Quickie Post

I almost made my deadline. OMG, so close. Only one day late though...not too bad. I had issues trying to decide between 1 strand vs 2 strands of silk for the "Creme de Menthe" and I had to set this aside for a day or so to decide. I decided on 1 strand and boy am I really happy with it. Here is how my QFRR stands for now. I've completed my vine with the year, my "matchy-matchy" initials and a little bunny. Now I will send it off to Wendy so she can stitch her section and pass it round and round. Oh, sounds like such fun! I can't wait to get the next one I stitch on. And for some reason, I can't really figure out whose I get now but I guess that will be a surprise for me from the mailman! I love mail surprises!
Now that I don't have any QFRR obligations for the time being, I will focus on my May Snapper until the weekend. I think the weekend has a NiaH trip in store for me again. I need to get supplies for my Halloween exchange and other tidbits for the next month or so. That will keep me busy and of course means I can't share those details until received by the recipient. So I will try to keep the May Snapper going to at least show some stitchy progress.

But for now, I bid adieu. The very yummy petrole sole risotto I had for dinner is causing major food coma symptoms. I need to lie down and take a nap!

A Peek into the Boy's Club

The weekend is over and it's Monday...again. I seriously need to figure out how to hop onto that "work 4 days a week" bandwagon because only having two days off in a week, just about kills me. I need another day!

This weekend was "boy's club" weekend. For being a girl, I probably go out with and have more guy friends than girl friends. I work in a boy's club and I can be a smart-ass and a prankster with the best of them if I have to be. Maybe this is why I have so many guy friends? I don't know...would be nice to just find a guy to be a boyfriend already. But perhaps this is another reason for lack of boyfriend. I know too much. I know the games. I know what happened even when they haven't told me. I can sense it.

And because of this...I'm pretty good at taking care of myself in the crazy little world of online dating. Don't worry...my stamina for dating has decreased dramatically and I am sitting here waiting for my fairy godmother to show up already and wave her little wand and bring my Prince Charming to light. Hmmm...not likely but a nice thought.

Boy's Club weekend always contains a lot of interesting conversation which usually revolves around dating, relationships, who we know in common and how we've become friends in the first place. Dating and relationships are always topics in my conversation repertoire. Mainly because I have "girl insight" and way too much dating experience. The topics were particularly interesting this weekend.

Why do guys always find the most damaged, crazy mess of a girl to "fall in love" with and then wonder why things are so f-ed up? Anyone involved in drugs or a heavy alcohol consumer...run for the hills as fast as you can. Seriously, this will save anyone (guy or girl alike) a lot of time and heartache. Put your tennis shoes on and run...pretend you're in a track race. And then I have to hear how "girls are crazy". Ok, yes, there are a lot of crazy girls but not all girls are crazy! I'm not...quirky, maybe but not crazy. But see...I can't even defend my gender because I've come across a lot of crazy girls in my time and so I know girls are crazy just like guys are *insert adjective or noun here*.

Then there was trying to justify the difference between a date and a hook-up. I had to go a couple of rounds on this one and I still think I'm right. Guys can think what they want. And as usual, I had to have my usual conversation about how sometimes, dating within your age bracket is good and maybe the girls would be more responsible, non-crazy and together. No girl in their early 20's is all that responsible, sane or at all together. They are cute and crazy! Once you hit your 30's and 40's, I feel the maximum age difference should be no more than 10 years. Anymore than that and there are some major differences and that girl will be asking you who John Hughes is. Trust me...no one wants to feel that old!

Boy's Club weekend was fun though. How else can a girl hang out with guys, drink beer, bourbon and whiskey, swear a blue streak, eat what they want and argue the sides of dating and relationships? Plus, it gives me more guy insight. Girls can never have too much...

Ta-Da...April Snapper!

