longer had what we were going to get, so it was a handmade gift parade instead! The yarn is Malabrigo in polygala and the beads are 'iris grey'. I totally love the combo :) She has this great camel coat that the purple goes so well with! It's a good thing purple isn't my color or I might not have been able to give it away. Adding to the handmade goodness, Jake made another swift and nostepinne to give. Jealous? You should be (I am!), version 2.0 of the swift is way cooler than mine. . the pegs were turned on his lathe out of a pool cue (how's THAT for repurposing!), and he turned the base, too. My swift was pre-lathe, so all store bought parts.

Closer to FO status are a few other projects.

Jake's sweater from hell is now just awaiting sleeves (which will be done together, otherwise this thing never will be finished).

I wish I'd just use an Ann Budd book. . . because the amount of stupidity in this pattern as written took me far longer to work through than it would have to just design the damn thing myself.

My Herringbone rib socks are past the 'hard part'. I will say I wasn't smart enough to get the gussets picked up two at a time, so I had to put one sock on DPNs to hold while doing the other, then put them both back on the needles.

I think I'm going to have a lot of leftovers because I couldn't make the leg super long due to my ginormous calves and I wasn't going to try to mess with making calf increases in the pattern somehow NOT look goofy.

My lace leaf scarf grew substantially, as well.

I hope to finish it up before I head out to spend next weekend with Jake in San Diego. They say it's cool in the evenings even though it is pleasant during the day, so a light lacey scarf would be the perfect accessory!

Next up, is Wisp #2 (the wedding is closer than I am accepting. . . I have a lot to do!) and then I can reward myself with getting going on my much coveted Surface! (Though I do fear at this point it will be done just as soon as it's too warm to wear!)

And, in case you are wondering, I'm still on pins & needles about the new job! They told me I would find out NEXT week, so I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to be patient. There is nothing else I can do at this point, since I think calling them to reiterate how perfect I think I am for the job would be counterproductive, so it's driving me nuts! I am confident that the other candidate couldn't have outshined me in enthusiasm and excitement for the position, so hopefully the other person doesn't have a big edge in experience on me! Keep thinking good thoughts for me!

Bon Voyage

Snowpants -- Check!
Ski Parka -- Check!
Sorel Boots -- Check!
Thinsulate Gloves -- Check!
Hats/Gloves/Scarves/Earmuffs -- Check!


The weather forecast has degraded (you can click on the image to make it bigger to see the numbers more clearly if necessary. . . . that IS in fact a high that is sub-zero). The good news is that no ice/snow storms are expected, so driving should be uneventful. The bad news, of course, is that I have to spend 4 days freezing. I plan on mostly planting myself in a seat near the woodstove and knitting away :) I am a bit torn about what to take. I'm doing a good job clearing my WIPs. Jake's boyfriend socks are almost done after so many months. I have a pattern repeat and a half left on sock #2. My Herringbone socks are close to the heel turn. Wisp #1 is also 1.5 repeats from done. That leaves Jake's sweater and my leaf lace scarf. I don't know if I want to trudge the heavy sweater and a bunch of balls of mainline up with me (nevermind I despise whomever wrote the pattern and really don't want to get back into it!) so I either need to suck it up and finish it. . . or use it as an opening to swatch for one of my next projects for ME! As much as I'd like to have his sweater over and done with, I'd equally like to get something going for me, so I'm torn.

So have a good rest of the week. . I'll be incommunicado while freezing my tushie off in the Great White North!

The Plague

I saw a scary little video over on LifeJunkie's blog. You should check it out.

I am, admittedly, an anti-Walmart person. I will not set foot in one except for the most extreme circumstances. I'll gladly pay an extra dollar or two for my items getting them elsewhere. And yes, I realize that is a luxury I have. . . . the ability to choose to pay extra without it meaning a sacrifice somewhere else. I understand that some people 'need' to shop at WalMart to stretch their income, but I also understand that WalMart's business practices, both diretly and indirectly, contribute to an economic condition where there are so many people who 'need' to save that money in order to make ends meet. I'll spare you the soapbox dissertation, but, you know, something to think about.

This is why we moved south

That is the lovely weather forecast for Jake's parents house. And yes, we are crazy enough to be leaving tomorrow to go up there.

I'd write more, but I need to go scour the house to find where I hid my snowpants and boots to survive the visit :)

PS - This is my post #300. Had I realized before, I probably would have planned a contest or something, so instead, I'll do a Post 333 contest when I get there :)

And then there were two. . . .

