The re-entry after a long break and a big event is always a bitch. But, my blisters are recovering nicely, and I'm slowly coming down from my post-race glow. Although I admit that I did tell one guy working at a convenient store that I ran a half-marathon. (Um, that person doesn't care.)

But. There are other things to talk about! Woo-hoo! Like, The Pants had a birthday. Now. The Pants likes to guess what he's getting, and he's almost ALWAYS right. It's sort of a pain, because he's very hard to surprise on birthdays and holidays. I did it once before with a PlayStation 2 (even though he might *say* he knew, he totally didn't.) This year, however, I kept my mouth shut, tried to drop erroneous hints, and TOTALLY SURPRISED HIM. WOOT!

Um, is this a Black-Eyed Peas box set?

Wait a minute...is this...schmoo....

Yay! It's an iPod. Drinks all around.

I love surprising him. I get really stressed out about giving presents for some reason -- I'm always worried that the recipient will hate the gift, and then they will hate me. (Which is ridiculous, I know. Yay for irrational fears.) (Many thanks to my sister Cat who sat on the floor at the UPS shipping warehouse (or "the Pit of Hell", as she called it) waiting for the driver to get back so we could have the iPod for Jacob's birthday.)

We celebrated at a Japanese restaurant, where the food and drinks were delicious. I did have a brief run-in with my first drink. It was a yummy Sea Breeze that for some reason caused me to have an allergic reaction:

Yay, a Sea Breeze! Oh, no. a rash on my face.

BUT, I switched to water and beer and it all went away. Weirdness. (My sister and her husband have taken to calling me "Black Cloud" because I seem to have more bad luck than the average bear. Ha. Black Cloud.)

At any rate, the dinner was fun times, The Pants loved his present, and it was a great birthday all around.

In the knitting arena, I discovered another reason why I love High Energy Jenny. We were chatting on the way to lunch and she noticed my Brooks Farm Clapotis over the back of the car seat. (Now, I don't wear my BF Clappy as much as I should. It's beautiful, but Jacob sneezes uncontrollably every time I bring it out, and the colors are kinda so-so on me.) HEJ said how pretty it was, and I told her how I never really wear it. And then - at the same time - I said, "I wish mine was more like yours..." and SHE said, "I don't really wear mine at all." And an idea came to us AT THE SAME TIME:

EUREKA!

We can TRADE CLAPPYS!

And so we did. See:

Clappy Exchange Complete.
And also, DC Jenny and Cathy look cute.

And now I wear it the Clappy all the time! And I've actually run in HEJ around town and we're always both wearing them. Because we are COOL KNITTING DORKS. hahahaha.

Okay, enough rambling for one day. I'm nearing completion of several projects, which I will post about soon. I promise. And also about the celebrity sighting. Thanks for all your happy race comments! I think it's official - I've got the race bug.

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

We did it!!

Crossing the finish!

And here's Team Schmoo...
before the race:

It's about, oh, 5:45 am.

and after!

We did it!

Dude. I had so, so much fun. Seriously. I didn't realize how much fun it was going to be -- I thought I would finish, and be proud, but I really ENJOYED the race. It was a beautiful day, kinda chilly at first, but no rain, and plenty of sunshine. I ran with High Energy Jenny for a short while, ran with my sis for a little longer, and then those two ran ahead and I kept my slow intervals (three minutes running, one minute walking) going for about seven miles. At mile 7, I changed my intervals to *four* minutes running, one minute walking, and I hit my stride. I was running pretty fast! I felt great! At mile 10, I took an energy goo thingy and picked it up even more, met up with my sis, and we finished together. (Our times are exactly the same! Ha. Twinsies.) And we finished in under three hours, which I am really proud of.

I want to thank my sister Cathy, who inspired me to run this race and coached me all the way through my training; High Energy Jenny, who ran with me, encouraged me, and made me believe I could do it; Anne Marie, who encouraged me and tried to tell me how FUN it would be (although I didn't believe her); and Jacob, who put up with my grumbling and complaining, prodded me to run when I didn't feel like it, and cheered me all the way to the finish. You guys are awesome, and I totally couldn't have done it without you. And thanks to everyone for all the encouraging comments and good thoughts you sent my way - they really helped! Also, congratulations to Dixie Chick Jenny, who also ran the race! Yay us.

