Why I'd rather be knitting...

I'm having one of those days. When everything is Hurry Up and Wait! My boss gave me a post-it of my top 7 projects. Well this is fantastic except that 4 of those projects are awaiting approval from her. It's hard to work fast when you know you are waiting on others.

Then the IT people came by and had to do a worm virus thing to my computer (can you tell I have no clue what they are doing) which meant I got to sit in front of my computer for 15 minutes waiting....and waiting.....it dragged on.

And three people stopped by my desk today to ask if the coffee was fresh! Are they trying to kill me? Grrrrrrr........

In knitting knews, I've almost completed Julie's hat. I had wanted to finish it for our dinner tonight but since I had to work the k.d. Lang concert last night, it didn't get done. I also received a package of yarn from an U.K. shop which concerns me. I haven't paid for it! I had started to place the order but never completed it since it didn't give me shipping costs. I'm not sure what to do and I can't find an invoice or anything with the yarn. I think I'll start a detective hunt. On the good side, it's the yarn for the Debbie Bliss Cable Jacket that I want to make. Of course, this means major adjustments to the size since the biggest size is too small for me.

So in the end, I'd rather be knitting or working on the sizing for my new jacket, which does mean that I also need to solve a mystery and find out how much a new clutch for my car would cost. Oh if only I were made of money too!

My Japanese Name


Ichi - "That one with wisdom"


What would your Japanese name be? (female)
brought to you by Quizilla

How true! I am the one with wisdom ;o)

Olympic Wonder

Just a little under two weeks until my Olympic triathlon and I hope to be chanting "Olympic Wonder" at the end of it. I know I can do and I have even mapped out the times for the course. I am allowing 40 minutes for the swim (I know I can go faster but I am allowing for near drownings, being kicked, and going off course), 1 hour and 25 minutes for the bike with 1 hour and 20 minutes for the run. The run will be my hardest part but I know that I can walk the whole 6 miles if need be and still finish. I'll be running though.

I finished Chloe's hat last night. It's the cutest! I now need to start the hat for her brother. I think I'm going to adjust the stripes a little bit though to make them different and this time I am going to weave in the excess yarn as I go so I don't have to do it all at the end. I did not like that part at all!

Annoyances -- I want to know what every single morning our Creative Director stops by my desk and asks if the coffee is fresh. AM I HIS COFFEE MAKER? If I don't make coffee (actually its rare when I do) then he looks sad and ambles off. He NEVER makes the coffee himself! And it's not hard. You push the grind button once. Then you put the filter holder in the coffee maker and press "brew". And there you go, coffee is made. GRRRRR!

I had a pretty busy weekend but all in all it was good. On Saturday morning, Mot and I did the Urban Challenge . We raced from Queen Anne to Fremont to Gasworks Park to Eastlake to Capitol Hill to Downtown Seattle before returning to Queen Anne. 12.84 miles later with only 2 of them on the bus, Mot and I were pooped! I then had to go and work at the Wine Auction at the Chateau Ste. Michelle. My legs were killing me! I was near death!

Then on Sunday, I went on a 24 mile bike ride with Stephanie, swimming at Mounger Pool and then joined Krista and Mot for a rock climbing clinic. All of it fun, but all of it exhausting on my poor body.

I am now at work resting.....

Pioneer Woman's Anniversary

So here I am having an early lunch and checking out some great knitting blogs. I went to Pioneer Woman's Blog and noticed she was having her Boob-a-versary today. It reminded me of when I chose to have a breast reduction. It was about 4 years ago and after years of back aches and not having any clothing that fit me properly, I chose to have a reduction. Luckily it was covered under insurance and I had the best plastic surgeon. I took two weeks off work to properly heal. It was two weeks of pure boredom and I mourn the loss of knitting time since I didn't knit then. Oh the pieces I could have produced! Anyway, I have to say that was one of my best decisions. I know can run without being in pain, buy clothing without thinking too hard about the chestal region and basically just love it! I sincerely think that I would not have gotten involved in Tris if I still had the old boobs. They would have gotten in the way and I do not need that!

So anyway, Happy Bob-a-versary to Pioneer Woman!