Last night, I worked diligently to get my April Snapper done and out of the way. I've got a few other stitching commitments on the horizon and I just wanted to leave this project at a clean point versus in the middle of the square. I like how these are coming out but I've seen the frog many times already and am getting annoyed. First with the border, then with the heart in February and I had to frog out some of the umbrella to get a decent contrast between the two blues there. I am hoping that the frog will hibernate for a while. Here is April:
And here is how it looks in it's entirety so far. Sorry for the messy snap. It really needs to be pressed but what's the point if it's only going to get *more* wrinkled down the road?!
Next on the stitching agenda is starting my Quaker Friendship Round Robin. Hopefully I can start tonight, but if not, definitely tomorrow. It should be a fast stitch and then I can get on with stitching up some Halloween fun and other bits!

Quiet Time and Mistaken Identity

This week is very quiet. No social fun on the calendar which is unlike me and whereas I find it strange, I'm not really interested in filling the quiet time with events and activities. The quiet time is nice and I could definitely use this time to get ahead on my stitching projects and obligations...not to mention the apartment projects I should have gotten to months ago. So the goal for tonight is to finish the April Snapper with border so I can start the Quaker Friendship Round Robin and get that on its way. I'll also start in on cleaning and organizing my office at home which has become the ultimate disaster area. Trust me...there are even more apartment projects after I get finished with this one.

But I do have to say that I know things are very quiet when the most exciting thing to happen so far this week is a funny little case of mistaken identity at the dentist's office yesterday. I was apprehensive about my appointment because the hygenist I had been assigned to the last three times must thrill in torturing me. Why else would I be gripping my hands and cringing so much during a cleaning. She likes torturing the patients. I'm sure of it! I requested a new hygenist and it was my first time visiting with her and I was so hoping she wasn't all into torturing patients too.

So I arrived at the dentist's office and the receptionist said that she would let Dr. H know that I was there. Hmmm. Confused. I had to clarify that I was not there to see Dr. H since I was Dr. L's patient. A little weird but she must have read the screen incorrectly. Then Dr. L mumbled that it was time to go into the exam area and whereas he said a name, I didn't really hear him but I was also the only person in the waiting room and of course, assumed it was me since who else was there? I get situated into the dental chair and Dr. L says "ok, we're going to remove the crown and scrape away the decay..." and I just about yelped and jumped out of the chair! "Um, Dr. L, I think you have me mistaken with someone else. I don't have a crown. I'm just here for a cleaning!" At that point I was thinking...I might be better off without the cleaning and maybe they could just write down that I did one and we can pretend like nothing weird happened. Because let me tell you, that crown business did not sound cool and I wanted no part of it! I turned around and I never saw Dr. L look more red. He was so embarrassed! It was pretty funny and he apologized and said he felt like a "tool". Ha! I haven't heard someone say "tool" in a very, very long time! Maybe now, he'll remember who I am? That would be nice.

And the new hygenist was a dream! No torture session, super gentle and I'll be going back to her. Plus...the best thing...no cavaties. :)

Stitchy Weekend

What a wonderful weekend! Lots of rest, some shopping, accomplishment on chores, massage, video viewing and stitching. Things are good.

Saturday was the highlight of the weekend. I headed to Alameda and met Sweet Mary of NiaH, before the shop opened, for breakfast. She is such a sweetheart with all sorts of crafty ideas. It was so nice to sit and chat when she wasn't working. The shop gets busy and she has to juggle lots of customers. After breakfast, we headed over the shop so I could pick fabric and floss for the Quaker Friendship Round Robin. Last week, Edgar asked me if I had any interest in joining since the group had a problem with one of the members and now needed a sixth. After just a slight episode of nervousness, I said "of course" and now I'm the sixth. It's kind of exciting. I've never done a round robin before but I like the idea of my piece traveling more than I get to and lots of people working on it and it being a work of friendship. Isn't that a nice thought? I think so. So Mary told me to pick 6 colors I like so I headed to the task at hand and gave them to her and then she picked a bunch of complimentary colors. Whoa, there were a lot of colors to pick from. Given many choices, my indecisive Libra trait really shines. *gulp* I had gone into the shop thinking reds or sage green. Next was comparing all the thread colors to fabrics. Oh God, more choices! I managed to set aside all the fabrics I thought were too dark and the threads that were a tad blah and was trying to decide between red/brown or green/gold. And here is what I decided on:

