My Typical Day


This is a very heavy image posting! Just a warning!

I got up while dogsitting and was greeted by Lizzy!


Are you up yet?



I got up and after getting ready began my favorite commute down the 405!



First a coffee though!



Traffic, and more traffic





I’m almost there! I think!

Once at work, I checked my email and found out I had been accepted to the Marine Corp Marathon in DC on Oct. 31st. Looks like I have a lot of running in my future!



Then I had my favorite breakfast of granola and yogurt with a scoop of jam! Yum!



Next I had to deal with the boxes. We ordered 5,000 folders and they are living in my cube for the time being. Do you know how many boxes 5,000 folders fill?



Then I had to get lunch for my boss

This is the walk from my office to her favorite lunch place.



These men were a fashion mishap! What not to wear would have a heyday with them!



She likes Taco Time.

Now it was time for my lunch! Mac ‘n Cheese and a Salad.





Back to work! This is the view of my desk



Afternoon munchies – Chocolate is good! These are mini-Shrek M&Ms



Time to go home! First coffee with a friend!



Yum! That was a good Ice Grande Nonfat Chai!



More traffic on the way home!



I’m almost there!



I’m beat!



Here’s my street!



Time for dinner! Why is everything I’ve eaten today been in a bowl?



Time for Destiny to go outside!



I’m sitting outside with her eating dinner



She’s busy exploring.



I bought this frog for my Mom. He’s so cute!



Time for a bath!



Destiny thinks water is so wrong though!



All Clean!



Television watching and knitting!





Relaxing at the end of the day! Nothing better than knitting and reading to finish off a day!

I've accepted the marathon

I've accepted this. I made this decision long ago and fate granted me my wish. Now I just need to prepare to run and run very far. Stephanie is coming along and Tracy and Jeff will be there so it will be good. Look for many more posts about running.

Whew! It feels good to have made a decision. And it will feel great to accomplish this goal!

OMG!

This morning, I arrived to this in my email box.



An email saying I had been accepted to the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC on October 31st.

I AM FREAKING OUT! Who am I to think I can run this far? I need to think about this. I know I've been giving Rachel advice but it's far easier to give advice than actually do this!

What I had planned to show you today was this --


My progess on Elise!

And a close-up of her neat-o stitches.


But I really need to go and freak out for now. Better stuff later, I promise!

Also work is insane! I have a huge pitch to help out on for tomorrow and my boss is in continual meetings! Whoa is me!

Musical Idols

On Saturday night, Matya got to meet her musical idol. She was giddy with excitment when she told me about seeing Angelique Kidjo in concert and then how she had the opportunity to meet her and have her picture taken.



Now while I opted not to attend the concert, I'm glad Mot did. She got to meet Angelique which brought a huge smile to her face!

As for me, I've been busy knitting on my sock and Elise. I want to finish both but with all my triathlon training, the knitting has slowed a bit. I will however be attending the Fiber Raven Soiree on Sunday! I love any chance to meet more Seattle knitters so Sunday will be a great day!

I'm still running after all this time...

Looking like a true survivor...I ran 8 miles along Alki Beach with Julie today. With the wind strongly fighting me, I quietly sang some Elton John in my head until I could hear Britney Spears on my headphones again. Yes, I do listen to cheesy music while running. I have two criteria for running music: 1) It has a good, quick beat and 2) I could sing the words in my head while running.

Today started out cloudy and rainy but during my run, the sun decided to shine and it made for a good run. It only the wind hadn't decided to blow! It made the last mile almost unbearable!

Somehow it's been a busy day with barely any time for reading and knitting! I'm about to rectify that with some quality time with my wool. I have too many unfinished projects to not settle in for quality yarn time.

Inspired by Becky, I did however receive the following in the mail!



I too plan to make a chocolate poncho like this:



But unless I can find Phildar Ruban yarn in the US, I'll definitely need to go to France in November with Stephanie. She laughed when I told her that now I have to go to France to get yarn! I believe her words were, "Well, whatever gets you to come with!" Here's to hoping I can afford it.

Time to knit!