I had my 2nd interview today for the job I REALLY REALLY want. At the end of the interview, I asked how many candidates were in this round. The answer was TWO. HOLY CRAP! I'm glad I didn't know that going in, because my stomach dropped when they told me and I immediately got nervous! I'm not sure I could have had a successful interview had I known I just needed to be more impressive than one person. . .. too much pressure!

So they plan to make a decision next week, but HR is out next week (it's a small place, HR is the director and an assistant!), so it will be the week of the 26th that they tell me if I get it or not! It's going to be a LONG two weeks! Keep your fingers, toes, knitting needles. . . anything crossable - crossed for me!!

The hat that is. . .

Well, I decided after being told the recipient shaved his head because he gets too hot on deck, I decided that a lining for the Jacques Cousteau hat was unnecessary, so I wove in ends and am shipping it up to Alaska tomorrow. I really, REALLY love this pattern! Jake begrudgingly modeled for me so you could get the full effect :)




I am almost done with my first Wisp, too. I knit out one ball and will use a 2nd to get 2 more repeats. I'm trying to finish one of the two pair of socks OTN and THEN I can work on Surface!! Yay!

A is for Adorable

I can't help myself! I'm such a sucker for pooches. Last night Jake and I were going through all our digital pictures to find ones to put on a memory card for a digital frame that is a gift for his Grandma. We have an OBSCENE amount of pictures of dogs!

So I will share a few with you to get the ABC-Along for 2009 rolling!

This is Sam, our foster.

He will only be with us for a few more days, and I have to say I'll miss him despite his constant stinkiness and lack of training. He's only been with us a few weeks, but made really nice progress learning house rules. I hope he finds a very happy home, he deserves it! I think Jimmy Ray may miss him more, as they spend a lot of time sleeping cuddled next to each other (but of course, no photos since Jimmy Ray has a freakish sense for the camera being anywhere near!).

If you're looking for a beagle, go adopt him here! I promise, he's extra cuddly and cute!


To keep the adorable coming. .. . .

Zosia in her glory (she loves paper and had a field day with the packing paper!)


Caged puppy. . . cranky to be restrained on the porch of my old condo in Vermont!
Snow hiker! (That is my friend Karen with Jake in the photo. . . on New Year's Day 2006. We had awesome trails back behind our condo and took the puppies often.)
Enjoying the fall. (We really did a lot of nature walks/hiking with the dog when we were up north!)
Learning to Fetch (how nice to remember she used to bring it back!) I can't believe how small she used to be!


OK, I could go on, but I'll stop for now :

First FO of 2009

I tried to wrap this one up before year end. . . It was knit once but the edging was too small so I had to tear out and start again and with one week of my mom and then 4 days of Jake's parents, I had no down time where I could actually sit and COUNT to pick up stitches. But I finished it this weekend once the house was quiet (and Jake & I both agree NEVER AGAIN to have back to back house guests!) This is Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style.
I wore it today in the mild weather and didn't need to wear a coat over my tank top. I sort of wish I'd used some Malabrigo, because the Araucania Nature Wool is not the softest thing ever, but it's not unpleasant or anything. I can see getting a lot of wear out of this baby!


The details are here on Rav if you're interested!

I also finished my secret project, but it's a secret, so you can't see it yet.

My previously secret wedding gift project has been received by the giftee, so now I can share my Hemlock Ring, too! I love, LOVE, LOVE the Hemlock Ring and totally want to make another. Unfortunately, I don't have any fancy artistic photos of it. The weather didn't cooperate to take it outside, and it was kind of big to layout anywhere at home that didn't blend into the taupe. So we live with marginal photography :)


Here it is pinned out and blocking. It ended up being just about 6 feet in diameter.
Again, details here.

I hope it gets lots of love for many years with the Newlyweds, my friend Jenny & her new hubby Dave ;)

Back to the grind

Anyone else dreading today? Two weeks off of work does not make me very enthusiastic about going back! At least I'm not working a full week the entire month of January and with any luck by February I'll have a new job :) I have an interview this week and my 2nd interview for the job I really want next week.

We've got a long weekend trip to New York and a weekend in San Diego this month, too!

Here's to making it through the rough couple days back, though! I finished two more knitting projects, I am trying to finish two more before I let myself cast on for Surface!