July 13, 2008
Birthday Weekend Time.
Today is my 30th birthday, and I am celebrating by doing absolutely nothing. And it feels GOOD. I've napped, eaten some lunch, napped some more, and eaten a little dinner. I figure it's my birthday, so I can sleep all day if I want, right?
Bella clearly thinks so.
I did get an "early morning" (10am) phone call from my twin sis Cathy, who's been in Europe for a couple of weeks (lucky!! she's in PARIS for our birthday). I was super excited to hear from her - we've been able to email and gmail chat a bit, but it's the first time I've talked to her since she's been out of town. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAT! I miss you!
I'm a sleepy schmoo because we had a super fun party last night with friends, homemade BBQ, a fabulous champagne toast (thanks, Leslie!), cute babies, and sparklers. (The babies didn't get near the sparklers, I promise. Or the champagne.)
This guy makes the best BBQ. EVER.
After our bellies were full of Jacob's fantastic BBQ (smoked in the Big Green Egg for 12 hours, yummy), we discovered a HUGE bag of sparklers in the closet and decided to play with them in the backyard. And somehow, just playing with sparklers turned into let's-spell-words-with-sparklers-and-take-lots-of-pictures-of-it:
Schmoo, indeed.
Of course we spelled schmoo. And seriously, it took us longer than you would think to organize, perhaps due to champagne. (I wonder if our neighbors looked over the fence to see a ridiculous line of people with sparklers....) SO.FUN. After the sparkler extravaganza ended, we decided to head downtown for a few birthday drinks.
Me, Leslie and Jenna. Yay old friends!
I got to see some old friends, taste a Sparks (which I can't really recommend. TOO SWEET.), and take a slightly sketchy cab home. (I was seriously impressed by the availability of cabs late night in Athens. It's not a big city by ANY stretch, but we had our choice of cabs at 1:45.It was my first time ever taking a cab home from downtown! wooo-hooo I'm 30!)
It was a great night - thanks to all my friends who came and helped us celebrate, and to my Jacob schmoo who made awesome BBQ, cleaned our house, and generally made my birthday fantastic.
Oh, and he also gave me this for my birthday:
iPhone!!!!
YAY! He waited in line for four hours for one of the new iPhones, and it's so. so. nice. I was a little skeptical of the iPhone when Jacob got one, and then we spent a weekend without internet somewhere and I realized that I needed one. very badly. Hee. I got other fabulous things too, including some socks handknit by Anne Marie (and an Ann Taylor dress!), some yarn dyed by Melanie, and a bamboo plant. And lots of yummy wine to drink. I am a lucky girl!
Well, I'm going to put my sleepy self to bed now - but I'll be posting again very soon, because I actually have a finished knit to show you! Seriously. I really do.
November 1, 2007
Just Married.
Hey - I got married! And it was absolutely one of the best days of my life.
May I present: the Mr. and Mrs!
(photo stolen from Vibegrrl.)
Photo by Shawn Fowler.
This will be a series of long posts because I really want to remember all the details of my wedding weekend, and this is the best way I know how. So click below if you want the whole story!
July 26, 2007
And then there were two.
Two finished projects! I decided that I need to wrap up some projects, and so I had a finishing frenzy this past week. First up: Sockapalooooza Socks!
Two stripey socks, almost identical twins.
My sock pal professed a deep abiding love for striped socks, so I found some stripey yarn in her colors at The Fiber Denn. In addition to being stripey, the yarn is extremely soft. Hooray! I knit these using the toe-up formula in Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy. These were my first completed socks to have short row heels (and toes). I lovelovelove the short row toe - LOVE IT - but I'm not sold yet on the heel, probably because I haven't totally mastered it yet. I am satisfied with the heels on these particular socks, but I think I can improve my technique.
Don't worry, sock pal, these are getting a bath in Soak tonight.
Finished in time! Hooray for Sockapalooooza! I hope she likes them.
And, Finished #2: a baby sweater!
EZ February Sweater.
I've been knitting this on and off for a little while, waiting for one of my pregnant friends to give birth so I could choose a recipient. (Yes, I have that many pregnant friends.) This one is going to little Ava. I used one skein of Cotton Ease and size 9s. I was hoping using bigger needles would make the sweater bigger, and honestly I'm not sure what size this sweater is. I'm going with the whole EZ philosophy that babies come in all sizes and it will fit her at some point....that works, right? This sweater is easy peasy, the pattern is easy to memorize, and it looks super cute. I want to try one of those crazy origami baby surprise sweaters next.
It's so satisfying to actually finish some knits after four false starts with The Impossible Knitted Skirt.