Sock Knitting

Almost a year ago I started making my first pair of socks. I didn't get very far and this is how I left the single sock in September of last year.



Lately I've been working on it to give me some relief from Elise. I'm about 1/2 inch from turning the heel which to be frank scares me! I am planning on attending the Fiber Raven Soiree on June 13th, so I may implore the very kind Ryan for some assistance! For now I will fain bravery and plow through. I may rip, rip but at least I will have tried my best!

My sock as of June 2004



Wish me luck on the heel! Otherwise I will implore Ryan to have some pity on my poor sockless feet!

P.S. I got the color back in my scanner!

Picture Excitement

Tuesday morning I had some pictures developed at the local drugstore. I was super excited to scan them in today to show you my Elise sweater. Then disaster struck! The scanner would only scan in my photos in black and white.

See!



Completely Outrageous! Tonight I will visit my digital camera friend with Elise to obtain some proper photos to show you.

In other exciting news, I have a new travel companion. Her name is Gina and she's about 9 inches tall.

Here she is (in her black and white glory) with Destiny in the background.



Gina is actually the travel companion to my group of friends, the Supergirls. Our friend who gave us that name actually has Gina's boyfriend, Reggie who travels with her. While in Portland this last weekend, she found Gina! The joy! So this week, Gina has been exploring Bothell and Destiny has welcomed her with wide open paws!

Off to have more adventures with Gina!

More Patterns to Knit than Time to Knit!

I want to knit everything I see lately. Everything!

I want to knit Gigi and Rogue and a beautiful chocolate poncho inspired by Fluffa! Of course, this is in addition to all the other projects I have going on and the projects I just have plans for. What I need is more time to knit and faster knitting hands! I have all the patterns for the above projects just no yarn! The only yarn proving to be a challenge to find in the US is the Chocolate Phildar Ruban yarn but I'm hoping to visit France in November and that would be the time to make a huge Phildar purchase!

The problem, commuting is seriously cutting into my knitting time. I could take the bus but unfortunately the last two weeks, I’ve had appointments right after work. All of which I’ve been late for due to the horrible state of traffic around here. Is it too much to ask that my 20 minute commute not swell to an hour and a half just because some raindrops fell? I live in Seattle, it RAINS all the time here. Learn how to drive!

OK enough ranting! I do have good news. I’ve started Proust. This time with proper guidance from Cari. I originally started reading "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower". Luckily Cari stepped in and asked me how I had enjoyed "Swann's Way". Well I hadn’t! My local bookstore was not helpful in the Proust fashion so I’ve started over and what a blessing that is. I adore Proust so far. His words just flow over you. That’s another thing I hope to spend this long weekend doing, reading Proust. I read him slower. I want to take the time to absorb the words. No rushing on these books for me. They don’t deserve that.

So this weekend, I hope to knit, read Proust, relax (I think I need it) and see movies! Hopefully this rain will clear up and I can get some running and biking in too. Lots to do for a three-day weekend!

Elise: The sweater that might kill me in the making

Last night I was showing my knitting off to my Mom when she noticed a mistake. And as if she were channeling Becky, she said I must rip. And so I did.

As soon as I pulled the sweater off the needles, I said “Let’s check and see if I was making it the right size.” Well, I wasn’t. It was huge! The “back” of the sweater wrapped almost completely around my body. After a brief family discussion (I’m making the entire household participate in the making of this sweater), we decided that I should not try to increase the pattern instructions but should just knit up one skein in the largest size before rechecking the garment size.

So last night in order to not lose any momentum, I cast on for the largest size and started knitting away. I’m about half way through the skein and have switched to circular needles. This way I’ll be able to better measure the sweater while it is still attached to the needles. I am praying quite hard that I won’t have to start yet again on this sweater because it really shouldn’t be this hard but for some reason, it really is!

LORDY



This is the license plate I saw today after being cut off by a small dark colored car getting off I-405 in Bellevue. And I did yell, LORDY! I figure this license plate is really a public service announcement letting people know to stay out of the way of this car!

