It was a HIT...

Literally.

We had such a fabu time in SF for the Stitch'nPitch. We got to meet the SF Chicks With Sticks and see Mr. Bonds hit # 722 followed by two more homers.

way cool.
got a bit of knitting done- There was so much going on, beer to sip, dogs to eat, game to watch.

I think Kat wins the prize, since I started a lovely beer cozy with the
*earmuffs*
red heart


red heart
*earmuffs*
they provided to us in our lovely tote bags (along with needles and a pattern).

The girls and I had a really good day just wandering around the city. It was warm down there for the locals, but we were in heaven since it has been in the 100s on our side of the "hill".

We chatted and laughed and shared beers.
Then it was into the stadium. I felt like a little kid once we made it in- guess who hasn't been to a ball game in a very long time. I just love the excitement and energy that is happening when such a huge group of people get together for the same reason.
Thanks to the owner of Noe Knits for snapping this shot for us! Sorry we didn't make it to the store, we wanted to get over the hill before all the nutty Tahoe visitors trapped us in hours of traffic!
Today we had breakfast at The Buena Vista and then packed up the car to head back over the hill. It was a short trip, but sometimes that is the best kind to make when you go to SF.

oh and just because it is FRIDAY- here is a photobooth treat- This one goes out to Becky just because of where it was taken-Eureka, CA mall -

It dates way back to 1996- good god we were just babies. Taya and I are still extremely good friends and Boob (affectionately known as) I see around town every now and then. Look at my nose piercing (ahh I miss it, I think I should get it again) and my chub-chub face) hee hee

Two days and counting...

Way back in February or march I was over visiting Kat to see what she was up to and she had a picture with a link. And I had to respond. I gathered my local knitting pose and set out with plans of travel and excitement, of knitting and baseball, of the "city" and of joining in the fun.
I had 5 gals sign up with me originally, but I am down to just two. This is fine because it is easier to get a hotel room with just three people, to carpool with just three people- and since the two gals who are going also happen to be some of my most favorite beings inthewholeworld,
I am a-okay with having an adventure with them...

I decided to get things organized when I got home from work tonight. I needed to get the tickets, first off. problem: I had no idea in the mess of my new house where I had placed the tickets- I probably looked for about 2 hours this evening, this hot and sweaty evening, for them. I was just about to give up when I spotted on more box that I hadn't looked in yet- HA! Found it-
and the angles sang, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh".

(by the way, Kat if you are reading this, I have 3 extra tickets if ya need them)

While I was digging I found a few things- other than what I was after- isn't that always how it goes?
a tee-shirt that was my dad's - from a resturaunt he used to run- I promise to share it one day soon.
a fabu photobooth shot, that I will have to share with you some day- it is a keeper kids
and finally
a cd or 4 that I had been looking for since we moved in (most important my autographed Dave Stringer CD that is good for keeping me mellow when I drive)

But enough about that, back to the main event...
STITCH'nPITCH

The big questions is, what should I knit- must be simple, must be easy to follow while chatting, watching, cheering, sipping, scarfing, and laughing....
a hat
a sock
a "beverage" cozy

help me pick and I will send something ridiculously marvelous (or maybe just ridiculous) your direction--- deadline is Wed. Morning (I have to be able to gather supplies if need be)

oooh, almost forgot- I got me some finished objects--- see those needles can't be so jealous now...

Sweet swappin'

I got home from a bbq tonight to find a little package on my front stoop... Could hardly wait to open the package- I am InLoveWithThisFabric. So on over to Scarlet Tananger and say hello to a very talented lady!
Look how fun this is- I got not only a great little apron, vintage pattern, crazy retro print- but also an oven mitt and a cool little recipe book- I think Scarlet scanned in fabric and printed out the pages for the recipe cards. It is so friggin fun- I need to have a dinner party- now-
Thanks so very much!
There will be a flickr gallery for all to see the creative work that went down with this swap- I am looking forward to seeing what everyone drempt up...
This is the apron I created for Kim... a little picnic inspired dish towel apron-

Here is another dish towel apron that I finished last night for a wedding shower I am attending next weekend- I think it came out pretty cute~


I am off to play on the sewing machine....I feel as if my sewing skills need to be taken up a notch or two. I am no where near as handy on that darn machine as I would like to be...
My poor knitting needles are so sad and neglected- do you think they know that I am cheating?

