Eye Candy Friday

Scott and I took a drive up to Chuckanut Drive where I took this polaroid shot. This may be one of my most favorite polaroid shots.

Deadlines Mean Nothing!

As March 1st looms in the very near distance, I thought I'd provide an update on my January goals.



I've been diligently working on my 101 in 1001 list .

1. Read all unread Bill Bryson books (The Palace Under the Alps and Over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries, Down Under, The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words) -- I am waiting for most of these books from the library so I will miss the March 1st deadline on this one. My new deadline is April 15th.

2. Complete the Master Hand Knitting, Level 1 program --I am nearing completition on this goal but again, I have a new deadline of April 15th.

3. Knit two socks at once on two circular needles -- I am going to tackle this one once I've completed the Master Hand Knitting, Level 1 program.

4. Make an emergency preparedness kit for my car -- I think next weekend will be my weekend to update the kit.

5. Floss every day for a month - Done!

6. Recycle my old cell phone Done!

7. Replace all regular batteries in my house with rechargeable batteries Done and you can check it out here!

8. Document an entire day with photos Done and you can check it out here!

9. Do my taxes in 2008 DONE!

10. Buy a surge protector for the computer that shuts off energy when the computer is asleep. Done and you can check it out here!

11. Buy Life.doc and use it Done and you can check it out here!

12. Knit a sweater for me! -- I'm still working on the Central Park Hoodie but that has had to take a back seat until I am done with the Knitter Project.

13. Do 100 crunches at once Done and you can check it out here!

Whew! Out of my 13 goals, I've accomplished 8 of them which leaves me with 5 more to complete. Not all will be done by Saturday but I'm going to try to knock a few more off the list!

Penelope Inspiration

Over the weekend, I saw the movie Penelope starring Christina Ricci. It was a fantastic story but I quickly became obsessed with Penelope's clothing, mainly her coat but also her fantastic scarf.



Now I want to know where I can get the pattern for the scarf or by this fantastic coat. I must have them even if I have to figure out how to create them.



Aren't they just lovely?

Weekend Explorations and Knitting

Whew! I think I need a rest from my delightful weekend. It was sunny here in Seattle which meant it would be criminal to be inside. CRIMINAL!



Saturday morning I met up with some friends to see, "Penelope" which was super cute! Afterwards I walked over to the Seattle Olympic Sculpture Park where I met up with Scott for photos. After a few hours of roaming around, we headed to the Cupcake Royale for treats and caffine before swinging by Golden Gardens to soak up more sun.



While at Golden Gardens, I also worked on my "Splash" photo for the upcoming Seattle Flickr Brews & Views competition. I love contests!



Sunday morning was a 6 mile run which I mistakenly thought would be easy but was hard, hard, hard. I slugged through it. Cheered at the halfway point and yipped with joy at the end before eating bagels with Julie. We so needed them!

Scott and I had talked about driving up to Chuckanut Drive if Sunday proved sunny and when it did, we packed up the car and headed up North. I knit on my Clapotis along the way and made some good progress.



I used the glove box to hold my pattern and crowed about my genius to Scott.



We stopped at an Oyster Farm where Scott showed me the lighthouse made out of oyster shells. It was quite wee and a delightful spot for my 365 self portrait of the day.



We hiked around the beach at the state park and drove through Fairhaven which is an interesting little city. We then headed back to Seattle and made it in time to watch the Oscars. Scott was excited that the Coen Brothers won for "No Country for Old Men" but I'm sticking to my principles about that movie. I hated it and do not understand why people love it so much! I do however think that the guy who won played the Psycho Killer completely deserved his Oscar. He was so good!

It was a good weekend. I love weekends like this one. I really do.