My legs were pretty sore on Thursday evening but I'm all healed up now. I also have some pretty ugly toe blisters. Yum. And I am totally ready to train for my next race, seriously, and I'm also considering training for a marathon. Not anytime soon, but definitely in the near future. Running a race is FUN, people. I'm not kidding.

More fabulous pictures by Jacob can be found if ya click here.

(Edited to add: My Flickr sets seem to be working now, but if that link doesn't work, here's a list by date. They are in reverse order, so start at the bottom and work up if you want to see the pics in chronological order.)

Longer post with knitting and celebrity sightings v. soon. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family and Jacob's family. Right now I'm off to knit and relax. Yay!

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)

Half Marathon in 4 days. Acck. It's raining really hard in Athens right now ... I really, really hope it's not raining on race day. If it is, that's okay, but my preference would be NOT to run in chilly temps and rain. Acck. Send dry weather vibes.

In other news, I finished a sock!

Isn't she pretty?

It's the Jaywalker pattern, using Lorna's Laces and size 1 circs. I'v already cast on Sock #2, and she's moving along nicely. These are for a sock swap so I'm hoping that they fit the recipient. I think they will. I know you're heard it all over the knitting blogs, but this pattern is super fun and the finished sock is so nice. And it really shows off the pretty variegation in this yarn!

I went kind of crazy last night and worked on a bunch of different projects while watching Jacob play Super Monkey Ball 2. (SO. FUN.) I knitted some on my cashmere sweater - (scroll down to see its beginnings) - I knitted about 8 inches on the back piece. It's so soft and pretty, but my wrists were aching a little after that. So, I put that down and cast on a hat out of Kool Wool, modeled after this hat, which is my favorite knitted hat EVER. (I have so much mustard-colored Kool Wool. Seriously. More than I really need.)

I knitted on that for a while, and then my hands and wrists starting to get angry with me, and I had to put down the knitting. D'oh. Hopefully my hands are rested now so I can pick up the insane knitting pace today. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

And, just because I like to see the finished knits in their natural habitat, here's Jacob wearing the sweater I knitted him for Christmas last year:

House Sweater.

The sweater does look good on Jacob, but I have to admit that it's not really suitable for wear outside the house. There are some major mistakes in this sweater...I actually cringe when I see it sometimes. And they aren't mistakes that only a knitter would notice - there are some shoulder seam issues, and some stray yarn pieces, and a bumpy situation on his right shoulder.

BUT. It was a great learning piece, and Jacob does wear it all the time at home. We like to call it his "house sweater". I can't believe how much my finishing has improved since this time last year. I think I used to hurry through it so I could just have A FINISHED KNIT, but now I want A FINISHED KNIT THAT I WILL WEAR. Big difference.

So, yay for that. I'll leave you with a picture of my twin sister, my mom, and me from this weekend - we got lunch on Saturday.

See the family resemblance?
(And also, my gum. Sorry about that.)

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)

I ran 10 miles on Saturday. It was alternately really fun and really, really hard. I went with my sister who is a cross country coach and insane running girl, but she didn't push me TOO hard. We ran at Stone Mountain, and the trail is a lovely 5 miles, and I didn't even mind doing it twice. There was one slow, long hill -- it was a killer -- but other than that, the run was really great. Here's what me and Cat look like right after running 10 miles :

We just devoured a power bar.

So what's a girl to do after running ten miles? Oh, I know - put on some high heeled boots and jump around on a stage with her band for an hour. That's good for the legs. Har.

The show this weekend was really tiring but really, really fun. Good crowd - lots of energy - only one minor Janet Jackson moment when my stick-on bra (read: fake. boobies.) fell off during the last song. DUDE. It was almost catastrophic, but luckily I caught the thing with my hand and gracefully put my arm over my chest for the rest of the song. Everyone said they didn't notice, even Jacob - apparently he was so oblivious to it that he didn't realize he'd gotten the entire moment on camera.

um, hi. look at my face.

Note to self: no stick-on bra when jumping around is involved.