Not quite photo booth...

So I haven't set up the scanner at the house yet- so you get the next best thing to a photo booth that I can muster. It is good I PROMISE... here see,



Is this picture only funny to me and the other that are participating in it's insanity? Do you SEE those mustaches? all but my husband's are fake. Do you SEE the horid suites that the boys are wearing? powder blue people, yellow people, purple people... good god they could be an add for the teletubbies or something. Maybe they are the teletubbies all grown up-
We are still trying to figure out whose hand is on my man's shoulder, it is the mystery hand. (he is the one in the blue, in the very front row)
so silly- I love my friends....

Happy Photobooth FRIDAY kids....
For some real photobooth action go visit these folks...
hula
JesC
whole self
LeS

-----
Today is the reveal for the Apron Swap...
I sent out my package yesterday- overnight, so I am hoping my swapee will get the package today (Just checked www.usps.com and it has been signed for by this lovely lady). I am a bit worried/intimidated about the swap. I hope that she likes the apron, and that it isn't to wonky for her. I really like the way it came out, but I am partial to having things not be perfect, and with a twist of quirky-ness....
Can't wait to get home tonight to see if a package is waiting for me on the door step. I will post late tonight or tomorrow to let you know about it.
Fun Fun...

T.I.L.T. And where I have been

I have been a little preoccupied this past week...


I got to meet "Kicky". She and her mom came to visit us from Minneapolis this past week.
It was so fun to have a baby in the house- as well as the crazy wonderful mom.
We played and played.
We made weird faces and crazy noises.
We made awesome meals together.
We got avocado facials courtesy of Kicky
We drove to Lake Tahoe to get a"fix" of beauty that only Lake Tahoe can supply.
We had dinner at Garwoods and a quick toe dip in the lake.

These are two people I love, and I am dedicating T.I.L.T. to them today~


Other things I love
More love

Mural Chai Apron Booth

So remember a few weeks ago when I was telling you all about how much a dug this mural near the Starbucks down town? Well I happened to run into the artist as he was working on finishing the piece up. He told me he had a blog, so I decided to check it out... Here is a cool shot of the final project, check out the site, there are some other really sweet pieces he is working on... (hopefully he doesn't mind the linkage)
Speaking of Starbucks (like the segway?) I just realized today that I have been wasting my money. All this time I could have been purchasing the $1.77 Tazo Chia tea, instead of the nearly $4 chia latte that takes FOREVER to be made. I like the tazo Chia much better, I can add as much honey as I feel, and just a dash of milk to cut down on the calories- That darn Starbucks, I have them figures out though- Guess if I would just make my tea at home I would save that much more money, but sometimes a girl just has to get out of the office... ya know?

Apron progress...
I FINISHED the apron.

I am pretty darn proud of myself. I have had a ton of fun making the thing, and am feeling much more confident on the good old sewing machine.

I am purchases some new material and will be making another few aprons similar to this one (that a few other patterns on my list including this and maybe a few of these)

I have a wedding shower this month and think that a garden themed present complete with a garden apron would be perfect for the bride to be.

I am still not done with the baby sweater I have been working on. I am so close, I just need to pick it up again. I am almost finished with the second tomato hat for my yoga girlfriend who is about 4 weeks away from meeting her new baby.

I have to get the scanner out so I can post a few pictures of Seattle photobooth madness tomorrow.... but here is a teaser just in case...

