okay, so i got one done.

So, I am thisclose to finishing up the baby blanket (I've only got 7 rows left!), but I only have one FO to post for y'all -- the socks:




I love that yarn -- I think I'll get some more soon, when I've managed to (1) use up some of the tons I've got here at home, and (2) budget a bit better. This month, I'm trying to limit myself to only the knitting necessities, such as needles required for a pattern & yarn that I already have... Wish me luck!! xoxo

p.s. I've been meaning & meaning to thank my SP8 for her awesome postcard from Naarden in the Netherlands -- it's this fantastic star-shaped city! I just love it. Behold:


Is that not awesome? I so have to visit there.

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Nobrow AUTHOR: John Seabrook
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

grr.

I am determined to finish up a couple of knitting projects that I'm so ready to be done with. Cross your fingers; I should have some FO's posted tomorrow!! xoxo

case of the Tuesdays

I feel like I got almost nothing done that I wanted to this weekend, but oh well. I did at least have fun!

Yesterday we went to a cook-out in Malden, where we stuffed ourselves on Brazilian sausage and hot dogs and cheeses and way too much champagne. Christine snapped this great photo of me with an inchworm crawling from my finger to my wine glass -- I think it's neat enough to post, despite that I look like Gollum in the background there....


I hope everyone is recovering well from a great long weekend! Just remember, it's a four-day week...w00t. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Nobrow AUTHOR: John Seabrook
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

layer cake

Well, it's been a busy weekend already. Saturday morning, I woke up early to meet Bethany; we bought a ton of fruits & vegetables at Haymarket! Then I trekked out to Roxbury to garden for a couple of hours with The Food Project -- it was physical labor (turning soil, seeding, digging ditches), but a lot of fun -- I do hope to get back there again. They can always use volunteers, and it's great exercise, not to mention a good excuse to be outdoors!

After I got home & showered all the dirt off myself, Dan & I went to Caffe Paradisio down the street to meet Frankie and his wife for a few drinks and some lovely conversation. I adore those two! They were so nice, and they know so much North End history. And Frankie is involved in so many things! He left us with a tape of himself on Emeril; we'll watch it soon.

We next headed to the Quincy Market area to run some quick errands, forgetting the throngs of tourists that come out of the woodwork on holiday weekends! But we managed to fight our way through the crowds and get everything done. Then Dan headed home, and I was off to Downtown Crossing to meet up with Rachel. We wandered around there for a while, and then around the Cambridgeside Galleria for quite a while, before I realized how late it was & hightailed it back home! Dan was hungry and in the mood for a movie, so we grabbed some kebab for dinner before seeing X-Men: The Last Stand (which was good, if a bit confusing to me; I also far preferred the previous two X-Men movies to this one...).

This morning, Bethany & I sliced fruit for a yummy fruit salad that we brought over to a pleasant, lazy brunch at Ashu's, and after we left, she & I spent part of the afternoon in Davis Square. We were headed to Magpie, but as we exited the T, we heard drums & realized that a Memorial Day parade was just passing by! So we paused to watch, clapping for the marchers, before we continued to the store.

Then it was back to Downtown Crossing for a Borders run with Dan, followed by a dinner at Know Fat. We walked all the way home, and I've been moving as little as I can since...I'm so tired from this weekend! Thank goodness I've got tomorrow to catch up on sleep...but then there's Christine & Paulo's picnic to go to.... Ah, I have such a love-hate relationship with busy weekends! I hope everyone is enjoying their time off! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Nobrow AUTHOR: John Seabrook
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

shows

So, after years of making tentative plans with people to go to a show, I finally got to see Movin' Out last night. And um...yeah. Please remind me next time that I don't really love musicals. Or maybe it was just that one. I have only been to maybe 3 musicals in my entire life, so I can't remember, but don't the actors ever speak? Or is it all singing? And, even if it is in fact all singing, don't the actors usually do the singing, instead of one guy performing everything? Granted, I realize they wanted to keep consistency (in this case, keeping consistent with someone who sounds as close to Billy Joel as they could find), but still. He wasn't Billy Joel, and that was obvious, so I almost would have just preferred to hear the performers singing the tunes. I dunno...it just didn't do it for me. I won't go into it any further. I just wasn't too thrilled with the show. As Dan pointed out, they also butchered some of the songs, and the choreography wasn't too thrilling (although the dancers were impressive). I guess I just expected too much, knowing that it had won numerous awards & much praise. It didn't really win my heart. I'm not really a musicals kinda person, though; maybe that was my problem, to begin with...

Anyway, a few hours ago, I attended another show...this one a concert, and I watched it from the comfort of our roof! There was some sort of performance being put on by a group of schoolkids in the yard of the Old North Church. I tried to discreetly snap a photo:


The music was impressive, considering it was performed by children all younger than 15! And it was quite a pleasant surprise to get to "attend" an unexpected noonday performance in the middle of a workday. Not bad.