Hump Day

Running with a Stella Bella is hard work! I ran about 4 miles last night and then joined Julie for a short swim at the pool. It was a nice relaxing evening.

Tonight my date with R was cancelled which in a way makes me happy. I'd really rather go for another run. Now what does that say about my interest in R now?

I'm also going to check out my housesitting place tonight. They leave on September 4th for four weeks in Italy and I'll be staying there to watch the plants and pretend I'm rich. Now that will be fun!

Ta'ra

Stella Drinker

Last night in order to properly train for the Urban Challenge this weekend, my friends and I visited a local pub for trivia night. A few years ago on a trip to England, I discovered Stella Artois Beer. Other parts of the country have it but not Seattle. At least until a few months ago! I discovered that this pub had Stella on TAP! So I had 3 last night. Not good for me this morning! But I was very happy last night!

So after that evening of debauchery, I'm back to training tonight. I have my running group and I hope that my beer drinking last night doesn't hinder my running tonight. I'm sure I'll be fine!

2nd Time Danskin Finisher

I did it again! I did the Danskin and I improved my time even though I was pretty sure it was going to suck in the first 3 minutes of the swim. You see, I started out on the swim and was stroking away when I sucked up water down my windpipe. So I'm out there choking and being hit by all the swimmers in my wave (about 100 swimmers). After panicking for about 2 seconds, I whipped myself into shape. I did the breast stroke until I could fully breathe again and then got into my freestyle swimming grove. I finished the swim in 16 minutes and 1 second.

I burst out of the water, yelled yea with my Ma and run up to my bike. My transitions felt slow but they were faster than last year. It's hard on this race because the transition area is so large. I went out on the bike and cranked it up. I think I could have gone faster, ok I know I could have gone faster because I felt like I was out for a Sunday ride and had to push myself. I still maintained a 17.1 mph (Thank you Monica for noticing this!) so it wasn't that bad. I just would have preferred an 19 mph.

Then I transitioned to the run and actually sat down to change from my bike shoes to my running shoes. I never do that! I then took off for the run. The arches of my feet were killing me and I had the slowest run. It took me 43 minutes which was a bit of a disappointment because last year I did it in 41 minutes and I worked really hard on my run this year! Darn it! The run was nice in that I got to see almost all the Supergirls and other friends doing the race. Everyone looked so strong! All in all, I finished at 1:49 which was 5 minutes slower than my goal time but I'm not going to dwell on it. Instead I'm looking ahead to my Olympic race which I hope to finish in 4 hours. I can't believe that I'll be exercising for that long but I'll focus and do it strong!

Tonight I'm rollerblading with Mot before heading off to Trivia night at a local pub in order to train for the Urban Challenge this weekend. I need to get cracking on our outfits!

BTW, I'm not feeling blah anymore! I'm too tired! I actually took a nap on my couch last night. It's been years since I've done that!

Blah! and Double Blah!

Somedays it's just hard not to feel blah! All is going well. I have the Danskin Tri this weekend and a potential second date with R but I just don't want to be at work. I do have a nice after-work bike ride to keep my spirits up though. I'm meeting my sister-in-law for some riding this evening. Should be fun!

Off to be blah for a bit...

Swatching Madness

Last night after my RunChuckIt session, I met up with Mot for some chatting and people watching. Then I headed home and spent the rest of the evening swatching. I swatched for the Debbie Bliss Cable Knit Cardigan from Book Number 4which was inspired by Stella and her craftyness.

Here is my swatch in all her glory.

Now I just need to decide on the right color for this project! I'm thinking lavendar but I do also enjoy the stone color. Oh! Decisions to be made!

Training Triathlete

Last night was a fantastic training night. I went for a run around Greenlake with Mot and Julie. While faster than me, they really spurred me on and Julie said that I was running much better! Yea! Then Julie and I went to Masters swim and swam our little hearts out. It was great!

I have discovered a new evil today,Starbuck's Nutrional Information! Yikes!

I'm off to see exactly how many calories were in that Chai that I enjoyed yesterday!

Blogging Support

I love blogging! And I love getting support from other bloggers! Thank you Monica and Stella!

