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!!

Aftermath

Jake's parents have left, and as a result, my home is now cleaner and more flowery than it was before they arrived. Technically they left Tuesday morning, but I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday.

The visit was quite nice. It's been 6 months since Jake had seen his parents and over a year since I had. They had about the worst timing ever coming down, hitting DC during Friday afternoon rush hour, so they traveled a whopping 12 miles in 3 hours on 495. By the time they arrived, needless to say, we didn't do anything :) Saturday I went to knitting in the AM and they came up to meet me and we wandered through Olde Towne. Jake and his dad went out fishing Saturday night and Deb indulged in a few hours of Home Improvement shows on TV (they don't have TV back home!). They had told us while we were shopping they wanted to buy us an engagement gift. Of course, we 'need' nothing, so it took a while to figure out what we would get. On Saturday we had been through an awesome garden store - not a nursery with flowers and stuff, just copious amounts of cast iron and cement garden pots/decoration etc. Sunday we decided to go back and pick two urns for the front porch as our gift (OK, Jake wanted a chainsaw, but. . . .). Aren't they awesome?




They didn't get flowers until Monday - and hopefully the flowers last (I'm certainly not known for my green thumb, but I'm going to try!). Deb is really into flowers so she had a good time putting them together for us.

We also, of course, visited the beach (and had some great fish tacos while there) during the visit and spent Sunday night at the Tides game. They lost, but it was the perfect night to be outside. . . not too hot, oddly light humidity (as in NONE!) and no bugs!

In addition to the pots up front, I got a few new garden dwellers for the backyard. We have SO MUCH garden space that I do nothing with (due to lack of aforementioned green thumb). While we were at the beach, though, I saw these gorgeous flowers that turned out to be Hibiscus, so we planted one.
I love the deep burgundy center in the peach bloom! It's supposedly a pretty hearty thing, so maybe I can learn from this and figure out how to grow some other stuff, too!

There was knitting. I finished Bob's hat. . . until I tried it on him! It's a bit short, but I'm going to be able to pick up along the cast on and just extend the ribbing another inch or so. I love the pattern and can't wait to make a 2nd for Jake. You should knit it just for the cleverness of the designer! The way the decreases happen up the crown to keep the cables going is fantastic!

So that leaves me the sleeves of Maude, Jake's socks and my socks OTN. However, Kemtee was a very bad influence and suggested making goddess in the comments of one of my blog posts as a new cast on. Well, I forgot that that was in my queue and I REALLY like it, and I found a mercerized cotton on Elann that would make the shirt for ~$10, so the yarn practically bought itself and is en route to me now :) So much for no new yarn. . . .

Alright, at this point I feel like I'm rambling, so if you made it this far, congrats! I'll be back when I have something more interesting to talk about!

Nashville Recap

I'm back! Well, we're back! Thankfully, we're back uneventfully. . . no travel problems (which is saying a lot these days!), we even got home early by getting on standby on an earlier flight out of Charlotte.

The SWE conference was so much better than I expected it to be! It's been several years (well, OK 7) since I've gone to one, I'd forgotten how empowering it is to be around so many people so similar to me. I sometimes convince myself I'm crazy about work situations, because my boss tells me I'm overreacting, or simply because I don't have another pre-30 technical professional ANYWHERE in my organization. . . . all the way up to my Vice President! I can't tell you how comforting it was during the Keynote breakfast, when the woman sitting next to me said "Well, I see you have the blessing/curse of looking young, too. Have you found any effective ways of getting people to take you seriously without spouting your resume?" HALLELUJAH!! I'm NOT crazy!! I'm not reading too much into things!! When people (read: 50+ year old men) see me and the first questions they ask are not-so-subtley designed to figure out if I just graduated from college, they really ARE having a problem taking you seriously and want you to justify your qualifications. It was like a huge weight coming off my shoulders. Phew!

I attended some great sessions, a lot centered around 'what do I want to be when I grow up' themes. I feel so much more motivated to take charge and REALLY find a new position. It's so not worth being so cranky about my day to day job! I milled around the career fair for a few hours Friday, exploring what companies do business nearby, in case I run out of options to switch positions within my current company. I also got some cool swag from career fair exhibitors. My favorites? This little bag from Honda
, which is the perfect size for a small project bag and, with no zipper, I can hold it on my arm to hold the yarn without any concerns about snagging it. This much bigger bag from Kellogg is going to be an awesome addition to my current collection of grocery bags. I felt a bit scummy just going to Kellogg to snag a bag, since I wasn't interested in talking to them about a position, so I made them a deal. Here is me posing with Tony the Tiger. . . and here is me following thru with my end of the deal --> Go HERE if you are interested in looking at job opportunities with Kellogg!

