and then there’s socks

Holy crap! Has anyone out there watched Bridezillas? I watched it like 3 days ago and I’m still feeling a bit traumatized. Look, I watch my fair share of reality TV, but seriously? These women need to check themselves and their frenemies bridesmaids/friends need to find a new one. I kept thinking that if a man did this he would be arrested for abuse. Crazy!

On to things that are good and wholesome…

I’ve been knitting like crazy lately. Behold the Unisex Slip socks by one of my favorite knitters, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee! The pattern and yarn was part of the Rockin’ Sock Club May 2011 edition. I’m amazed that I actually finished a pair before the next shipment. Whew!

 

Since I seem to be on a roll, I quickly cast on for my next pair, The Intrepid Traveler. I believe this was from the March 2011 shipment. This may be the year that I finish all 6 pair from this club in a timely fashion… it could happen. I’m working on a whole new outlook and part of it is get ‘er done!

naval gazing

So, I finally got my library card a few weeks ago and I’ve been using the heck out of it! I love that you can go online and request books and just pick them up at the most convenient branch. It’s the little things, people. I’ve also started watching a videocast by SummerTomato and Darya has added several interesting titles to my reading list. Between that and the Sword & Laser group I recently discovered, oh and the eleventy billion books I already own I might have to become a full time book reader… I wonder if there’s any money in that?

So last week I finished up Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Great book and super interesting! Though I had heard of several of the studies (I think it was published in 2006 so I’m sure some grabbed the headlines) there were plenty that were new to me and really made me think about how we eat and why. Certainly not because we’re hungry, at least for me…. party tray anyone?

Currently I’m reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. I’m finding this one particularly insightful. It’s interesting to read certain examples and think, really? is that why I do that? now how do I change it? Unfortunately, I’m not even half way through so I’m not to the this is how you go about correcting these behaviors bit, but I’m excited to get there. I love reading a book like this where I honestly feel like I’m not being fed magical moonbeams that will miraculously help me in some fashion. What I see so far is realistic expectations if you work for it. And work hard. The key being work hard and since I always feel like a work in process we’ll see how it goes.

Later!

it’s the weekend, baby!

Hello! I’m back for another day of blogging. There must be something in the air… maybe it’s the summer breeze here in the city or maybe I just feel like I’ve got something to say.

Like… we’re spending the weekend in Sonoma! Oh my! Joe found this great place for us to stay for a few days and we will be wine tasting, of course, and spending a nice relaxing weekend together sans child dog. I’ll do my do best to take some pictures and let you know how much fun we’re having while there. That’s OK right? Doesn’t sound like I’m rubbing my nice weekend with the hubster in your face? Hopefully you have awesome plans of your own, right? You do? Well, what are they?? Inquiring minds want to know!

On another bright note, I got an email from my manager telling me Happy 4th and get out of there early! You don’t have to tell me twice. Plus, that means I have some time to stop by Azalea and check out some shoes I’ve been eyeing. If you must know they’re TOMS, which, honestly, I haven’t been too thrilled with until I saw their wedges… super cute! I’m hoping they’ll be able to replace the super cute wedges I have on now that are currently trying to cut off one big toe at a time. Really? Is this necessary? It’s taken most of my adult life, but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that life is too short for uncomfortable shoes. Especially when there are so many out there that were not designed to be destroyer of heels and maimers of toes. It’s just not worth it.

But I digress… as usual. The point is I’m excited about the weekend. I’m excited about a new pair of shoes. And can’t wait to hear what everyone else is up to this weekend.

Ciao!

filler

Oh my poor neglected blog. It’s weird how I think of things to write about and then never quite get around to actually writing anything. Well, maybe not weird, maybe it’s ennui. Yes, I have blog ennui.

The only reason I’m even writing this now is because it’s on my to do list. Sure, it’s been on my to do list before, but today I have been busting through this list like nobody’s business! So here I am, blogging. Marking one more thing off the list.

Kinda sad… I’ll think of something much better to write about soon. Pinky swear!

this is what i use technology for

This is an IM conversation I had with my friend Linda the other day...

Linda

*shrugs*

 u should pay me for bringing joy to your daily life

Judi  [2:28 PM]:

 wow

Linda  [2:29 PM]:

 what

 when u win the lotto

 ?

