Thursday picnic

Leila and I are in Huntington Beach for a few days visiting my parents and yesterday we met up with my friend Leanna and her husband and parents for a picnic at Lake Park. Leila loved crawling around outside and discovering the eucalyptus leaves scattered across the grass just beyond the boundaries of our picnic blanket. She also tasted some new foods courtesy of my adventurous and cultured friends. 

after lunch we played on the swings, which is pretty much Leila's most favorite thing in life besides her Daddy!

Also, I should point out that Leila's outfit was handmade by Leanna's cousin. I am not sure if she sells them on etsy or anything ... I'll have to ask!

shawl overload

worked my butt off on the shawl last week ... Wednesday after work while I waited for Wes to meet me for Date Night (no sense in going all the way home first), Thursday and Friday lunches, then all Friday night while we watched the Angels at the Dodgers ... but glad I got a lot done then, because the rest of the weekend was busy! Saturday night we headed down to the Staples Center to see Keith Urban rock the house. I think every time I see him (this was my fourth!) it gets better ... break for history lesson: in Keith's video for "Days Go By," the concert at the end of the video was at the Ventura County Fair three summers ago (2004) and that was the first time I saw Keith Urban live. The other two times were last December (2005), Wes and I went on a Tuesday night at the Gibson Amphitheater, then Lissa, Courtney and I flew to Vegas that weekend to catch him at Mandalay Bay. End of history lesson.
No more knitting on Sunday, we went out to Casitas with Matt and Casey for some frisbee golf, then passed out from the heat. Last night I cooked fish for dinner (Parmesan crusted with Citrus/Spinach salad on the side, soooo delicious) and I didn't want the fish smell to rub off on the yarn. I need to get one of those magic smell erasers from Crate & Barrel, I think.
Don't know how much night-time knitting I'll get done this week. We're having a little party on Saturday night and we need to do some work around the apartment before I let people inside. I'm thinking of making another run to BB's on Saturday after running with Tia, so that means I need to get all the housework done during the week. But I'm heading out for lunch-time knitting now and I'll have plenty of time for knitting while Wes is on ridealongs next weekend ...

Vacation in my own backyard

nothing new to report on the knitting front today ... although I did have a fabulous, busy weekend ... Friday was pretty quiet; Wes and I went to a new place for dinner and had great Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches and watched ESPN. Saturday with Wes at work, Tia and I ran an easy six (okay, a hard six ... Thursday's workout was INTENSE and I was sick after it, so didn't refuel as well as I should have. my legs were hating me for it on Saturday, good thing we didn't have to run 12 miles!), then after quick showers we headed up to State Street in Santa Barbara with Amanda to shop shop shop!! We'd been planning this trip for a while and after my lenten shopping fast we were all ready for some new springtime fashion! We hit all my favorite places: A Tropical Affair and Anthropologie (got a versatile jersey dress that will look awesome with flipflops or my cowgirl boots and the skirt to the left ... don't know what to wear with it, but I love it!), some way-expensive boutiques (no purchases there!) and of course Gap, Express, Macy*s and some shoe shops. We had great lunch at Ruby's too (not the '50s diner, a local deli with the best sourdough patty melt I've had in a long time). After a long afternoon (and aching legs!), we headed back to Ventura to take in the DeLaHoya-Mayweather fight at a friend of Tia and Omar's. Wes met us there and we enjoyed meeting lots of people who we'll get to party with at the wedding! It wasn't a late night for us though, Wes had been up since 4am and my credit card wasn't the only thing that was worn out, so we didn't stick around too late after the fight.
Sunday was HOT and wonderful. I met up with my friend Charlene and we drove out to Malibu for lunch at Paradise Cove. Apparently half of LA had the same idea and we had to wait over an hour for a table, but enjoyed the outdoor bar and feet in the sand while we enjoyed a Corona and nachos. By the time we were seated we were sweaty and exhausted, so luckily our table had a little bit of shade! But it was great to be outside enjoying the weather ... we even had a star sighting - Jon Lovitz! It would have been fun to see someone younger and hotter (doesn't Matthew M do his yoga on the Malibu beaches?), but I liked Jon in The Wedding Singer and A League of Their Own, so it was still interesting to see a "star" ... I guess that's what people go to Malibu for!
Overall it was a spectacular weekend. It almost felt like I was on vacation, except I got to sleep in my own bed!!