But, the crisis was averted, our set went great, and then my sister's band got on stage and totally brought the house down. (The crowd was SO. EXCITED. I mean, where else can you hear the Perfect Strangers theme played LIVE? or He-Man?! I know you think that you don't know the He-Man theme song, but once it kicks, you totally know it. I HAVE THE POWER!!!) It was a late night, but totally worth it, especially since it was HVPS's last show.

That's my sister on the left, and her husband on the right. Aren't they rock stars?

In between the running and the blinging, I ripped out the ribbing on my Kool-Aid OSW and re-knit with size 8 needles. I don't really see a difference. Oh, well. But I think once it's finished and blocked, it will fit great.

MUST FINISH SOCK ONE. I must.

Posted by Carrieoke at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

So Saturday's show is going to be so much fun. I actually never got to practice with the Bling Boys this week because they were meeting LATE and I have to get up early to be at work, so I'm counting on my ears and my memory to get me through Saturday night's show. The Halloween show was so recent that I think I'm fine, I just need to remember to check my microphone WAY in advance, and no car bombs right before going on stage. (That's a shot, and I *don't* recommend it.)

I've been given the theme for our attire - I was told "Miami club scene to the extreme". So I'm thinking Tara Reid out on the town? Does that sounds right? Maybe a little classier than that? I'm sure whatever I wear will include a short skirt and boots, but I'll hopefully be able to figure out the rest. Don't be frightened.

yayayay. I'm going to pick the Pants up at the airport tonight since he is returning from Minneapolis (business trip. he's a grown-up.) and then we're going to hang out with my sister and her husband for the rest of the weekend. Plans are in the works for watching Tivo'ed Lost (I still haven't seen this week's episode!), running 10 miles on Saturday morning, eating lots of food and knitting. I should probably finish the languishing Jaywalker sock and start the other one since it's for a sock swap and I need a pair. And I'm still working on the Dye-Your-Own-One-Skein-Wonder. I did ribbing and sleeves last night while finishing up Season 4 of Alias (OH MY GOD. The last episode was a little over-the-top, but really good. And I totally watched the bloopers reel and seeing Michael Vartan when he's not in Vaughn character was delicious indeed.):

Probably wouldn't wear this shirt with it, but you get the idea.

I like the way the sleeves are looking, but the body ribbing wasn't doing it for me. I've actually ripped it out, and I think I'm going to try using size 8 needles instead of the 5s. Or maybe just use the 5s but make it longer? I don't want it to disappear the way it does in the picture. I also made the back of this one longer than my first OSW effort and I really like the way it turned out.

The Pants has been gone all week. I have gotten to spend lots of time knitting and hanging out with Bella:

She's on her bed in this picture. I get a little tiny corner of it too.

Posted by Carrieoke at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Lost in the country, running an errand for The Pants. Thank goodness I broke my normal gas rule (Carrie's normal gas rule : don't stop to get gas until the car is sputtering and the gas light has been on without flickering for at least two days). Today, I filled up because I saw cheap gas ($2.20 a gallon!). The Gas Gods were smiling on me.

In knitting news, I stopped knitting on the Jaywalker sock, even though I'm about to hit the toe decreases, because the Kool-Aid yarn was calling to me. I wound it up in a ball using my handy ball-winder and swift:

It totally works, too.

Pretty greens and blues.

I'm rockin' the spring colors in the fall. Oh, yeah.



Still working on the sleeves.

My method for the sleeves is VERY scientific. I want something longer than cap sleeves, but I don't think I have enough yarn for actual long sleeves. Here's what I do: I pull a bunch of yarn off of the yarn ball, and knit knit knit on one sleeve. Then, once I run out of the yarn I just pulled off, I count how many sleeve rows I just knitted, and knit the same amount on the other sleeve (using the ball.) Rinse, and repeat, until I run out of yarn. Hopefully that won't result in wonky non-matching arms (and hopefully I can get three quarter sleeves out of the yarn.) (Don't worry - Stef sent separate blue yarn for the ribbing because she so rocks.)