Almost everyday when I get off the freeway at this exit, I'm cut off by someone in a rush. It's getting to the point that I'm afraid I'll be in an accident one day. And don't try to honk at these cars to warn them of their dangerous actions. Last time I did that, I was shown some very special sign language. I guess I 'll just have to keep my eyes open and very watchful in this area.

I measured Elise last night and I've completed about 10 inches of the 22 I need to complete the back. I figure that means I'm at least 30% done with the whole sweater. Must. Knit. More. I want this to be done so I can wear it and casually mention that I made it and have people gush over it. Is that wrong to want?

Happy and Safe driving to all! And if you live in Bellevue or Seattle, watch out for Lordy!

Impatient

I'm impatient to know when this



will become this!



It's hard wanting something to be done! But handknitting this sweater is teaching me to be patient. No, I don't have photos yet (Mot, I need to get a digital pic of the potential sweater!) but I will soon.

This has been the hardest project I've completed yet and it's solely due to the fact that I've had to adjust the pattern. I've signed up for a pattern adjustment class (hopefully I'm in) and that will definitely go a long way towards helping me with this and future sweaters!

Went for a 5 mile run tonight. It was hot but good. We ran most of the way but ended up walking the last bit in. There was a hill and I don't like hills! That and it was hot and well I walked!

Off to get more Elise done so I can solve being impatient!

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!

Counting down the minutes until the time clock says I can go on home! Tick tock tick tock. Actually I am really loving this position but I get to see Shrek 2 tonight! I’ve heard it’s hilarious and I can’t wait to laugh!

Weekend plans include working at the coffee shop (only on Sunday this week though!), running 8 miles and knitting on Elise. Oh and I'm going to a play on Saturday where the audience can attend naked to receive $5 off the admission. I think I'd need a bigger savings to show my bare butt in public!

I discovered the most precious picture of a sheep yesterday and I just have to share it with you. Visit Dunstan's photography portfolio for the cutest baby sheep ever!

And how can one resist Jen of Two Purl's pup! Check out Oscar. I think he's pouting here.

The amount of cute animal photos out there are too much for me! I mean there is Dooce with her pup and brand new baby and of course, Super Cute Destiny!


Have a fanastic weekend!

Knitting, swimming and running

Last night some friends and I met for our very first Monday Night run in Madison Park. There are of course some kinks to still work out such as if we want to meet in Madison Park or if the time is right but over all it was a wonderful run. I haven’t run three miles in so long that it was practically joyous when I reached three miles and thought, I’m done, not ok only a billizion more miles to go. I felt wonderful!

After that quick jaunt, I went over to the pool to get a few quick laps in. While waiting for my friends to meet me, I knit a few rows on Elise. She was looking nice (well more on that later). We all quickly changed and scurried over to the pool. I was telling them about a mutual friend who had finally found a wonderful man to share her life with. One of them cracked a joke about whether or not this was the man our mutual friend had reported was h**g like a horse. This was of course funny to us but what made it even funnier was that the friend that said it was not aware of the guy standing right behind her laughing himself at her words. Let’s just say this made for a humorous swim.

Once I arrived home after fortifying myself with some yummy pizza, I dug back into knitting Elise. Unfortunately one of the needle point protectors had fallen off leading to some stitches slipping off. I had to restart Elise for the third time! I couldn’t get the stitches to stop sliding and slipping so I just started over. I’m back to where I was and hope to begin making some real progress (accidents aside) tonight. In fact, I think I’ll be knitting on lunch. Got the Elise making bug!

From the what not to knit portion of this site:



From Erika Knight's newest book, New Knits What is sad is there are lovely, lovely patterns in this book. I just can't get past the idea of a knitted slipcover for my arm chair!

I would love to knit this though.



Off to knit!

Happy Birthday Matya!



Today my best friend turns 29 and all I can think about is how I've known her since we were 12 years old, since we were gawky teens with metal in our mouths and funky way too high bangs. We were the queens of the high bang. We've seen each other through embarrassing moments, the glimpse of new love, the heartache of lost love, moments of screaming words and moments of forgiveness. It's not often that one acquires a friend who you know will always be there no matter how much you screw up or how rotten you are to them when you are just feeling mad at the world.