Judi [2:30 PM]:

 nope

 i'm greedy, keeping it all for me

 i might buy you a drink though

Linda  [2:30 PM]:

 ...

 i thought we agreed

 u wud get me a porsche

Judi  [2:31 PM]:

 nope

Linda  [2:31 PM]:

 ...

 i'm going to sue you now

 lol

Judi  [2:31 PM]:

 ok

 i'll counter sue

 i will win

Linda  [2:31 PM]:

 cuz u got your lotto money

 and your apt in france?

Judi  [2:32 PM]:

 pretty much

 but i will be house poor with my french apt

 it will be really sad

Linda  [2:34 PM]:

  but mostly happy

 cuz u got teh lottery

 while your friend gets nothing

 =(

Judi  [2:36 PM]:

 that about sums it up

This conversation is referencing a conversation I had with Joe while we were in Paris and I was admiring the lovely apartments with the fabulous slate roofs. Joe may have gotten a little tired of my admiration of the roofs, but he got me back. He always does…

Me: When I win the lottery I’m moving to here and buying one of those apartments with the fantastic
balconies.

Joe: You won’t have any money left after that.

Me: What?

Joe: Once you pay taxes on your winnings and then with the crappy exchange rate it won’t leave you much and those apartments are pretty expensive.

3 hours later, cause it never occurs to me at the time…

Me to myself: Who goes into exchange rates when I start a sentence with “When I win the lottery”? Sheesh!

And now I realize I need a prettier font for my IM.

silver lining

It’s my birthday and I’ll be sick if I want to…
Woke up this morning with a fever. Slept almost all day. Good times.

When I finally did wake up I found a cute box that Joe had left out for me to find with my birthday gift. I would have taken pictures, but, well, you’ll have to excuse that for today. I will, however, direct you to the website… I love it! I write a lot. Especially since we moved. Yes, I know you wouldn’t know that from the blog, but you know, it’s personal stuff. Stuff I need to get off my chest. Stuff I need to think about. Stuff that becomes clearer written down. So now I have this beautiful cover and my first ever Moleskine journal. It’s perfect. Plus, he left me a really lovely note inside and no, like my journals its not for public consumption.

So even though I woke up feeling like yuck on my birthday I feel loved. I received lots of Happy Birthdays and talked to everyone in my family, some of them several times over the day. It’s nice. Nice to know that people care and are thinking about you. Even if they are thousands of miles away.

Have a lovely day everyone!

field trip

On a Ravelry forum last week I was made aware of an interesting place near where I work called the Mechanic’s Institute Library & Chess Room. So today I went over for the weekly tour that they provide. If your in the city and looking for something to do on a Wednesday I recommend it… really interesting place with lots of history. I’m seriously thinking about becoming a member.

This staircase goes down five floors.

And chess…

They apparently have a very active chess club. I <3 these old worn tables. Can you imagine the years it took to wear that down?

And their very own chess director. Who knew?

I realize I didn’t take any pictures of the actual library parts. You know, the books and stuff, but I figure you all know what that looks like. Plus, these were the more interesting bits of the Institute. I found it all very intriguing.

On a completely unrelated note, as per normal, someone has been writing on my shiny new chalkboard. We will not be naming any names.

silently sleeping

And I’m back. Again. Aren’t you three just all excited!?

Tonight I finally got off my ass and made it to the Crafty Meet-up that I’ve been talking about and telling Joe that “I really should go” for months.Gah! Why do I wait so long to do this stuff? Besides the fact that I met other super nice yarny/crafty types (hi Alice and Anne!), it was nice to get out and do something I like to do with other people who like to do similar type things*. Fun! With no pictures! Cause that’s how I roll… not even one shot for Instagram. There’s always next time…

On yet another entirely different topic, um besides the fact I need to work on better segues… I think Leeloo is giving Joe and I the stink eye. It may not be entirely unwarranted, but it’s disconcerting nonetheless. Thank goodness we kennel her while we sleep. One can only imagine what shenanigans she’d get into when we’re sleeping as payback. For what you may be asking? Because we are at our wits end with all the barking. It’s not only embarrassing, but a few weeks ago she made some poor little boy cry cause she scared him half to death with her crazy barking self. Something had to be done and none of our training techniques were doing a bit of good. So, at the recommendation of a fellow dog owner I purchased a citronella collar to startle her so she would think twice about barking. Yeah, well, considering everything from the motorcycle that drove by outside to the crazy shake she does (this time inside) sets it off, not really a winner for teaching your dog to stop barking. Could be good for making your dog neurotic, but not much else. So last week I started the search again and found this remote control buzzer with electric shock**, which seems to be doing the job. She hates it, but has been staying fairly quiet even when it’s not on her. She hates it, but quiet wins every time. I kinda hate it too, but I don’t have any better ideas. *sigh*