So, what else? This weekend, I read Harry Potter (sniff), watched Jacob play Resident Evil on the Wii (sooooooooviolent), took my dad grocery shopping (fun!) and played with the neph a little (Big Head Schmoo!). Bella got a new toy.
Schmoo's favorite toy.
Friday is my last day at my current job ... oh how I fear change. But it's good change. It is. Still scared, though. Guess I need to knit a whole bunch this weekend to calm my nerves...
March 26, 2007
Oops, I Did It Again.
So, I started training for my second half-marathon in January (as mentioned in this post). My training started out pretty well, and I ran at least twice a week mostly and tried to keep up with my long runs, but life got busy (wedding planning and school and other life-in-general stress) and I lost track of how much time I had before the race, and I didn't feel ready. (Not feeling ready could also be a teensy bit of laziness on my part. Just a TEENSY bit.)
So I decided not to run the race. I would go to Atlanta, and cheer on Anne Marie and my friend Cheryl, and just be a spectator. Cathy would be a spectator too, since she is just recovering from bronchitis and really shouldn't run 13.1 miles right now.
Yesterday was that half-marathon.
And I totally ran it!
I think I was scared to run because I knew I wouldn't improve from my first race, and I didn't want to feel like a failure. But my sister Cathy (that sneaky, sneaky girl) was all, "Why don't we just run a little, and see how we feel? We won't run the whole thing..."
Here's me and Cat before the race:
Yeah. She tricked me.
And then it was just FUN. Beautiful day, beautiful course. We took it easy, not running too hard, pushing ourselves every now and then. It was so much fun, laughing and running with my sister, watching all the other runners and the spectators. We kept a good pace, and Cathy didn't let me slack too much. We even got to see the lead runners because the marathon course crossed paths with the half marathon course at several points - that was AWESOME. Dude. They were kicking so much ass - it was really motivating. At mile 8, Cathy wisely decided to stop, and so she did. But she was like, "Finish the race." And I kept going. And I finished!
Here's my medal.
I might have more pics of the race eventually, but I didn't bring my camera -- I assumed I would have access to it later since I wouldn't be finishing the race. Ha. Next time, I'm going to be more serious about my training, but it was nice to do a race in a very stress-free sort of way.
[Note: since I'd done a half before, I felt okay running it even though I didn't feel completely ready. I am in NO WAY advocating just waking up the morning of a half-marathon and deciding to try and run it. You gotta train, baby. I guess the point is: I wasn't motivated to run it, even though I physically was ABLE. And my sister and Cheryl and AM helped me get motivated -- that morning!]
In general, that's the kind of runner I am. I don't like to get caught up in my time because I'm a slow schmoo, and if I'm not enjoying something, I'm just not gonna do it. So, I try to keep running fun and light and not a competitive thing. (Now, that's just me. My friends (coughcough Cheryl and AM and Cathy coughcough) who are fast schmoos do things differently, and I like that. Cheryl rocked the half, and AM rocked the FULL, and I'm so proud of them. Cheryl finished almost an hour before me and when I was coming around that last bend, I saw her waiting, and she ran me into the finish line, which totally rocked. She even cheered me past a couple of runners.
Woo-hoo! Team Schmoo rocks.
In other news - knitting news - I've been knitting a little opera scarf with my Noro Silk Garden Lite, and I ripped it out. It just wasn't working for me. (Although, I will say that I love that pattern, and I'm going to knit it again, but with a swingier, drapier yarn.)
Here's the farewell photo:
Farewell, opera scarf.
Instead, I decided to copy Molly! and make a mini clapotis with it.
Yum. I love this yarn.
And the Forecast? She is literally 20 sleeve rounds away from being done. I'm predicting a finished post by next week. No promises, though.
March 20, 2007
When you get caught between the moon and New York City...
... Arthur's Theme is totally one of my favorite songs.
NEW YORK!
What a freakin' trip. It was super fun and totally exhausting and I would do it again next weekend if I had the money and another pair of boots (since mine now have holes in them from all the walking. NOT CITY SHOES.) First of all, I have to give a shout out to my girl Carolyn, who sent me her recommendations for restaurants, and not one of them disappointed. I tried so many kinds of food I'd never had before: Vietnamese, Malaysian, Brazilian, crazy Tex-Mex-Asian-fusion. yumyumyum. The food was my second favorite part of the trip.
My first favorite part was, of course, the people. And the yarn. Ohhhhh, the yarn.
At the subway stop in Queens.
The extremely long and photo heavy play-by-play is in the extended entry. You have been warned about the length. And the photo heaviness...
Continue reading "When you get caught between the moon and New York City..." »
February 23, 2007
Schmoos
Friday Friday Friday. Hooray! It's been a busy week in the school and work arenas, and I am so glad it's Friday. And I've got PLANS this weekend: birthday celebrations tonight for my friend Leslie, birthday celebrations tomorrow for my sister Michelle, a hair appointment (color), possibly a trip to Ikea, and lots of Wii time.