So, that's all the knitting news I've got. The reason I've gotten so much knitting done on this OSW is because I'm watching Alias, Season 4, at a frightening pace. Like, a disc a night. DON'T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF SEASON 4. PLEASE. I know something weird happens with my boyfriend, Vaughn, but don't even hint. I mean it. (Although I have to say, Marshall almost became my boyfriend after watching the episode with the lockdown - you know the one I'm talking about - how funny and cute was he in that episode? I *heart* Marshall.)

Okay. Tonight: choir practice, and then band practice. somewhere in there I will eat dinner, watch four more episodes of Alias, knit, and sleep. And maybe shower, if I get a wild hair.

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)

I keep thinking of things I want to blog about and then I forget. So, today I will post my bloggy to-do list.

1. Celebrate, because High Energy Jenny is back! Holla. That's an energy boost right there.

2. Thank Glampyre Stef for the Dye-Your-Own-One-Skein-Wonder package she sent me! How fun is that! I got this on Friday right after I got home from work, and I totally jumped right in. She included enough yummy white dyeable yarn for a One Skein Wonder, and a bunch of Kool-Aid packets! I tried to take enough pictures for a photo essay on Kool-Aid dyeing but that didn't really happen. Here are the highlights:

Before dyeing.

During dyeing. The Kool Aid smell is overwhelming at this point. Me likey.

After dyeing. Still smells like Kool-Aid.

3. Show my Jaywalker-in-progress. Confess that I am really terrible at sock patterns that involve more than knitting a stockinette tube. (I tried to knit Conwy, from Knitting on the Road, and I couldn't get it. ??? So I did this pattern, and it's really straightforward, but I still made lots of mistakes. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.)

Almost done with Sock One.

4. Show action shots from the Halloween concert. (Try not to cringe at my booty in a white skirt.)

In heaven, all the angels got spinners...

In other band news, my sister and I are getting to fulfill a lifelong dream this weekend. This dream started back when we were 8 years old and recording ourselves on our Barbie tape recorders (Ya know, when you would pretend you were radio DJS? Hell yeah. We would announce songs, and then I would play them on the piano and we would sing them. One shining example was "I Just Called to Say I Love You" -- that was a GREAT performance.)

Anyways - the dream is that one day, we would totally be rock out together on stage. And it's happening this weekend, at the Star Bar in Atlanta. My band, Bling the Children Back Home, is opening for Cathy's band, The Hill Valley Preservation Society this Saturday. WONDER TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE.

6. Just sat and pondered running for 15 minutes. Decided to go.

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Monday night was kinda crazy. I tried to take a power nap before the show but I couldn't sleep because I was excited. I'm five years old.

So, instead, I got up and ironed my Dorothy costume. The boys in the band decided to go with a Wizard of Oz theme ... and I had my doubts about this actually happening, but they TOTALLY came through. They all looked awesome. (Pictures of the Bling boys are coming soon.) I'm super proud of my Dorothy apron because I made it myself using an apron pattern from Craftster.
[edited to add: my sister Cathy thought that I was *knitting* an apron when I told her I was making one. hee hee hee. She said that she was secretly thinking that a knitted Dorothy apron would NOT look good but didn't want to discourage me. hahahahahaha.]

That's the Pants. He's looking hot.

Clearly, I had to be Dorothy in short skirt and knee socks (aka Slutty Dorothy), not innocent normal Dorothy (I AM the only girl in the band). But I think the costume still worked. Soon after this picture was taken, a crazy assassin attacked me...

Dude, she's vicious.

They are SO breakin' the rules.

The show was ... full of surprises, including Dorothy having to wing it without a microphone for the first song. Oh yeah. I spent that particular song sharing a mike and trying to make hand signals at Sound Dude so he'd know where my microphone was plugged in. The sound problems combined with the craziness of Halloween meant that we didn't start playing music until 1:30 AM (!!), which also meant that I'd had a few drinks. (When I get nervous, I get gas, and I drink faster. It's probably a bad combo for my bandmates, but at least I have energy when I get on stage...)

Luckily, the audience was completely wired and having a good time -- the sound problems were overshadowed by the funky grooves. Har. I had a great time, and our next show is some time in December. (This old lady hopes it's on a weekend.)

I will post this week about knitting. I promise. And running.

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)