April Showers

a rainy day today - the hardest rain all year, I think. All week I have been wishing spring on with cute springy outfits and today I am back to jeans and socks and a coat. sooo, to make myself feel better :) I'm going to review the things I am most excited about in the warmer weather months:

Wedge sandals are work and weekend appropriate so I really get my money's worth out of them. also, it is so much more comfortable to wear wedge heels over pumps, especially at the height of race training ...	... speaking of race training, Tia and I are gearing up for another half-marathon next month. This one we'll actually get to run together! After this race, we'll need to find another event to keep us motivated to keep running! Tia's getting married in September and I have a couple of vacations coming up ...
... to Las Vegas in June (temps in the 100s?) and Colorado in September (to celebrate our two-year anniversary!). both trips will be close to week and I can't wait! other than a couple long weekends here and there, Wes and I haven't been on a real vacation since the honeymoon!	I already have a new dress picked out that I'd like to wear in Vegas, but I'm hoping it will go on sale before then!

more stuff I like about this time of year: wearing shorts to work (when it's not raining, of course), baseball season!, NHL PLAYOFFS (gooooooo Ducks), swimming - so good for back and shoulders and a nice way to balance out my runners legs, knitting fun things like Sahara and mom's shawl (if I can ever find the time), currently Wes is on day shift and I like seeing him every night - even if that isn't a usual "spring thing"

almost back to normal again

it has been a crazy couple of weeks with the move and everything, but I think life is getting back to normal. there is still too much to do at the new apartment (or too much sleep to be had) for me to be knitting in the evenings still, but I have gotten to enjoy some lunch-hour knitting. today I worked on Mom's shawl and got a few more inches done on that ... the picture is a little funky! cell phone cameras have come a long way, but still aren't that great, I guess! I'll try and take a real picture with my camera (once I can find it in a box somewhere ...) so you can see the colors ... I think it is turning out really well and I love the moss stitch for a little bit of texture. other than a little bit of lunchtime knitting on this shawl, I haven't worked on anything else since we got back from Arizona three weeks ago. I am to the toe decreases on Grandma's second sock, which means from here on out I just need to have an hour or two of uninterruptedness so I can keep track of where I am at! I haven't had that luxury for a while, so they are still on hold :)

reprieve

took a little break from knitting the last couple weeks because Wes switched to day shift and he's been home every night. yay! also, Tia and I have ramped up our running program in preparation for the Santa Ynez Wine Country half-marathon on May 12 and by the time I get home from running most nights I just want to eat and then pass out. Blogging has also been on hold because work has been totally insane ... However, I have a couple of projects still going and this weekend when Wes and I flew to Arizona for Taylor's adoption party I got back on track and work today is slow, so I'm playing catch-up on lots of things!
Mom came up to visit a couple weeks ago after we went to see Wicked at the Pantages Theatre in LA. She'd been talking about wanting a shawl for a while, so I took her with me to AFY to pick out the yarn herself. I am glad I did because I never would have picked out what she picked (Louisa Harding: Impressions. click here to see Mom's color choice - it's #1), but it has been really fun to work with and I think it will be gorgeous and go with lots of items she already has in her closet. No real pattern for a shawl (sort of patterned after this one but with different yarn, larger needles and no buttons); I did a swatch to figure out how many stitches I would get per inch and figured out the cast-on from there. Now I just have to knit (in moss stitch on 10.5 needles) until it is long enough. Hopefully we have enough yarn already - it was kind of pricey!
I am also working on finishing up my first two pairs of socks. I got some more navy yarn to finish up Wes' socks when Mom and I made our AFY trek and in the interim I have been working on the great bittersweet socks for Grandma, although I've only been getting in a few rows at a time on lunch breaks lately. Hope to finish them soon because it's starting to warm up around here and the need for socks to wear to bed won't be as urgent.
On Friday I joined a KAL (knit-a-long) with the Sexy Knitters Club to motivate me to cast on for Sahara. I've had the yarn for this since the Super Bowl Sunday sale at AFY, but I am a little intimidated by the crochet cast-on and mostly haven't had the time. the KAL officially starts April 1, so I'm going to try and finish up the socks before then, but no promises since we're packing packing packing to move to a more affordable apartment next week (yay for saving money for a real house!). Knitting has always been more of a leisurely, relaxing project for me, so I am not going to kill myself trying to get projects finished instead of packing, but I do need a break from boxes and sorting every once in a while.
p.s. after the party on Saturday I had my first attempt at teaching when Renee asked me to help her get started on a scarf. Her girls came to her asking if they could all knit together, which is awesome, except first Renee has to learn how! She was a fast learner, I just had to help with the cast-on mostly! I love new knitters :)

happy candy-hearts day!

