Hello, 2009. Nice to meet you.

Clearly one of the things I need to work on this year is follow-through and consistency. Alas.

I read quite a bit in 2008. 62 books, if you combine unabridged audio and actual paper books. A few favorites:

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. A fun and child-appropriate story that is beautifully written. This set me on the path of exploring my purpose.
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Enlighteningly good fun.
• Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. If you don't like to laugh when things get seriously, um, effed up, then this isn't the book for you. But it's hysterical if you see the humor in humanity's failings.
  
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. This was on sale at Audible for less than $10, so I didn't even read the description before I purchased it. It turned out to be one of the weirdest, most wonderful books I've ever read.
• The Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris. This series got somewhat buried in Twilight mania this year, but at the suggestion of a few friends I delved into these books. Boy, was I glad I did! They're wickedly good fun. Part mystery, part comedy and part romance, the narrating main character is endearing - funny and likable, and the introduction of new characters occurs at a perfect pace throughout the series. It is the basis for the HBO series True Blood, though the show takes a much less comedic approach.

My goal for this year is 75 books, and lots and lots of knitting. Let's hope I can stick to it!

Ravelry Rocks

I am obsessed with Ravelry lately. The forums are so lively and fun, I wish I could read, post and knit all at the same time.

In other news, I had a lovely trip to Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago. Shawn and I went for just a couple of days, and had a wonderful time!

We stayed at the Hotel George, where we got a great deal. The staff was super friendly and knowledgeable. And free wine = yay.

Our first day we walked around the Captiol, and visited the National Botanic Gardens. The orchid show was phenomenal! And it was also the first place I noticed that there were so many interracial couples around. I've never noticed so many in one place before! And all combinations, which was rad.

After the gardens, we visited Stitch DC Capitol Hill store. What a blast! Marie, the owner is AWESOME. Wow, I wish I could visit every week! Shawn sat down for an hour and got restaurant tips, while I made new friends and hemmed and hawed over what to buy. I finally decided on a few things, including a skein of Tilli Tomas silk beaded yarn dyed especially for the Stitch DC store!

That night we visited the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial. It was a bit chilly so I got to wear the Cashsoft and mohair ascot I'd knitted for the occasion.

On Sunday, we did tons of fun stuff to make up for the somberness of the war memorials, so we went to the Air and Space Museum and Spy Museum. So much fun! Fake espionage and flight simulators always make for a good time. I can't wait to go back again!

Good Day Sunshine

Today was wonderful!  I turned 33 and had the best birthday I've ever had.

Highlights:

1.  Flowers!!

These are from my husband.  He knows I love daisies, and had lemons put in the vase to remind me to make "lemonade" out of the lemons my job seems to lob at me daily.

The ones on the left are from my sister, Danielle, her husband and my nieces.  And the one on the right is from my mother.  Can you tell Mom's a florist? It definitely has its advantages, the primary of which is that my desk looks like a funeral home for every special occasion.  I love it!

2.  Good Wishes!  My parents, sisters and nieces all called at various times today with birthday wishes.  Best part?  I finally got my frequent birthday wish:  Mom waited until after 7 to call and tell me the story of my birth!  Ah, blissful sleep.  I also got wonderfully sweet wishes from Miss SinCA, Jeff and my Livejournal and Ravelry friends.

3.   Food!  A bunch of my co-workers took me to Tomatina for my fave, the steak piadine.  It's the primary reason I fail at vegetarianism.  And then Shawn took me to Chili's - primarily so that waiters could sing to me, loudly, over molten chocolate cake.  Tomorrow:  Falafel and banana shakes in San Jose!

4.  YARN!  I received two super fun skeins from my friend, Carmen, as well as a myrtlewood bowl her husband carved himself.  And I started 

knitting an ascot for vacation this weekend:

I never said I was a master photographess.  And it kind of looks like boy shorts right now.  But I swear, it's going to be so cute that you'll beg me to make you one.  And then I'll promise I will.  And then I'll cast on and get all excited.  And then I'll see something shiny and put the ascot down to chase it, only to forget I had begun to knit it in the first place.

Wow.  This seems such a self involved post.  What I am really trying to say is that this has been so wonderful.  I am surrounded by wonderful, generous people.  I'm a lucky girl!

The Saga Continues

I've found a reason not to recreate the shrug:  it won't look good on me even if I finish it perfectly.

I thought I was immune to the "bulk" part of bulky yarn.  As cute as this is going to look on the hanger, I'm going to look like that fat rabbit, only yellow and wearing really cute shoes.

So now, decisions, decisions.  I need to figure out what to knit, and tonight, before I fall out of love with the yarn.  I'm debating whether to knit a lap blanket, or something scarfy that I can mix with a gold silk I have.  Decisions, decisions....

Welcome

I have finally found something I don't mind posting about online: KNITTING!

My current project is a shrug I'm making out of Misti Alpaca...you can find all the deets on my Ravelry. I know, I know. No pictures. There WILL be though. You mark my words. Or don't, because I'm probably lying.

I've encountered a few issues:

1. It's too small. Yeah, all you swatchers are snickering right now. SHUT UP!
2. My finishing looks HORRIBLE. The raglan seams look like I stapled them together with weird...yarn staples. I know I'm a better knitter than this, but can't figure out how I made the seams so wrinkly.

I've decided it's time for radical intervention. First step: Find a finishing course. I'll probably sign up at Article Pract or Knit One One. Step two: Rip that sucker to shreds. I love the yarn too much to let it sit in my pile of rotting yarn corpses never to be picked up again.