(Now that my nephew is almost 10 months old, it's time for him to play the Wii.)
(Kidding.)
And the Oscars on Sunday! Woo-hoo! In other news:
1. I brought my almost finished Forecast to work today, because I'm planning to go to the bead store at lunch and see if I can find buttons. Hopefully I won't be tempted to buy beading supplies. Ha.
2. I started the second Anemoi mitten, and all of my love for colorwork came rushing back. I think this one looks much better than the first one - I'm more comfortable working with two colors, and my gauge is a little looser. I hope it doesn't look vastly different than Anemoi #1...
Swirly goodness.
I'm using my Knitpicks chart holder from the start this time, and it's going so quickly. I can't wait to start working on some Zimmerman Norwegian mittens...
(God, now that I'm looking, there is a glaring mistake in that mitten. I'll need to fix it! But no ripping. I'll deal with it later.)
3. As I knit and watched Grey's Anatomy last night, two of my favorite schmoos dozed on the couch next to me. How cute is that?
Shleepy schmoos.
4. Here's my other favorite schmoo in her favorite spot:
Chili guards the house from here.
She's a good girl.
I think the Anemoi could be finished by this weekend if it keeps going so quickly. It's destined for someone who lives in a colder place than me, so the sooner I finish, the better. Although since we're starting to have 65-70 degree days here, I imagine that's happening in other places too. (Probably not, right?)
Okay. Back to work. Y'all have a good weekend!
February 14, 2007
Long Time Coming
A long, long time ago, some other knitters around here and I decided to make a pirate themed baby blanket for our dear friend Mary Jessica. Many, many months later, we finally finished it and gave it to her. Here's the blanket:
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I knit several squares, including the pirate ship, the anchor, and various stripeys and solids. It was my first real attempt at intarsia, so it ain't perfect, but it works from far away! And here's MJ getting the blanket:
Notice her cute pink handknit.
And here's what Tommy thinks of the whole shebang:
My blanket RAWKS.
We had so much fun catching up and making Tommy laugh. He is the happiest, bounciest baby ever.
Tommy wants to drool on it. NOW.
A good time was had by all.
In honor of Valentine's Day, I leave with my favorite Valentines ever, Brandon Bird's SVUtines. In the criminal justice system, you're considered especially gorgeous.
Have a great day!
December 12, 2006
Funny!
I have gotten early morning phone calls from the Pants on several occasions when he's accidentally locked his keys in his car. It happens fairly often. I grumble ... but I always bring him his keys. What else can you do?
Today, he gets to return the favor. I have locked my keys in my car. I THINK. If they aren't in my car, I have no idea where they are and I am a sad, sad schmoo. Keys, if you're listening: pleasepleaseplease be in my car.
Anyways, this unexpected break in the middle of the day + having my laptop + wireless cloud in downtown Athens = blog post. And there are things to talk about, actually. For example: High Energy Jenny had a BABY!!!! I can't believe it! I'm so happy for the High Energys and their new TinyHeadSchmoo. Go on and give her some love! Dude, that kid is lucky - he has pretty kickass parents. I can't wait to give him a squeeze.
In non baby-related news, I've been knitting several different things. I started a Headline News cabled newsboy cap, and it turned out a little large:
Trust me, it was too big.
(Look at that yarn, by the way. HEJ gave that to me last Christmas - she recycled and dyed it herself. It's a beautiful angora wool blend and it's lovely to knit with. She's multitalented, that one.)
So, seeing as how it was too big, I ripped that, and started just a plain rollbrim hat using some Manos I recently added to the stash. Here's a look...
Basic Rollbrim Hat.
That one is actually done now, and I've worn it a couple of times. It could be longer, but it works. I just needed some plain old circular stockinette to keep my hands busy.
Now, I'm back to my pretty HEJ yarn, and I'm making a little mini Clapotis. It might be for a present...I'll never tell...
Do you like my grainy coffeeshop picture?
It's the best I can do right now.
And how does one make a mini Clapotis? Well, I googled "mini clapotis" and got this handy little recipe : [ mini clapotis ] Thanks, kpixie! It seems to be working perfectly for this yarn.
No matter how many times I knit a Clapotis, I just can't memorize the pattern. I always try, and I always end up screwing something up. I will be a good girl and bring my pattern with me every where I go this time around.