it's a good thing Valentine's Day finally came, Wes and I have already eaten through eight mini-boxes and a bag of candy hearts in the past few weeks and I don't think my waistline can take it anymore! I don't know what it is about those hearts, I just can't get enough. Even when my head is pounding from sugar and my tongue is stained an unrecognizable shade of magenta, I keep eating them! I like the green, orange and yellow ones the best. yum yum. and for the record, I only like the Necco brand hearts and no, I do not eat Necco Wafers during the other 11 months of the year to take the edge off.
no knitting last night, I was busy making a cake decorated with candy hearts! (what is my problem?!?) I wanted to crush up the candy hearts and sprinkle the bits in between the two layers of cake, but someone (who shall remain nameless, but I know now that I should have found a hiding spot for my last box of mini-hearts that was not up high ...) ate the box I was using all my willpower not to eat myself. anyway, it's Valentine's day ... check out Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog today, she has a great perspective on love, it is very refreshing as I come down from my sugar high!
p.s. Wes and I were featured in a Valentine's Day section on the CLU website too ... so cute it makes me want to barf a little bit. Tonight for we are going to see The Departed at the cheap theater. very anti-Valentine's. I love it.

Long-Legged Knitting Country-Music Fan

I knit a little more on SG#4 (WW) on Tuesday night while Wes was at work, but mostly used the opportunity to wrap up some of his gifts and put them under our teeny tree. SG#3 isn't a Christmas gift, it will need to be finished just after New Year's so that isn't as much a priority.
Last night had a reprieve from knitting and also from our regular date night routine as we drove to Universal Citywalk to see Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert rock the Gibson Amphitheater. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen, and definitely the best Dierks show I've seen (third time!). He played for two hours and covered all my old favorites and made me anxious for his new album, which I haven't bought yet (maybe I'll get it for Christmas?). Miranda Lambert opened for him and also played all my most favorites ("New Strings" and "Kerosene" specifically), but the highlight of her set was when she busted out CCR's "Traveling Band" - my favorite Creedence song! I was ready to jump up on stage and sing along with them!!
Dierks also did a cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" to close out his encore and brought out Miranda (and the other opening act Randy Rodgers, who I had never really heard of, but he sounded pretty good too) to sing along, so this morning I was ready for some more Johnny Cash, but my iPod was out of juice! :( on a whim I pulled up JohnnyCash.com and plugged in my headphones to the computer and have been enjoying a great mix of the man in black ever since! What a great discovery!

P.S

break in the action

I finished my stocking on Tuesday night (it is enormous ... oh my gosh) and have been taking a little break since then. Wednesday night Wes and I went out to see The Guardian for date night and last night just relaxed and watched another movie at home that was a little too complex to be knitting through it. Though we did take a break in the middle to make a run to Marble Slab for peppermint ice cream with Oreos. Love at first bite ... anyway, plan to get back on track this weekend and start on Wes' green stocking and some more gifties. Will share pictures of my giant stocking soon ...

fun and muddy weekend!

this weekend was really busy, with hardly time for knitting ... Friday night I met Amanda in Thousand Oaks and we headed over to Matt's house for a Halloween party. There were some crazy costumes ... the boys in the house and their girlfriends even dressed up as the Gilligan's Island crew, Becky S. was Mr. T (go to her myspace to see what she looks like in real life!), Holly was Dora the Explorer, Isaiah and Sara were Joe Dirt and the girl from that movie ... some really funny costumes. Amanda and I were living the thug life ... we were real tough (ha!).
Saturday Amanda was still with me and we met up with Tia and Shannon for lunch before Tia, her fiance, Omar, and I headed east to Pasadena and Pomona for Sunday's Muddy Buddy. The race was like nothing I had expected ... I don't know if I would have signed up if I knew how hard it was going to be. But now that it is behind me, I am really glad we did it. The course was very very hilly and challenging - I was glad Tia had bike duty for most of the race, I would not have been able to get the bike up all those hills. I had a hard enough time running them! The other teams we knew (Matt & Sven, Marge & Charlie and Josh & Lindsey) were also a little shocked by the difficulty of the course as well, but everyone finished with a celebratory crawl through the mud pit! Tia is already talking training strategy for next year, but I would just like to get through this week's workouts without my legs falling off :)