Do you see how wet we are? It started to just dump as we came down from the needle and into the arcade- made us laugh even harder... love it. (this shot was inspired by this talented gal)

Early love

I know it isn't Thursday yet- and here I am posting love- it actually feels more like Monday- but I just have to post 2 pictures of what I am totally in love with right now. ...
These were taken with my good old film camera, I think there is something to be said for film, it captures detail or light or maybe just nostalgia that the digital just doesn't-


Chocolate lilies found on the nature hike that is found at the top of the tram ride, Juneau, Alaska

The pair of us- Hubby and I love to hike and get out there to see it all, very interactive. Our feet have taken us to so many amazing places, Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona... I love this man.
Here we are waiting for the shuttle into town, Hoonah, Alaska

We had a wild past few days- I had my ten year high school reunion, spent the day on the docks at Donner Lake, bbq-ed until I could bbq no more and got to see the fireworks while sitting in our new drive way- surrounded by friends that make our world go round.
I can't say enough how blessed we are- Hubby and I are exhausted but in such a wonderful way... Happy 4th of July everyone~

Edited to add:
I also got in a bit of crafty-ness this weekend. my apron for the swap is almost complete and I couldn't be happier with the project. I am not really a fabulous sewer, but the fact that I did this project free hand, with out my mom's help makes me pretty darn proud. I hope that the recipient of the apron likes it as much as me. I think it is the fabric, it is so stinkin' cute, in the best way. and now that I have completed one, I have some ideas on how to improve upon the design. (which may make it possible for me to keep this "prototype" and make a "really nice one" for the swap, wink wink.)
at lunch I ran over to Ben Franklin's for some more thread and found some really cute scrap fabric that I am going to use for other future aprons. I can hardly wait. I will post pictures tomorrow...

Things, I, Love, Thursday 6-29-06

T.I.L.T.
Things I love Thursday,
I love the scooter girl in me.

I couldn't stop laughing the entire ride through Victoria, BC.
Holding on tight to my honey and feeling the wind in my face I saw a new city, a new beach, and snapped pictures of it as we went.
Ate an awesome dawg once we got to the famous garden,

looked at all the wonderful green and pink and red and yellow and petals and sweet sweet smells there were to have-

I love the feeling of it all... Wish we would have had more time, or maybe a scooter of our very own to zoom about town on, how 'bout it?

Home means Nevada

I am back... Things are slowly coming to normal. Although I seem to have picked up a head cold somewhere between Seattle and Reno- I am feeling much better thanks to NyQuil- that stuff is magic, I swear.

We had a wonderful vacation. I finally stopped feeling the motion of the ocean on Sunday, two days after we got off the boat. We had a couple really rough days at sea- the first day we had 15-20 foot swells- yozzers...
We really enjoyed all of the ports that we stopped off in, and wished we had more time to explore and be adventurous. 12 hours simply isn't enough time to do it all...


We ate and ate explored and ate some more.

Drank a lot less then I thought we would,

played bingo till we could stand it no longer,


laughed and stood in line and refused to share ice cream.
Took a tram,

a train


and scooters
to see all the sights.

We danced and laughed some more.
We slept in late because it was dark in our room and because the ship rocked us to sleep each night and mostly because we could.

I am glad to be home and not sure if I would do the cruise ship thing again, but wouldn't not do it just for the experience it gave us. The crew on the ship were wonderful, I am not quite sure how they do it! They go almost 24 hours a day with hardly a breath in between - and all with a smile. Fabulous people from all over the world.



I am pretty sure I gained some weight, they say the average is 2 pounds a day- CRAP- I didn't believe it until I realized what they were feeding us. I had to be really careful to not take in more then I needed... We also walked up and down the flights of stairs in the boat rather than take the elevator most of the time.


I did get some work done on the baby sweater. I am on the home front with just the collar to go. I don't want to work on it while I have a cold, just seems wrong to make baby stuff while the nose is runny, ya know?

I am going to link you over to my flickr site to check out all the photos... There are still a ton more I will be adding mostly from the first day or so in Seattle, I got some great shots at Pikes Market and Juneau- some are on film that needs to be developed, others are on a friends computer, we had to unload our card after the first couple of days so we could continue to take pictures... I will make sure to let you know when they are out there.


Enjoy. (oh and props to hubby, he took most of these landscape shots, aren't they great?)

I know I have a ton of catching up to do and blogs to visit. I will do my best to stop by and say hello- although I am thinking over the summer I may slow down on the internet usage.. I am feeling like I need to get out there and play. I need to take all the inspiration that I have gathered from everyone in Blogville and put it into action... We will see.

TILT- you bug me cuz it ain't Thursday yet...