I ran in to several old friends, which was so nice to catch up. I also met another knitter! I was supposed to meet up with Jen, who I met on Ravelry, but I got distracted by the friends I had caught up with. While knitting before the 'Motivation, Procrastination, Inspiration' session started, Miriam came over to show me she was knitting on socks, too :) Of course, in addition to trading cards, we traded Ravelry IDs :) Unfortunately, our speaker made us (well not just the two of us, everyone in the session) put everything away except a pen & paper to have a very interactive session. Not before 4 of the girls sitting around me asked for quick lessons, though!

Jake got in kinda late Friday. . . flight delays, big surprise! We went out to dinner near Vanderbilt, then went down Broadway to listen to some music. And, if you've been to Nashville, you know there is live music. . . EVERYWHERE. Every single bar has a band playing, so we just picked one that was less crowded so we could sit and hung out for a while. Saturday I wrapped up conference events, while Jake slept in :) Then we walked around exploring the sights and shops downtown Nashville. Here is the view from the Shelby Street Bridge. . . on a lovely day, I might add! And I learned that this building, which I always had thought was R&C, and was something to do with the recording industry, is actually L&CLife & Casualty Insurance. The name made Jake chuckle. . . more in the context of the 'Life & Casualty Building' and how it is determined what you get upon entering the building. . .he he :)

Jake & I both bought cowboy boots. . . these are mine, his are unavailable for photograph, as they are on his feet at work! We wore our fancy new boots out that night for Sushi, followed by more fabulous music. I have to say, I'm not a country music fan in general, but I love live music, and every single band we saw (5 in total) was amazingly good, but the best was the Travis Mann Band. Seriously, if you are in Nashville, you need to check them out!!

And, finally, knitting. I carried the Imagiknit scarf with me thru the conference. .. easiest to knit on without paying attention. I knit while standing in lines and while waiting for sessions to start. I knit in a few sessions that weren't ones I needed to take notes in. I made a lot of progress, but again, not picture worthy, as it looks the same only longer. On the flight on the way out, I made progress on the endpapers, but ironically, on the way back, it was so friggin' cold in the airport and on the plane, that my fingers just about froze trying to knit, so I was resigned to magazine flipping with my hands firmly drawn into the sleeves of my long sleeve shirt! I have 3 more rows to knit before I split off the thumb.
I can't wait to finish so I can wear them!! I also joined this KAL to show off my mitts, thanks to all the love from you all on my last post :)

Lelah and my seeded rib socks made the trip to Nashville, but unfortunately, they did not see the outside of their ziploc bags.

Phew! That was a long one, but now we're all caught up! After work today we are going to get our pumpkins so we can carve and roast seeds. Yay!! And of course, the most exciting thing? My birthday is only 3 days away!

SUMMER BE GONE!

GAWD! I'm so tired of hot weather! It's in the 80's and HUMID today. . . next week it is supposed to be record highs again. It is LATE OCTOBER, this is just ridiculous. It is supposed to be cool and crisp, not A/C weather!

OK, Enough complaining.

I'm very excited for the coming week. First off, I'm going out DANCING tonite! (not with Jake of course, he doesn't like dancing, but Susan does!) Then tomorrow, I'm playing my first official round of golf (9 holes at a Par 3, but still). We have friends coming down to Williamsburg this weekend, we're meeting them for dinner Monday. I haven't seen their daughter since she was like 3 weeks old, now she's 18 months!! Then Wednesday morning I head off to the SWE conference in Nashville, TN. I'm scoping out yarn stores and hope to have time between conference events to stop by. I also think I'll have good down time for lots of knitting! Friday Jake is coming in to Nashville so we can hang out for the weekend. Jake wants to buy cowboy boots, so shopping will be fun! And to top it off, we come back and it's Halloween and then my Birthday. Can't get much better, right?!

Knitting wise, I finished the first endpaper mitt and have the cuff done on the 2nd. I knit up a few more repeats on Laura's scarf, too, but I haven't started anything else. Sorry there's nothing exciting enough for photographs!

Aaahh, Vacation

So I'll let you know up front, this will be a long one! A whole week in New York, so lots to tell about. It was set up to be a great week to begin with; a mini-family reunion of sorts. Jake's sister was home from Alaska for the first time in 2 years, his brother & SIL were due with their first baby, and it was Jake's first trip home since we moved to Virginia.

So noon on Friday we hit the road. Smooth sailing until ~3 miles in on 495. . . then we stop. This is to be expected, of course, being DC. 40 minutes later, we're moving freely on 270 and thinking we did pretty good getting thru DC in less than an hour. An electronic sign flashes 'accident I-270 exit' and I can't read the whole thing. . . Oh well, we're moving. For another 10 minutes, cruising in the HOV lane and then STOP! Yuk! This must be the accident. Worst traffic EVER. It took us over 90 minutes to get onto I-70. So much for maintaining the 65mph average! Well NOW, we think, definitely smooth sailing. Which is true, until we hit near Harrisburg, PA. . . construction!! Right lane closed ahead. . . I have no patience for this, which clearly the universe knew and so it sent me a little beacon of hope. This truck driver:

Yes, he ROCKED! He drove in between both lanes for nearly 5 miles of crawling traffic to ensure no drivers could zoom up the right lane and cut in at the last minute. He made the traffic nearly amusing!! Even the puppies wanted to see what was up. Zosia

Jimmy Ray

Thankfully, that was the end of slow traffic and also the end of my shift of driving! Unfortunately, dusk was setting in and I got NO knitting done on the drive! The bag would have to wait until New York. Finally, at 12:32am we pulled into Deb & Bob's driveway. The puppies were happier than both of us to get to run!