First my belated Puppetry of the P***s report. It was hysterically funny and so much fun! After awhile you forgot what you were exactly watching! The opening comic was fantastic too! I'd give this act 4 stars and say run out and watch them when they come to your town!

This weekend was both productive and wasteful! I took Zubin the dog on a run with a friend on Friday night. It was fantastic! Saturday morning was my running group so I took Zubin with me again. We walked with the walkers for about 2 miles and then ran the remaining 3 miles in. I really pushed it for the last 1/2 mile so that Zubin could get some good running in. The only problem was that it was pouring down rain on Saturday. Zubin and I were covered in mud and I had to give him a bath when we got back to his apartment. My friend (his owner) was out of town at a concert so I took him out for his exercising. He makes the runs a bit easier because he'll pull you through the tough times.

I worked at the Chateau both Saturday and Sunday evening so there wasn't much time for fun. I did visit REI on Sunday and purchased my new bike saddle, the Terry Butterfly. I'm having it installed tomorrow. I want them to check the height and make sure my bike is fit properly with the new seat. I also got a new Marmot Rain Jacket in Celery. I had a great shopping day yesterday!

I also made a visit to my favorite yarn shop on Friday. Somehow I managed to escape with only a few skeins of yarn! I had a question on a scarf I am making out of ribbon yarn and as usual they were very helpful.

OK off to make a living now!

Puppets

In just a few short hours, I will be attending Puppetry of the P***s at The Moore Theatre. How my friend got me involved in this, I'll never know! But I'm sure we will have fun and I've heard it's hysterical! I'll make sure to report in on that tomorrow.

Training is going well. I rollerbladed for 6 miles on Monday before swimming 45 laps at the pool. Yesterday I had Run ChuckIt Running. Tonight I am off for the play with swimming tomorrow. I'm going to be super strong for this Olympic Tri! I want to do well. I also want to run a 10 minute mile. I really wish I wasn't such a slow runner! I can swim and bike with the best of them but then I just drop so far behind in the run!

I'm trying to clean up my knitting stash and get my projects organized! I have so many in the works that I just need to concentrate on getting some done. I also need to figure out how to store my stash. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm thinking of putting the yarn in those vaccum sealed bags so bugs and other friends can't get to them while in storage.

Well off to get ready for the play, oh and I still have to get some more work done!

Moodie Monday

Every Monday morning I ask where my weekend has gone. So sad that I have to wait another 5 days until I can enjoy the thrill of the weekend. Until then I'll bask in the glow of this weekend's memories.

Saturday was spent sleeping in until a glorious 10:15 a.m.! It was wonderful! Stephanie called me at 10:30 and we talked for about 1/2 an hour. She got me up and ready to tackle some bedroom de-cluttering. I cleaned out most of the boxes and put the trash on the deck. Sad to say that it is still there!

Once Mot was off work, we went down to Ikea for some apartment shopping. It was a frightening sight! Hoards of children and parents filled the aisles. I told Mot that I would have to focus extra hard in order not to buy unneccessary items. It was a successful trip and I do need to go back for a few more items. I finally found the perfect kitchen rug and I got a new duvet cover. The best part of the trip was the purchase of two garbage cans for $1.00 each! Fantastic Ikea purchase!

I think I've found the perfect CD storage thing too. It's called Benno CD tower and holds up to 180 CD's. It's perfect!

When we got back to my place, Stephanie called again. We decided to see the movie "SeaBiscuit". It was tense but oh so good! Unfortunately seeing the movie cut into the time I had planned to finish my Mother's birthday gift. More on that later.

Sunday morning I awoke and headed down to Hale's Ales for a Brewery to Brewery bike ride. All in all it was about 44 miles and me and my sister-in-law joined the Cascade Bike Club for the ride. It was her longest ride ever and she did great! She did look beat at dinner that night. It was my Mom's birthday on Saturday but due to scheduling conflicts on her end, we went to dinner on Sunday at the Tap Room. It was a fantastically yummy meal. Mom loved her gifts but I had to give her the scarf unfinished. I told her I would finish it this week and I will! Bad Becki!

OK off to do some work now!