For TILT - I know, it ISN"T Thursday yet, but it is over here in Noodle land- my brain is totally off in vacation mode- I have already forgotten what day of the week it is, see I NEED this vacation... I do.

This will probably be one of the oddest TILT's yet, but I am going to post it, because I do love insects...Totally fascinated by the world around me. Looking at the intricate engineering of a mosquito eater (really just a male mosquito, harmless, but scary as hell when they dive bomb you) look at those wings, look at how paper thin they are and the detail in them, look at the body and the precise segments that create the thorax. At one point in my life I wanted to be an entomologist. To think about how many insects there are in the world, to think about how different they all are, and how they play such an important role. Without them we would not have much to eat, flowers to stop and smell, or birds to hear sing...
So today's tilt goes out to the little things that might make us squirm, but that I am totally in love with because of what they represent- beauty, perfection, detail, engineering, survival...

Almost Friday...

Okay peeps- tomorrow is my Friday- and then?
I am gone, gone, gone like the wind to Alaska. Remember, I started to talk about it the other day, but didn't have the energy to write about it- well, today I do- mostly because I can't focus on whatever projects I am supposed to be finishing up at work before I leave and also because I am so sore today (I ran yesterday morning, dumb dumb I am) and my back feels like it is going to fall off (is that possible?) and why is my back sore and not my legs? Weird.
Anyway, we are going to Alaska, on a cruise ship. I have never been on a cruise, and never been to Alaska either- so I am pretty darn excited. We (hubby and I) are headed up there with about 8 friends to be silly and sea sick together. (BTW, does anyone have any tips for anti-sea sickness? I don't have a doctor so I can't really get the prescription anti-nausea button to put behind my ear)
I am making a trip this afternoon to Savers (only the best place to gather costumes for the journey) with a friend.
We are headed up to Seattle on Thursday to hang out and play. I have already identified several photobooths within walking distance of our hotel- oh yes, their will be chaos in the booth... As well as looked at the KEXP calendar so we know what's going on Thursday night.

I have been getting up early to knit the baby sweater, as I really need to have it sent to the recipient tomorrow so it makes it's way to the Bay Area this weekend for the party. (A HUGE thanks to Rachel of *Amazing Lace Fame* for helping me out with the pattern- this is a regular knit of hers so I dropped her an email and she has been more than happy to help me past a few of the snags I ran into with the pattern)
Also supposed to have a baby hat done (gonna do another tomato hat) for another friend's baby shower this weekend, ack. I can get this done, I can, I can.
I started to work on the apron for the swap. I found some great fabric in a stash box and have a really great theme going. I hope the recent likes it as much as I do~~ right now it is just a pile of fabric and pins, I haven't had the umph to get the sewing machine out- also, I can't find my iron in the move in mess, so that is hampering my efforts....
Speaking of hampering efforts, has anyone else picked up Su Doku? This could be the end of me, blogging, knitting, cooking, showering, sleeping.... bad bad bad Su Doku.
I will try to get some pictures to the post this evening...

I promise to take a TON of pictures on the trip. I will be gone Thursday-Friday. No blogging until I get back home on the 24th.

TTFN

T.I.L.T. 6-8-06

Things I love this Thursday...
This is one of my favorite murals in town. It is just off of Virginia Street, and south of Stewart. If you are at the Starbucks where California ends at Virginia you will be looking right at it.. I think I love it because of the stencil, because o f the camera (I have this camera, it was my grandfathers) because of the scene it depicts. I love the yellow against the black and white... (EDITED: I was walking back from yoga this lunch hour and they were painting this- first thought, "they are covering it up, I am so glad I got my arse down there and took pic." I asked the guy on the ladder if they were painting over it? Nope, just touching it up- however, they are ridding the wall of the yellow- it is now blue back drop. I am interested to see what they add.. I will keep you all posted.)
It is political and poetic all at once- it is art. Capturing the landscape and those that fill it. Keep up the good work gang.

blue blue blue

It is a new month, and a new color in Project Spectrum land... Some how, I have accidentally fallen in love with this month's color theme. Here are a few examples:


My hair


My Toyota Matrix (know as GLITCH)


random dinner settings


a place in the world I adore, the northern CA coast


more shots from the coast...


The sky