H_PP_ H_LL_WEE_!

just a little distraction

E-bar Madness

this weekend was completely insane - Friday was Lissa's birthday dinner, Saturday Wes and I both got up early to run 7 miles with Tia, then drove out to Canyon Country for lunch with in-laws, then to a Thrivent customer appreciation event also in Santa Clarita, then to Simi Valley for a CLU alumni homecoming event at Elephant Bar. E-bar was especially busy and fun and wonderfully filled with fun people so I was very grateful for a relaxing Sunday at home (poor Wes had to go to work though!). Spent most of Sunday cooking and knitting and I completed Secret Gift #1! I don't want to post a picture of the whole thing because you never know who could be reading this, but here is a little teaser.
Wes is making Monday-night basketball part of his regular routine which is fine with me because that means Monday-night knitting and catching up on TiVo is part of my routine now too :) right now I'm thinking I'd like to get some good progress on SG#2 tonight ... but we'll see what I feel like working on after the run.

upping my coolness quotient

Nothing to do with knitting (a little pouty still, but trying to get over it and do new gague swatches), just something fun to share! You already know that my favorite hobbies are the extra-trendy running, knitting, reading and cooking ... but did you also know that I prefer a night at home playing board games over a night in a club? Now that you know, check out this new version of Monopoly! It's what the board might look like if the game was invented today. All new game pieces (I would have a hard time choosing between the Razr phone and New Balance running shoe) and properties to buy (Fenway Park and NYC's Times Square replace Park Place and Boardwalk). The cost of everything has also gone way up, which could make the game longer due to all the extra math. I still think a part of me decided to marry Wes because his family rule was to do away with $1 bills in the original Monopoly ... saves so much time and counting!

a little too busy right now ...

haven't made much progress on any of my couple of projects I have going. I haven't been able to get to AFY in the past week since they are not open late into the evening and I have been running a lot after work. Also haven't had time to work on the cabled project since this weekend was busy busy busy and I had to drive myself so no knitting in the car. Friday night was Mark's wedding,
Saturday I drove to HB for birthday lunch with Grandma (okay, I just remembered ... Grandma and I did have a little knitting/crochet-fest after lunch. I got four or five rows in) and then Amanda's housewarming party in the evening. I got up early on Sunday for breakfast with Leslie before heading out to Long Beach for lunch with Leanna, Mark and Troy on my way back up to Ventura. I hurried home and even had time to stop at Costco and make it to the apartment before Wes should have been home from work but he ended up getting stuck there until 10pm! Even though I missed him, it was nice to have some time to myself after being around people all weekend ... I thought about picking up the knitting again, but all I really wanted to do was sit and not think about anything. I couldn't even concentrate on a new book for too long ... so I passed out in front of That '70s Show :) anyway, maybe I will get in some good knitting time at lunch today ...

distracted!!!

after a little bit of knitting on Thursday, I didn't any knitting done this weekend - was just a tiny bit distracted on Friday and Sunday. (yes, I saw it twice! and on Friday Heather got us gold teeth caps to wear! aren't we sexy!!) Thought about bringing the knitting to the theater Sunday since we had to wait in line for a while to get good seats, but figured we wouldn't really be able to sit down and relax (I was right), so had to spend the hour talking to and kissing my darling husband (a real hardship!).
It was kind of nice to have a weekend without knitting ... after the franticness of the last week or so finishing up Taylor's jumper, I was glad to just chill out and focus on something new. I am now anxious to get back to it and finish up my cute x-back tank. Wonder if I can finish it in time to wear in San Diego this weekend? I won't be knitting in the car on Saturday ... Wes gets off at 6am that morning so if we want to leave at a decent hour and stop for lunch with Grandma in HB, I'll have to drive so he can sleep.