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!