Eye Candy Friday

I checked on a friend's dog this week and so I headed over to her house bright and early to let him out. Unfortunately he wasn't too hot on my visit so early in the mroning so instead of the delightful romp I envisioned, I was outside alone while the dog snoozed inside. I took the opportunity to try out my Land Polaroid again. This time I was able to get a clear picture by laying the camera on the deck railing and not moving. I guess this won't be a hand-held Polaroid since this camera needs a long exposure time. I love this creepy garage which I found out is actually her neighbors and not hers. Darn it! I really wanted to poke around this place.

The Knitter Project

Elizabeth of Gee You Knit is hard at work on her senior thesis and I've been hard at work on my piece of it.

The Knitter Project's "aim of is to create autobiographical portraits of knitters. Each knitter will knit an item for this project and tag it as the project moves along. The tags will be your journal during this project—every time you pick up your knitting you will write a short entry and add it onto your work. When the piece is finished, the tags will not only indicate start-and-stop points, but will also be a record of the life "between the stitches."



I'm making a Clapotis since I loved knitting it the first time but I'm dreadfully behind on my Clapotis and so I've been frantically knitting since the projects are due in Philadelphia on March 30th. I have a new deadline! MUST....KNIT....FASTER!

101 in 1001 Updates!

Two more 101's knocked off my 101 in 1001 list!

31. Floss every day for a month


One of my goals for my 101 in 1001 is to floss my teeth everyday for a month in a futile attempt to make me floss more often. I started flossing everyday on January 20th and now on February 20th, I hve flossed officially for 30 days. I may even keep this up!

31. Floss every day for a month

41. Start recycling my food scraps with either a compost pile or in yard rubbish recycle bin.



Scott's place offers Yard Waste Recycling which includes food scraps and since I'm spending most of my time there, I've set up a little composting bin which I'll empty weekly into the Yard Waste Recycling bin. Easy Peasy!

41. Start recycling my food scraps with either a compost pile or in yard rubbish recycle bin.

Self Portrait Tuesday - Blue

This is my entry for Self Portrait Tuesday's February theme of "Blue". Whenever I feel blue, I take to the bath. Devil duckies help take off the edge.

Another 101 in 1001 DONE!

45. Document an entire day with photos



1. Time for Bed 10:45 pm, 2. Fruits of my labor 9:35 pm, 3. Winding Yarn and Watching Lost 9:00 pm, 4. Smelling the Rose 8:00 pm, 5. Dished up 7:20 pm, 6. Ready to eat 7:15 pm, 7. Drinking Wine 6:35 pm, 8. Lasagne Baking 6:25 pm, 9. Awesome Girlfriend 6:20 pm, 10. Valentines Settings 5:38 pm, 11. Scott's Place 5:37 pm, 12. Setting up for dinner 5:36 pm, 13. Library 5:26 pm, 14. Flowers and Bread 5:25 pm, 15. Grocery Store 5:21 pm, 16. Leaving for the Day 4:58 pm, 17. Lunch 12:50 pm, 18. Sunflare 12:28 pm, 19. Road Moss 12:17 pm, 20. Plane 12:22 pm, 21. Basketball 12:22 pm, 22. Trees 12:25 pm, 23. Plane 12:22 pm, 24. Hole 12:23 pm, 25. Swing 12:24pm, 26. Park Trees 12:21pm, 27. Me on Swing 12:24 pm, 28. 8 12:20 pm, 29. Monkey 12:20 pm, 30. Playground 12:20 pm, 31. Shoes 12:19 pm, 32. Playing 12:18 pm, 33. Roses from a Boy 11:45 am, 34. Steady 1020 am, 35. Working 10:15 am, 36. Valentine's Donut 10:00 am

45. Document an entire day with photos

Less Television

Since I hooked up with Scott, there has been less television in my life. At first I thought that would be a problem but now more than 9 months later, I find that I am OK with it. Scott doesn't have cable but his television does have rabbit ears (I insisted on that!) and we have a Netflix subscription so I still watch some television. I mean, really life without "Lost" or "The Today Show", it wouldn't be worth it.

I have found that I enjoy watching less television. I enjoy sitting in silence and enjoying my activities (knitting, reading, checking Flickr) without the extra noise of the television in the background. I do quickly fall back into bad habits though when I'm dogsitting or at my place -- then the TV seems to be on all the time.