Other news? Eh, not much, really. I'm in a Christmas musical extravaganza called "Deck the Halls" -- I couldn't resist volunteering for it -- and I'm singing the lead on two Christmas songs. Are you ready? It's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", and "Last Christmas". Yes, the one by Wham! I was going to resist inviting anyone because it's going to be super cheesy, but then I thought: when else will they get to see their friend perform a Wham! song for an audience? MAYBE NEVER. So I invited my friends. And you, if you're in Athens. It's through Athens Creative Theatre - the website has ticket info.
And that's my story right now. I decided to make some creative Christmas presents, so I've been working on those - not knitting - and just relaxing by the fire when I can. I'm readyreadyready for Christmas break. And also ready for my car keys. Hopefully, by the time this is posted, I'm in my car, driving back to the office. We shall see...
November 1, 2006
Down the Rabbit Hole
Halloween was fun times! Athens is seriously the best town EVER for Halloween. People get SERIOUS and dress up -- doesn't matter how old you are -- and there are always super clever and super weird costumes. Last night, I happened to think my friends had the best costumes ever...
Bling played at the Georgia Theatre, and we all dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland.
This is the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, and the King of Hearts.
with Silent Bob hanging out in the back.
Here's Alice (that's me!) and the Mad Hatter.
Here's me with my hot Viking date...
And here's Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth, all the way from Hawaii...
So funny. The show was fun - we played early for Athens (10:30) but there was still a decent crowd. Got a chance to have a drink with friends afterwards...
It's Alice and an HEJ!
Here's that hot Viking again with a chrome devil....
I didn't stay out much later than our show...I was too tired. It's been a busy week so far. cuz, ya know, on Monday...we closed on our house! WE ARE HOMEOWNERS! so, so exciting. We're planning to move this week and next week and hopefully be in the new place very soon. Pictures coming soon!
So. Sleepy. I hope I can stay awake for Lost...
p.s. I'm trying desperately to combat the spam barrage that's been happening lately, so I've added a word you have to type in the comment posting form. Let me know if you have any trouble with it!
October 27, 2006
Hi there.
Jacob keeps teasing me because I haven't posted on my blog since returning from Rhinebeck... he keeps saying "I'm checking my Bloglines, where's your post?" Har, har. It's because I haven't had a second to breathe since returning from my relaxing yarny vacation. Work + school + 10 year reunion this weekend + HOUSE CLOSING OCT 30 makes for a crazy Carrieoke. Gah. And also aaaaccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkk.
But also yay. Rhinebeck was wonderful, as expected. And the weather was PERFECT, as in not too cold, not too hot, and the leaves were brilliant, and the company was splendid. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do because I was totally overwhelmed by peopleyarnnewyorkfuntimes all weekend. But I took a few.
This was at the Point.
We were lucky enough to drop in on a knitting night with the Spiders, and I got to meet some bloggers that I've been reading forever, and also reunite with an old friend. It was really nice and cozy and comfortable. We stopped in after seven hours of shopping in New York City, and although I had a fabulous time shopping, my tired little Georgia legs were ready for a coffee and some knitting. Perfect.
This is a llama. He is chewing.
The animals at Rhinebeck are totally one of my favorite parts. Ya know, after all the yarn. and the people. and the hot sauce.
My girls AM and Sarah. And a sheep.
This is the last picture I took. We had to do a quick drive-by on Sunday, due to extreme paranoia that we would miss our flight (we missed our flight to NY on Friday morning...security was atrocious in Atlanta).
I had a wonderful time, I didn't buy too much [ the haul: a sweater's worth of organic cotton, a triple skein of laceweight Morehouse, a shawl pin, some delectable bulky weight yarn from Decadent Fibersand and a piece of pottery for HEJ. I also got my usual yummyyummy hot sauce from Hudson Valley Homestead ]. AND I got to see old friends and talk to new ones. This picture (shamelessly stolen from Snargle Sarah ) pretty much sums up how much fun I had this weekend.
That's Frecklegirl, Sarah, and Maya in the front.
I'm in the backback. With some leftover ribs.
We even stopped by the Morehouse store which is beautiful and spacious and well-lit and so dangerous. Thank God that place isn't anywhere near Georgia - I would be broke fer sure.
You won't see me at Rhinebeck next year because I'll be getting hitched (woo-hoo!), but I'm going to try my hardest to be at Maryland. I love sheep and wool festivals.
Ah. And back to reality. Central Park is zooming along - I've finished the back and fronts, and now I'm halfway through the first sleeve. And in other news, we are totally grown-up and closing on our house on this coming Monday. I can't even believe it. ohmygod. So I'm a little jittery this week, trying to process everything that is going on, and not be too anxious about it. I'm just accepting that I will probably have explosive diarrhea while we are signing the closing papers, but it will be over soon, and then we have a HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE. House. How cool is that?
Okay. Time for bed. It was real nice to see all ya'll at the festival, for real.