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: One Hundred Demons AUTHOR: Lynda Barry
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

*sigh*

When I was 16 years old, I developed the second of the only 2 celebrity crushes I've ever really harbored. (The first was directed towards River Phoenix, when I first saw Stand By Me at the age of 8.) My sisters took me to see a sneak preview of Good Will Hunting, and one of the actors in the movie caught my eye. No, it wasn't Matt Damon or Ben Affleck, although I have to admit they are both handsome & charismatic men. Instead, I had eyes only for Casey Affleck. Ever since then (with the good help of friends & family who are well aware of my harmless little "crush"), I have followed Mr. Affleck's career; I think I have seen almost every movie he's been in since. I find him to be not only very attractive, but also a fantastic actor.

Yesterday, my sister called me up & told me that both of the Afflecks were nearby at the wharf, filming footage for Ben Affleck's upcoming directorial debut (at least for a full-length feature), Gone, Baby, Gone. Feeling like a silly, nervous teenager, I grabbed Dan's camera and met her & Karla near their workplace, and we casually "took a stroll" past the set. We managed to catch a glimpse of both of the Affleck brothers, although they were unfortunately surrounded by cast & crew. I tried to snap some pictures (we were only about 15 feet away!), but none of them turned out all that well; the set was constantly in motion.



But, I still was thrilled to get to see one of my favorite actors! I couldn't bring myself to walk up to him & say something -- I'm not that kind of person -- but it was still a neat experience. I will probably always kick myself for not taking probably the only opportunity I'll ever have to meet the man, but I find it strange enough to be calling famous people by their first names -- as if we know them personally! I would never be the one to ask for an autograph or a picture. It just isn't my scene. Oh, well.

In any case, he's just as great in person as he is on-screen. Boy, do I adore those scrappy little Irish boys (and yes, Danny, that means you!)...

...sigh. :) xoxo

p.s. It appears that Ben Affleck saw us, and looked none too pleased...?

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Pretty Little Dirty AUTHOR: Amanda Boyden
	TITLE: One Hundred Demons AUTHOR: Lynda Barry
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

pot o' gold

I haven't caught up in a while, but then again, there hasn't been much to catch up on. Life is all right, you know how it goes....

One big piece of news is that Marsha comes home today, after a year abroad in Japan! I hope she has a wonderful time being back stateside!!

The weekend was pretty quiet, which was good, as I wasn't feeling 100% healthy. Friday I got lots of rest, and Saturday Dan & I wandered around Downtown Crossing & Newbury Street (mostly on errands for him) in the beautiful weather, until our reserved ticket time for The Da Vinci Code at the theater on the Common. The movie was all right, although I suppose I would have enjoyed it better had I not read the book, as I spent the entire time knowing the "plot twist" and thus regarding the whole story differently. I'd guess that was a problem most of the audience had, as it was such a widely-read book. I also had been very surprised when I learned that Tom Hanks was to play Robert Langdon, but I've now had months (years?) to get used to the idea, so he didn't seem out of place. I think he & Audrey Tatou (oh, j'adore la petite Amelie!) played their roles well (as did several other characters). I will never list it among my top movies, but it was entertaining, at the very least. I didn't feel like I had wasted 2 hours of my life...but I also didn't necessarily feel like they were terribly well-spent, either. Oh, well. Ca va. (If you couldn't tell, the movie at least made me yearn to return to Paris again soon! haha)

Sunday, I had a CodePink meeting at Sue's; it was a small group this month, but very pleasant. Sally & I managed to (unintentionally) linger just long enough so that the rain was just beginning as we left the building...clutching my small umbrella between the 2 of us, we raced over to the train, and got ourselves soaked in the process. Sally was using my cell phone to make a call, and as she raced to catch her train before it left, she passed the phone back to me...I didn't managed to catch it, and I watched in horror as my phone went smashing to the concrete, and broke apart! I scrambled to pick it up, and saw to my immense relief that it wasn't that the clamshell phone had split asunder as I had feared, but rather, the battery had popped right off the back. Phew!, I thought, that could have been bad. I figured I'd just get under the inadequate shelter at the train stop and everything would be fine.

...Turns out, everything was not fine. As I stood, waiting & waiting for a train to come my way, several other people arrived at the stop, and one woman informed me that the green line wasn't running past Kenmore: we'd have to get connecting buses. Sigh. But I figured hey, that's doable, I'm in no rush. So we waited some more, listening to the thunder & watching the lightning...and then another woman came up to us to let us know that not even buses were running, for some reason! By that point, we were all soaked to the bone, and becoming fast friends...well, good enough friends that the young couple to my right asked me if I wanted to share a cab with them. At first I declined, thinking I had no cash on me, but then I realized I could scrape together several dollars, and I agreed. We caught a taxi into Copley (the couple & the cab driver were very pleasant company!), and then parted ways. I slogged through the rain down Dartmouth Street until I got to Back Bay, where I huddled in cold, wet agony (I was wearing flip flops, and my jeans were soaked up past my knees) for the next orange line train.