The back of this reads “Two geeks at Old Faithful”

I was looking at a photo we had taken in Yellowstone National Park during college and I remembered with a huge smile how we made a potential disaster into one of our funniest moments. I worked in the park during college and one summer, Mot came out to visit me. We took off from Mammoth Hot Springs where I was living to visit Cody, Wyoming. We made it as far as Lake Yellowstone where we had stopped to get chocolate dipped apples when my car’s starter died. Of course we were worried because this was a national park, not a city where a mechanic is nearby and hotels are abundant.

Somehow we got a mechanic to take the car off to be fixed. Next came the problem of finding a place to stay for the night. Luckily since I was an employee, we were able to get a room in the hotel for the night. Of course, the car troubles were the funniest thing in the world to us and we literally fell down laughing in front of the hotel doorman (this is the “fancy” hotel in the park) and almost pee’d out pants laughing in the hotel manager’s office where we had gone to request a room. He kept getting up to check on things and we’d start laughing. He’d come back into the room to find us wiping tears from our eyes.

We ended up having the best time and in the morning walked to the mechanic (past a rather large moose) to pick up the car and heading off to Old Faithful and the rest of the park. We spent time at Lake Yellowstone eating Wonder Bread and Peanut Butter, pretending to chase Buffalo and coming up with schemes on how to stay longer. No friends like these are hard to come by.

Through the years, we’ve had such adventures from skiing in blizzards, to flying off cliffs into bushes (that was me and Mot told me to stay in the bushes on the edge of the cliff so she could get a picture, luckily another member of our group helped me back up before any serious injury could happen) and making fools of ourselves on a daily basis. And it’s not many friends who would allow their friend to become obsessed with knitting and then allow that knitting crazed friend to take a zillion pictures of them modeling the newest knitted projects.

So on this day which celebrates the beginning of my friend’s 30th year, I feel so lucky to have found such a friend. One that I hope I can write even funnier things about when we are 75 and I’ve dyed my hair pink and Mot’s blue.

Happy Birthday Motty Potty!



We took this one a ski lift during a snow storm that eventually turned into a blizzard. We were so cold!

Froggin'



I frogged it. I frogged Elise and for a few moments after I did it, I felt ill. Then I began to feel better. I knew it was the way to go.

I recast on this weekend and am almost back to where I was. All I can say is it looks so much better. I don't have pictures to show but I promise to work on that situation.

It was a weekend full of coffee and work. I need a day off (now I'm whiney! I just had 5 months off!). Soon I hope to have just the one job but for now, I'll stay at the coffee place full of rules.

OK enough writing! I gotta get back to knitting Elise!

Must See Movie



Go and see it! So good! So funny!

Debbie Bliss Elise -- I knitted some more on this tank last night after consulting with my father regarding my math skills. He's much better at math and actually seems to understand knitting patterns (once I explained the short hand). I feel like I've already run into a problem though and I'm only on row 4! There is a diagonal line of sl1 that runs up the sweater. It lines up (diagonally for the first three rows and then goes off on the fourth 5 stitches from where it should. According to the proper pattern (before my upsizing) this is correct. I sense that I'll need to visit my local SNB for some advice. For now, I'm going to plug ahead a few more rows and see if it works itself out.

The world seems be going crazy this week. Everything seems on edge. Personally, I think I just need some time to chill out (with some quiet time for knitting and reading). Last night, I skipped Chuckit Running and climbing (sorry Stephanie!) to just rest. I think it helped! Next week, I will go climbing! I can't wait to get back into it and get really good like Stephanie.

Kimmy went to the chapel and got married



This Saturday my college roommate got married. The picture above shows us on the party bus during her bachlorette party. And yes, a fun time was had by all.

Here is the entire party (excluding me since I was the photographer) at the famous Fremont Troll.



Kim's wedding was wonderful and beautiful and as usual, I cried a lot during the ceremony. I can't wait to see the wedding pictures though!

And then today, I cast on (finally) for Elise by Debbie Bliss. I've done some pattern adjusting to make it fit me so I do hope it all turns out well. I am loving the yarn and will post some pictures as soon as I have more than 2 rows done.