Isn't it funny though how you can give up an addiction and not miss it at all?

Mid-Month Deadline Check-In

Back in January, I set some goals for myself on this here blog and I think it is time for a check-in.

I've been diligently working on my 101 in 1001 list and it's time for a quick check-in on my progress.

1. Read all unread Bill Bryson books (The Palace Under the Alps and Over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries, Down Under, The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words) -- I am waiting for most of these books from the library so I will probably miss the March 1st deadline on this one.

2. Complete the Master Hand Knitting, Level 1 program -- I have been slaving away at the questions and started the hat yesterday. I really want to make the March 1st deadline on this one!



3. Knit two socks at once on two circular needles -- I am going to push this one to a later due date.

4. Make an emergency preparedness kit for my car -- I think next weekend will be my weekend to update the kit.

5. Floss every day for a month -- I started doing this on January 20th and I haven't missed a single day! Only 10 more days until I've accomplished this.

**edited** 2/12/08 6. Recycle my old cell phone -- I have this ready to go but I need to charge the cell phone up so I can delete numbers. Unfortunately I've lost the charger so I need to get it charged at the store or something. I found my old cell phone chargers and deleted the private information. Today I packaged them up and mailed them off for recycling!





7. Replace all regular batteries in my house with rechargeable batteries -- I need to take inventory and figure out what I need to replace with rechargeable batteries versus regular ones.

8. Document an entire day with photos -- I'm trying to decide if I should document a regular workday or a weekend. I'm thinking weekend.

9. Do my taxes in 2008 DONE! and I'm getting a refund!

10. Buy a surge protector for the computer that shuts off energy when the computer is asleep. -- I just need to purchase and get it done.

11. Buy Life.doc and use it -- I have this, I just need to fill it out!

12. Knit a sweater for me! -- Central Park Hoodie is in progress and I have completed the back and the left front. I just need to get the right front and sleeves done.

13. Do 100 crunches at once -- I think I'm going to go do these RIGHT NOW!

**edited** AND DONE!

Eye Candy Friday

This is possibly my favorite picture from this week. It was a hard week to take photos due to the cloudy, grey weather but I did get this one! Happy Friday!

Simplicity Swap

I read the Scent of Water blog every single day and every single day, I fall more in love with Megan's simplicity, writing and style.

So when she suggested a photography swap based on the idea of Simplicity, I leapt at the opportunity and quickly signed up. Then I became stymied as to what Simplicity would look like in a photo. I wasn't sure how I could capture the emotion. I prayed for snow but when it didn't appear, I took myself (with Scott) down for a walk along the canal in Fremont. It is a place where I feel life is simple, where simplicity bangs on my door and invites me in and so this is where I took my photo for the simplicity swap.



Then I went home and I made it all complicated again by messing with the image in photoshop and adjusting the contrast, etc. After looking at the image again, I decided to mail out my original image (on the left) but I kept the processed one (on the right) too because even in it's complexity, it still tells me that it is simple.

Also last night I got a swift. I am out of control with the winding but oh is it ever soothing! The cat is also vastly interested in the contraption and tried to play with it last night. He was not amused when I put it away.

Power Couple Socks

This weekend I dedicated myself to finishing up my Power Couple Scoutj Socks because I really wanted to wear them. Really badly! So I knit on Friday night and I knit on Saturday and on Sunday I really knuckled down and knit until I reached the toe.



The socks really wanted to be a pair and so once I arrived at the toe, I kitchenered my little heart out. I have a bit of the yarn left so I added it to my sock scraps pile. I'm going to be making a pair of sock scrap socks really soon. They will be awesome in their stripy goodness.

Eye Candy Friday - Holga Style

Last weekend, Holga fans from the Seattle Flickr group meet up at the Pike Place Market to test out their Holgas. I had so much fun and I still have so much to learn about this toy camera.