She just looks so cute and innocent when she’s sleeping…

*Yeah, the long, convoluted run on type sentences are epic around these parts.
** not to be used at our house…

good things come in threes, but mostly twos

What? A post three Wednesdays in a row? That’s right people, I’m working on consistency.
Of course, since I’ve now mentioned it I’ll probably fall right on my ass next week. That’s how I roll…

Now on to our regularly scheduled blog posting.

I realized this afternoon that while I’m walking around, far, far away from paper, that I think about really interesting  or clever things to write about. Then I get distracted and they’re gone. Gone without a trace. And then later I think… what WAS it that I wanted to write down. No clue. I’ve come to the conclusion that two things could actually be happening:
1) I’m missing out on really great ideas and things to write about
2) they’re really mediocre or bad, but seemed really great at the time and should be forgotten

Now for the experiment. My shiny happy iPhone has a voice recorder and I’m going to start using it. I mean, I have that thing with me ALL THE TIME. This, of course will lead us down one of two paths as well.
1) I’m gonna have really great things to blog about. And I will!
2) I’ll never mention this again. I have a feeling this one may be the winner. *sigh*

And now for something completely different.
I decided to check on my horoscope today and the one thing that caught my eye was this statement: It's also a good day to handle paperwork relating to finances. Huh, it’s like they knew two things:
1) my taxes are still not done
2) but they were already on my to do list for today

I don’t know why I have waited this long to finish them up. Actually, they’ve been done for about a month, but I needed to do one last run through. That apparently takes a lot of time. Apparently. The point here is two fold (yes, again)
1) they’re done!
2) to forestall this happening in 2012 I’m making a vow

The vow is as follows*: the second any tax forms come in I’ll get them into TurboTax (love me some TurboTax!) immediately. Or at least within 48 hours. That means 2011 taxes will be done by mid February. To this end there’s now a reminder in my calendar with an alarm, no less, reminding me of this fact. Stay tuned ten months from now for my riveting follow-up to this story.  I know you will…

So to that end. This post is over. And I’m off to get some sleep. Nighty night!

*ultimately vows are made to be broken. I just won’t be responsible for how this all turns out.

wants

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my future. What I want to do with my life. What I want to accomplish. It’s vague and full of knots. Rolled into one big ball of sorting out the big picture into the bite sized pieces.

This is what I want:

• I want to be my own boss.
• I want my own space to fill.
• I want the freedom to make my own destiny.
• I want the freedom to succeed or fail on my own merits. To own my own dreams. Not based on arbitrary standards & measurements.
• I want to sell lovely, cute, well made, well designed things to people who will appreciate and enjoy them.
• I want hard work that’s fulfilling.
• I want a challenge.

So what this means is that I’m looking for a change. I have an idea, but I need a lot of help and a lot more information and investors. Of course, if I had my way I would jump in without looking back. That’s why I have Joe. He’s my temperance to my impulsiveness.

It’s a road I’ve started down though and that’s something. I’ll let you know where it goes…

why i don’t knit gauge swatches and stuff

So, I had all these grand plans to write a blog post last week about my trials and tribulations with this new stole I started knitting. How it suggested using a size 4 needle, which I didn’t have on hand so I swatched (yes, I swatched for a stole) and it totally lied did not work out at all. I went to Imagiknit twice and bought a total of 4 circular needles. I finally settled on size 5’s and started the darn thing and took it with me on our flight to WV this weekend. I should have know this story was not going to end well… especially since I flagrantly decided not to take any of the other needle sizes with me. I was so confident!

I’m sure you can see where this is going… on the plane I realized that the fabric was too loose and, you guessed it, the size 4, suggested needle size, was what I needed. You know, the one I left at home. This meant yet another knitting shop, this time Kanawha City Yarn Company, and success! The first repeat of the stole looks great!