I was in a miserable mood, and understandably so, when I climbed above ground at Haymarket...but as I turned the corner of the station, I saw a simply beautiful double rainbow (you can only really see one in the photo) arcing right into the North End, and I managed to grin, despite myself.


I won't lie & say I was in a great mood after that (Dan can attest to my crankiness upon arriving home and peeling off my wet clothes), but it did definitely brighten the day up for me, however briefly. I guess it was a good reminder that sometimes we do have to stop & make time to appreciate the little things. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Pretty Little Dirty AUTHOR: Amanda Boyden
	TITLE: One Hundred Demons AUTHOR: Lynda Barry
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

i really am a spinster.

Now it's for real. Yesterday, I paid the money (thanks Dad, Mom, & Dan!) for my new spinning wheel, an Ashford Joy:


It should arrive at Lucy's shop by the middle of next week. Yay!

I'll add more soon. I just had to share the fun news! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Pretty Little Dirty AUTHOR: Amanda Boyden
	TITLE: One Hundred Demons AUTHOR: Lynda Barry
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

come as you are

Yesterday was fun, and a lot less crazy than I thought it would be! After work I had 3 appointments in a row, but luckily I managed to make all of 'em. First was Knitting for the Greater Good at Boston Cares, which is a fun knitting-for-charity meetup that we do once every few months. The women there are always really dynamic & fun to be around.

Second up was a website meeting for the Boston Knit Out & Crochet, which is coming up this fall (most likely September 24)! I was assigned the task of website-updating, which I hope I can keep on top of. Provided I'm sent the info, it shouldn't take (I hope) more than a few minutes to log on, paste the text in, & arranage it so that it looks nice. I was a bit worried there for a while because, at the first BKO meeting, someone had asked if I know how to use Dreamweaver, and I had to say no -- because I generally just write in code. I'm not a huge fan of GUI page-layout programs (especially because they wreak havoc on otherwise manageable code!). But thankfully the 2 of us who will be doing the site (for the most part -- (Alasdair will be doing design & I'll do my best to keep up with updates) prefer text-edited code. Phew.

...And, I've geeked out enough for the time being. After that meeting (at the Elephant & Castle, which was pretty good!), I hopped on the green line to meet Karen at the Cheesecake Factory at the Pru. It was so good to see her after such a long time! And I'm so excited, because she might finally be really & truly on her way to moving to Boston, now! The place she was up looking at yesterday sounded pretty great. I hope she takes it, or finds a place she likes better and moves in soon! So we can hang out all the time. :)

All right, I really need to go do some more work. Have a good day -- and stay dry, everyone! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Pretty Little Dirty AUTHOR: Amanda Boyden
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

aww

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i feel accomplished.

I caved in & turned the heat back on today. Just a little bit, and just in the office. But damnit it's cold for mid-May! Ugh. I just want sunshine and a little bit more heat. Not too much more heat, mind you. Just enough so my extremities aren't constantly icy.

This weekend was very productive -- since I last posted, I finished 2 books (and I'm a few pages away from finishing a 3rd!), I watched 4 movies, and I knitted:


The combination of the SP8 survey and the Yarn Harlot's latest book spurred me into a sock-knitting mood. We'll see how long that lasts.

I'm actually much further on that by now -- I turned the heel & have worked about 20 rows of the foot, but I don't have a more recent picture of it right now, and I'm lazy. So for now, enjoy that!

I love self-patterning sock yarn (that's Sockotta #6670)! xoxo

p.s. I have been knitting, you just don't know -- because I don't always remember to talk about it! But I also finished this baby hat,


and I'm about halfway through a baby blanket (which I'm getting really tired of, so I think I'll take a break from baby blankets after this one...).

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Girlbomb AUTHOR: Janice Erlbaum
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

rainy Saturday

Yesterday was my sister's first art show opening, at our dentist's office in downtown Boston. That's her work, up there. She's fantastic. It'll be on display for the next 2 months, so if you are in the Boston area, stop up!

Bethany & I baked some delicious cookies for the opening, and so I had to share a picture of 'em:


My parents & sister & her fiance came up for the show, and they stayed overnight at my other sister's fiance's (yeah, there are a lot of fiances right now -- I can't wait till I can say brother-in-law, although I don't think that'll be any easier...), so today we all braved the rain & met up in Harvard Square for a breakfast at The Greenhouse. I got there earlier than everyone else, so I did a bit of yarn shopping at Woolcott (hey, how else was I supposed to kill the time?). Then we wandered around Urban Outfitters & The Garage for a bit, before heading to Davis Square to stop at Magpie (Bethany is selling some of her art there), before everyone headed out.

Danny is in NYC for the weekend (to see a couple of art shows & meet up with some people), and so I am all alone today. :( This is the first time I've had to sleep alone in this apartment, and I don't like it one bit!

But I just got in & changed into my Curious George pajamas, so now I'm going to go curl up with a book & some tea and listen to the rain. Later, maybe some knitting & movie-watching! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Knitting Rules! AUTHOR: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford