o0FizzyLiftingDrink0o

Seems like all I've been doing is cooking up produce:

I've made beet ravioli, pickled beets, sauteed zucchini, boiled beets, boiled wax beans, oh... and probably the best soup I've had in a while... potato & spring onion.  It's sooo good, and so simple... only calls for 2 bunches of spring onions, chicken stock, 3 potatoes (I used 4), a yellow onion, and a few tablespoons of veg. oil.  Seriously, it was sooo good, but next time I will definitely double everything else but only use 3 bunches of spring onions.

Last night while I was watching Shutter, I saw something clinging to my baclony door.  I got up to look and found a couple of toads.  How they got to the third floor, I don't know:

Finished the Bloody Mary socks today:

 

Finally, some knitting content to report:

I caught a cold!  Can you believe it?  A summer cold.  Ugh, the worst.  So I left work early yesterday (around 11) and came home to some movie/knitting time.  I also had a Mac Attack... McDonald's always makes me feel better, I swear.  It's definitely psychological. 

So I'm almost through a skein of Cascade Ecological wool, which, by my calculations, puts me at about 25% finished the Tree of Life afghan (for a wedding gift next year).  I love being ahead of schedule.

I also couldn't help but cast on a sock:

It's the Lorna's Laces I received last week from Woolgirl.  I must say, I was extremely happy with the whole transaction there.  I received my order in a matter of days, which included all of my yarns wrapped in tissue (how special is that?!) and a note.  I love notes.  I decided to knit the Lorna's sock yarn into Sandra's Bloody Marys. 

Oh, and in the background of that photo, that's Goonie, my Great Grandma, and probably one of my favorite pictures ever.  Because we have a lot in common (read: general demeanor).  See that arms-crossed, head turned away in defiance pose?  Classic.  I can only emulate.

Alright, I'm off to knit some more, read... then bed.  Tomorrow it's party time, I need to be all rested up for HdG's 4th of July celebrations on the 5th of July.  Happy 4th!

 

Well, first, it's hot:

So what have I been doing, you might ask?  Cooking.  Yes, I'm a dummy.  But the produce is up, and Mom keeps handing it over from her garden.  So I really have no choice.  Yesterday morning I made some chocolate zucchini muffins (very, very good);

 

And I cooked a feast of sorts for Jane and myself, which included Thai-seasoned salmon, summer noodle salad, and couscous (Jane's request):

 

 

But to back up a bit, Saturday we all went out for Dan's birthday.  We loved hibachi/sake bombs:

 

Other things are going on too, such as crazy plant growth.  Check out my pepper plant, Mexican rose, and hanging rosemary/basil.  Oh, and my African daisy that I over-wintered now has TWO flower heads sprouting. 

 

And, my day was made to come home and find a package:

 

 

This is my Wool Girl haul, funded in part by a gift certificate.  I won Pam's blog contest!  I never win anything!  Pam rocks.  Too bad her super cute dress didn't win the Kaboodle contest.  So yes, I am super jazzed about the Lorna's Laces and Whimzy Pinzy sock yarn.  Also thought that buying that SOAK sampler might encourage me to finish something.  I have knitting ADD...

Last week was rather rough... I had a project management course at work from 5-8, M-Th, and I had to go in on Saturday for 5 more hours.  But anywho, finished it off today at lunch time and now I am certified... for... who knows.  But I do have a certificate with my name on it.  Oh, and it came with free dinner each night.  Not a bad deal.

I'm off to eat leftover noodle salad, do some afghan knitting, and finish up David Sedaris' newest book.

 

I am sooo soo remiss with posting, but things have been crazy busy over here.

Last Monday, Mom, Mom's sister and I left BWI at 6 am and landed in Albuquerque around 10:30 New Mexico time.  We met my Dad's sister at the airport, who'd flown in from Cali.  From there, we drove to Santa Fe.  Along the way we stopped and had lunch, and made our way here, to check out the tent rocks at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rock National Monument:

The next few days were a blur, as they all involved various hiking/walking/rafting expeditions, and god knows exercise has never been my forte.  But nonetheless, I had a great time.  One of my favorite parts would have to be the llama hike... basically, we each had a llama on a lead... they didn't really have much to carry, except our lunch and some water.  But on the way back, they definitely got all tuckered out and we had to drag them (not really, more in the sense of dragging a tired kid) back to their trailer.  Mom's llama, Dakota, was so forlorn he started humming:

 

At one point he stopped, turned to face me (they're pretty much as tall as a person), and let out a HMMMMMMMMM!!! that lasted for a good minute.

Later in the week we also whitewater rafted, swam in the hotel pool, and then hiked this old pueblo village where the huts were still accessible by ladder.  I was the only one to make it to the top (not because of my exceptional physical condition... more like I was the only one not terrified of heights).  But I'll take the bragging rights anyway:

 

We ate our faces off with the best Mexican food any of us had ever had.  We also had time for a few margaritas, coronas, and even my personal favorite... gin and cranberry.

Oh!  We also made a trip to Weaving Southwest, a super cool and spacious weaving studio that does lessons.  They also sell tapestries and tons of gorgeous yarns (handpainted).  I made it out of there with two skeins of Rio Grande worsted yarn, which I'm knitting up into two cowls (see ravelry).

All in all, great trip.  Made it back Friday evening, stopped in Fell's Point for dinner at Bertha's Mussels.  Funny side note, Mom and I were walking ahead of Dad and Aunt Lin when some middle-aged man came up to me and Mom.  He looked at her, then looked at me, and then asked if I would come dancing with him.  Mom started laughing right in his face because she knows what a ridiculous dancer I am, and I started laughing because how ridiculous is it to be hit on right in front of your Mom?!

It reminded me of when I was a kid, walking through Wool-Worths with Mom... this guy was checking her out, and even as a kid it was obvious to me.  Well anyway, the poor guy was staring so hard that he had a face-first run-in with one of those metal-edged Wool-Worth SPECIAL signs.  I'll never forget the CLANG and the way he grabbed his face... because it was probably one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed.  I can't deal with falls or clumsy injuries like that, I have to laugh.

Stay tuned... the next episode will involve KB's wedding, which took place Saturday, and involved drinks, dancing, and co-workers. 

Last night I re-watched Velvet Goldmine... have you seen this?  At first, I was knitting some lace and doing other things, so I didn't really follow it.  I decided to watch it again, and I'm glad I did.  Ewan McGregor fascinates me.  He seriously has the whole crazy deviant character down (see also Young Adam).  The movie is all about glam rock, something I didn't really know much about (aside from Mom's constant blasting of David Bowie when I was little). 

Today I made what should be a kick-ass carrot cake (Dad's fav) for Father's Day.  It's a triple-layer cake with cream cheese frosting and everythang.  Pics tomorrow, if I remember.

I started knitting something else... an afghan.  It's a gift, so I really can't go into detail, but let me just say it will take forever and a half to finish.

Monday I fly to Albuquerque (is that spelled right?  Looks funny), then to Santa Fe and then a few days in Taos.  Can't wait.  I've never been further west in the US than Dallas, TX, so I'm not sure what to expect.

Also, I found out the other day that roadrunners are in fact real creatures.  Really?  Really.

Finally, I watched this on VHS today:

I remember eating tasty cakes and sneaking sips of Pops' Malibu because it was JUST LIKE THAT SCENE.

But you know what?  The VHS version I had cut out TONS of scenes that I remember... like the one above... also, no Shelly Winters.  And the tea party... I mean, how can you cut that part out? 

 

Well, as I sit here and type this (in my underwear, no less... CLASS), the smell of skunky pot is wafting through my balcony door.  I haven't officially figured out exactly which of my neighbors is a pothead... because it's literally a nightly thing.  It's either the hippy on the first floor below me, or the strange neighbor that likes to sit on the front step and talk on his cellphone every weekend.  Oh well, not complaining, really.  Just sayin.

So, since the Great Cake Incident of May 28th, I have had a few successes, namely:

I made this for Myrick's BBQ on Saturday.  There's something about cooking in a cast iron skillet that really attracts me.  It fills your house with a great smell that instantly makes you think of Sunday morning breakfast.  The cake was good, kind of like pound cake.  The recipe can be found on Epicurious.  I liked it because I only needed to buy fresh cherries.

I just got back from a 4-mile walk... had to go pay the rent, then just kept on truckin' down by the water.  It was nice, especially the part when I walked past some pervert who said "DAAAAYAMN" when I walked past.  Probably because my ass is enormous these days.  I should lay off the beer/inactivity.  And I am trying, hence the 4-mile walk.  I don't care what anyone says, a "DAAAAYAMN" is never a good thing.  Nope.

Then again, I'm not ready to lay off the gin & juice & scarfing baking supplies:

P.S., Jane and I are bringing back the phrase "straight outta Compton."  For instance, you could be "straight outta Compton" if you go into a liquor store to stock up for a BBQ, and buy 2 40-oz beers and pay $5.63 on your debit card, even though you're well aware that the owner and guy who's ringing you up is your co-worker.  This may or may not have really happened to myself or someone I know on Saturday... CLASS.

I can't believe this just really happened to me...

I'm having a LOST finale party tomorrow night, and it's also my friend Sharon's b-day.  She can't have gluten, so I decided to make her a flourless gluten-free cake.  I took the cake out of the oven after over an hour of baking, and pop off the spring form pan... 2 sticks of butter, 16 oz of Ghiradeli chocolate, and 6 eggs later, I'm left with this:

 

I did learn how fast Jane can make an exit.  I've never seen her put shoes on so fast in my life.

With all the goofing off and eating aside, I got a lot done this weekend, I think.  A few more squares (looks like Tetris):

 

 

Finally stretched and hung some cool fabric on my bare white bedroom wall:

 

 

And, finished a hank of handspun:

 

Specs: Alpaca, wool and mohair blend roving from Silver Sun Alpacas (Etsy). 

          3 oz., about 85 yards from my guestimation.  Bulky single-ply thick & thin.

Not sure if I want to sell it or keep it just yet.

 

And finally, some redneck fun (sorry, this may cause severe taco neck):

 

 

I went to my parents' house yesterday for some fun with the friends and famdamily.  My Dad is just finishing up the porch, and it looks awesome... I can't believe he did all of that, mostly on his own.  Crazy pants.  That's him on the grill, btw.  Can you see the resemblance?  Yikes.

Hope everyone else had a good looooong weekend.  I think today I will be trying to bring Blythe back to life...

 

 

 

 

I made a few discoveries today:

1) I didn't quite get up all of the glass from the floor when I dropped a glass full of candy canes off the top of the refrigerator a few months ago... I found it this morning with the sole of my foot :(

 

2) Wearing a gold bracelet and gold rings on one hand while being very tan makes me look Miami guido... I realized this at work today.

 

3) Cheese grits are delicious.  I kind of already knew that, but decided to whip a batch up for tomorrow's Memorial Day potluck brunch at work tomorrow.  I hope even the non-grits people enjoy them (I added Vermont White cheddar, plenty of butter, spicey sea salt, and garlic powder).

 

4) Mose cat could definitely win a cat fight... we've been training every morning with shower fights.  We punch each other through the curtain.  This morning, he started it.

 

Tis all.  Off to read for a bit then hit the hay.  Good night.