Maybe not the greatest picture. Of course, this is about par for my picture taking abilities, especially on a plane.

As I mentioned, Joe and I flew to WV for a nice long weekend visiting our families. It’s so strange being so far from home. No longer a quick 4 hour drive for a visit, but a hard 8 or so hours flying across the country. It makes me appreciate them all the more! Hopefully we can get back for another trip before Christmas, but I’m thinking that’s not too likely…

On a lighter note, hello to you lurkers out there! It has come to my attention that more than two people are reading this here blog. When I say more than two, I’m thinking there now might be five. This makes me very very happy! So I’m going to ask a favor, por favor. I would love a headcount. A hello. Nothing fancy. Just a quick hi in the comments to let me know you’re here. One time. You can do it!

this and that

So I’m a little behind on posting my 30 day lists and I’m kinda tired. That means I’m going to cheat and just link you over to my flickr account and you can go take a look at my new ones if you’re interested. I’ll wait, go ahead…

After last nights thinking session I decided I really needed some sort of dream board and headed to Lowes to by some galvanized metal and paint among other things. Martha Stewart came to the rescue and as long as I can get a few days of no rain I’ll get this bad boy up and running. I’m kinda excited about having a place to stick all my random thoughts and ideas where I can see them clearly. Ripping out magazine pages and sticking them in a pile with a note is just not working out for me. I know, shocking, right?

I did manage to finish one Cascadia sock today. It even fits. Wow! I immediately cast on for the second one so I don’t have that poor sock hangin’ out by its lonesome for too long. I might actually knit myself an entire pair of socks!
I’ve got to figure out how to take a better picture…

late night navel gazing

Up late tonight. Sort of reverting back to my old ways in a time that I could get away with this (I’m so going to pay for this tomorrow…)

Making a list for tomorrow, of course, it is tomorrow, but I digress. And thinking about what I want to do with myself in general. I had an interesting conversation with a newish friend Friday night that was surprised at my current occupation and thought I had more to do with social media and well, probably anything other than what I actually do. True enough. What I do now doesn’t suit me, but what to do?

For one, I’m going to blog more. Not that it’s going to bring in extra cash, unless some kind soul would like to send it my way, but because I enjoy it. Because I enjoy writing. Even when it’s all grammatically incorrect. I’m also going to spruce up my craft room and get a board on the wall where I can pin and write ideas. Any idea on a combo for that? Or do I need to have two separate pieces… hmmm… the hamster wheel runneth.

So this is what I need. I need ideas.

lists etc.

Oh.My.God.

I found list nirvana… or maybe something close… daily lists… at least for a month… love it!

Go here to see what all the hullaballoo is about, I’ll wait.

OK, so, I started late, as usual. My plan is to start with today and then throw in some of the pics from day 1-7. I know you’re excited. You may even find out a little more about me. Or, you may be like, we all knew that, move along.

Day 8: It’s scary people. There’s a lot of stuff in there.

So this is what my bag looked like just hangin’ out. I bought Leeloo a toy today, don’t judge me.

I wanted to list everything out, but then it becomes:
2 hair ties
2 vitamin containers, 1 empty
1 Hershey Kiss wrapper sans kiss
1 1/2 knitted sock + yarn + bag + pattern
It’s ridiculous.

Day 1: About Me

Day 2: Things I’m Good At

And now for something completely different.

Joe and I went to have sushi this evening and bumped in to the doggie parents of Chewie. The cutest dog evah! in case you were wondering (I have a picture somewhere…). Anyway, we start talking and realize we live in the same neighborhood. Score! Cool people. Awesome dog. What more can you ask for? We traded numbers and puppy play dates will ensue.

i should blog more

I won’t feel like I have much to say for a while, which is fine. Then I do and I still don’t blog. Doh!

So here are a few things I should have mentioned already.

• My friend Emily sent Leeloo these adorable toys!

They are super and Leeloo adores them. Especially their crunchy ears. Who can resist the crunchy sound? Not Leeloo. That’s who.