Saturday, we got to meet Robert Jeffrey, the newest family member.

Sunday, Father's Day, both the puppies and I got to take our first canoe trip. Jimmy Ray did not enjoy the outbound portion:

But by the time we headed back, both puppies seemed to enjoy it!

We dropped the puppies off and went out fishing, where I caught my 3rd fish ever, and the first with my new rod & reel. I was excited.

(It's a small mouth bass).

Monday all the boys went fishing so Anna went to stay with Megan & baby. Deb was working and so I was home alone. . that means knitting!! I finished up the bag:

The problem arose while trying to sew the sides. Since this is the 2nd time I've knit the bag, I purposely made the handle smaller since I found it too long on the first bag. I cast on 150 vs 196 sts for the handle with no real thought behind it. Then I started sewing and realized if I kept up I would have an opening entirely too small to be useful, so now I have to figure out a fix. I'm thinking I'll make some gusset-type strips that I can sew inbetween the side and handle to allow the bottom to be whole without coming as far up the handle. I think that will sit for a while before it happens though! On the plus side, I had a 29" circular needle and a bunch of excess cotton from the bag, so while I thought about how to fix the bag, I taught myself magic loop. I had been wanting to learn, but I can't decide if I think it's really any 'better' than DPNs. Seems like a lot of effort to keep pulling the work on and off the needles to the cord and back. I think I really need to learn on 2 circulars so I can knit two socks at a time.

I also picked up the sock I had cast on a few weeks ago. It's the Lupine Lace sock from Fiber Trends. I'm knitting it in Lorna's Laces in Envy.

Envy is a colorway that looks much better as a hank than when it knits up. I was not loving the socks, but they had to be knit.

The week went on with lots of fishing and milling around town and of course knitting. Deb was sweet and checked me out a knitting pattern book from the library. I found 4 hats that I plan to make, I was pleasantly surprised by the book. I had checked online before we left to see if there were any hidden yarn shops nearby, and I found nothing. Then, was I surprised to find out one of the teachers Bob works with has a farm and his wife raises alpaca's and sells yarn. YAY! Thursday, I made a dutiful visit to check it out. She had a very small shop with her own yarn and other alpaca blends. I found out she doesn't know how to knit, so she has local ladies knit up her samples and for sale knit items. (Note to self. . . need to find someone who will pay me with yarn to knit!) I left only $60 poorer with 9g of yarn from Ellen's own alpacas and two skeins of alpaca/silk blend.

I don't have anything in mind to knit with it yet, but it will come in time!

We stopped by Luke & Corey's house to see their new baby, Julia Lou.

Friday, Jake wanted to take me fishing in the crick he always fished with his dad & brother. Now this is trout fishing. . . . no canoe, no shore. . . it's walking in knee to waist high water. I don't mind saying I wasn't overly excited about the trip, but it was late June, how bad could it be? Let me tell you, it can be COLD! Barely 60 degrees, no sunshine and a freshly rained in crick combine to make Carly one cold girl. I tried my best to navigate the water to keep it no higher than my upper thighs (who wants wet underwear!!), but that only lasted for about an hour. I toughed it out for the whole time and 3h17m later (who's counting!) I was back in the truck with heat on full blast. I didn't catch a fish at all, but Jake caught the biggest fish in family history. . . a 22-1/4" Brown Trout.

Let me tell you, that is a BIG fish! A 'normal' fish for this crick is 10-11 inches. The previous biggest fish caught by his dad was 17-1/2"! He was a very happy fisher!

In the course of downtime, I had finished the first sock and immediately cast on the 2nd. If I didn't do it then, I never would have gone back to it. With the much shorter drive home in all daylight, I got nearly the entire sock done. Here is where I am today:

Yes, that's right. . . I have 12 rows left to go and I am out of yarn! Not REALLY out of yarn, just out of the yarn from the skein I wound. I bought 2 skeins, like the pattern said. Little did I know the socks were made for GIANTS and if I had knit them to pattern they would have been up to my knees! So I was REALLY hoping I could get the pair out of one skein so I could return the 2nd since I didn't really like the colorway, but alas, I will have to wind it and find some other use for the remainder of the yarn. If anyone has a suggestion, please leave me a comment!

I realize, I have written WAY too long, so I will end here for now. I have to log in to work (boo!) and start catching up on a week of email.

Happy Knitting!