 

• My parents were here this past weekend and what does it do? It rains. Well, it rained on Saturday. All day. And since they were here for two days that means it rained 50% of the time. Pooh! So I didn’t get to do all of the things I wanted to do with them, but it was so nice to have them here! In lieu of touring the city, I helped Mom make potato soup with shrimp on Saturday and it is delicious. I’ve been taking it to work and eating it for dinner. Yum! I also made chocolate chips cookies, which oddly is the only thing I took pictures of…

Yeah, those aren’t the actual cookies, but my pictures of the actual baked cookies are not so great. Ingredients, that’s what you get.

 

• Um, I’ve been working diligently on my Cascadia sock. So hard to get a good indoor shot, but here it is… getting ready to start the heel. Oh yeah!

 

• I need to stay away from twitter. Why? Cause people tweet about all kinds of cool stuff. Like these. Thanks Ysolda… I just bought two of them. *squee*

 

• Then there is poor little Leeloo. She was spayed yesterday and I was able to pick her up today after work. She is tired. And sad. And probably doesn’t feel to hot. Which is why I feel so bad for laughing…

It really shouldn’t be this funny. Maybe it doesn’t seem funny from where you’re sitting. But she’s so understandably mopy and has that silly cone around her head and it’s so cute… and funny. I keep giggling. And feeling guilty. But I still giggle. It’s not just me, Joe’s laughing too. I’ve taken a thousand pictures, almost.

a bit on the nothing side of things

So, I’m pretty sure that I mentioned I watched Julie & Julia on Sunday and there was this one scene I can’t get out of my head. Don’t quote me on this, but essentially Julia is talking about getting up early (at 6:30, ugh!) to get ready for cooking school and she’s just so excited about it! That scene (or my rendition, anyway) seems to be on a constant loop in my head. I want that. I want to  be excited to get up and start the day. Is that too much to ask? I mean, I don’t dislike my job, but I’m certainly not excited to get up and go every morning. I don’t get up and think, Wow! I get to go do that! I know, I know. My life isn’t all that bad. It’s actually pretty good. But you know what?  Sometimes I need a little self indulgence here in blog land.

So what to do? A friend recently said I need to follow my bliss.  Well, what the heck is that? Anyone know? Besides quitting my job and… what? I’ve got a whole lot of nothin’. Basically, it’s just me dreaming about, well, sadly, I’m not even sure.

um…

Just watch. The whole thing. I mean it.

a lot of nothing

What did I do today instead of watching “the big game”? Besides the normal stuff like cleaning, hanging with the pooch, and knit knit knitting I used the power of Netflix to watch Julie & Julia. What a cute movie! I love a movie that inspires an underachiever like me to do something with herself. Now if I could just get more people to read this blog and talk about how great I am so I can write a book about, well, who knows… a girl can dream can’t she?  :)

In lieu of any real content I leave you with a pic of Joe & Leeloo. Enjoy!

never had the flu, till now

Here’s how it all started… Sunday morning I woke up with a tickle in my throat. Wasn’t too worried, just a little cough. Joe and I head out to MOMA for the day and I’m super excited cause we have been talking about going for ages. I’m not all knowledgeable about art so I’m not going to go into a lot of the exhibits, but a lot of photography and it was really fascinating to see. I would say pretty thought provoking items are their at the moment. You should go…

So we’re their for a couple hours and I’m starting to feel really tired and I start to realize that my legs ache. Like I worked out recently (um, no. not even close). And I’m just so tired, exhausted without really having done anything. This really should have been my first clue, but I’m slow with these things.

So Monday I wake up and feel completely awful. To shorten this pathetically sad story I’ll skip to the part where I go to the doctor, she says I probably have the flu and not some bronchial infection that I think I have and shoves a swab up my nostrils. Tuesday the results are in. Influenza A. Could be the Avian flu. Could be H1N1. Clarification on these points were not forthcoming so I went back to bed.

I’ve been housebound for the entire week. Now it’s Friday and I’m finally starting to feel a bit better, except now I have made this mess up here since I’m hiding from our puppy so she’ll stay kenneled during the day (another long story).

It’s probably time to take advantage of the fact that I can walk around for more than 5 minutes and not feel like I’m going to pass out.

On the bright side I’m about 3/4 through with Joe’s scarf. I hope he likes the flu…

filler

Ok, I admit it. I’m writing tonight just to write something in this empty place…

The weekend has been nice and slow and relaxing. I’ve spent time knitting, reading, hangin’ with my fabu husband, and just plain having a good time.

Long weekends rock!