I will be stitching my QFRR on 36 count Lakeside Linens Vintage Light Examplar with Crescent Colors Belle Soie *Creme de Menthe* and Gloriana *Birch Brown*. I am thinking the green for the large motifs in the sampler and the brown (I say gold) for the smaller bits and initials. We'll see if I stay with the two-tone plan. Also in the picture are a lovely pair of scissors. I decided to treat myself to my first pair of Dovos. After hearing so many stitchers talking about their Dovos, I had to check out what they were talking about. Wow, these little scissors are fabulous! I never knew what I was missing out on. It was funny...after coming home and looking at the colors, they reminded me of the colors of my college alma mater. Ha! Very subconsious. So a little shout out. Go Dons! They'll all be starting school and sports soon.

The rest of Saturday was spent housesitting and doing about 4 loads of laundry and other little bits. Sunday was relaxing...massage appointment, going through a mountain of mail (ok, not so relaxing) and stitching. Below is my progress so far on my Bent Creek Snappers. I was really hoping to be done with April tonight but no dice. I'll keep plugging away at this until I get my QFRR chart. Just an umbrella, raindrops and accompanying border to crank out.
I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a smooth start to the workweek...

Where to Begin...

Whew...new blog template = much excitement! I've had a few days for the new look to sink in and I'm really happy with the work Lena did and highly recommend her. She's got lots of freebie blogger templates and is great to work with for customs too.

Now that I'm back to reality, I've realized that I'm very behind on the posts that I've built out in my head so I'll blog about what I consider are the highlights. Starting with last weekend...yep, old news but still good stuff. Last weekend was fairly social. I decided to hit the Burlingame Festival which was very nice. Lots of vendors, lots of food, not much of a crowd since I hit it early and I ran into one of my favorite jewelry vendors who I acquired my thumb ring from. She's great and when I told her that I was contemplating getting a spare, you know, in case something happens to the one I have, she burst into a fit of laughs. Hmmm, I guess that's weird. Apparently no one else thinks of having backups but when I find something I absolutely love that I use over and over again, I worry about wear out and not being able to find it when I want it. Ok, so a tad weird. I also ran into a coworker and his son at the festival and it was nice to visit and chat. That evening, I had decided to meet the "self-centered guy" from an earlier post. Just for coffee and a chat. He stated that he was just a guy who was bad at email and dealt better with one on one interaction. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Initially, it was difficult...I found myself asking a million questions and nervously babbling to just keep the conversation going. Silences straight off the bat is not really all that good. Again, I was the one asking questions and really not having any asked of me. I was feeling like this meetup was a waste of time. But as the minutes ticked past, he seemed to be more comfortable, opened up and asked more about me. That was good but I still didn't have warm fuzzies. I have the feeling that him being touted as a "cute, sexy eligible geek" on national tv may have gone to his head some. Too much to be able to deal with a simple *blue collar* girl who loves life and fun. Things shouldn't be as hard as they end up being and for the present time, I'm just content emailing with a seemingly nice guy. I don't know where that'll take me but it's simple and it's fun.

On Sunday, I met up with an old friend, Lien. Old coworker and old friend who moved out to Austin for grad school. I hadn't seen her in over a year!! It was fantastic to see here. We went to one of our old haunts, ChaChaCha. Wow, it had been forever since I've been there! Although the food is decent at best, the highlight of this little establishment is their sangria and omg, it is so worth going there...unless I'm, of course, making it myself. So after a long boozy lunch filled with eyeopening news and tons of laughs, we walked around Haight Street to see what was new and what was old. And despite being so close to Ameoba (oh, the tension was palpable!), I did not go in and buy out half the store. After our little quest for shoes and shopping, we heading into the park to go to the DeYoung Museum to check out the Chihuly exhibit. Dale Chihuly is an exceptional artist no matter what the SF Chronicle wants to say. I've made special trips to Seattle and Tacoma specifically to view glass artists in action and to the Museum of Glass to see the Chihuly team work in the Hot Shop. Just because glass doesn't have a major following does not mean it is not art. I could totally rip into this reviewer. Apparently I am an admirer of "empty virtuosity" and glass sculptors have no place in the art world despite the fact that the subject at hand is seemingly unpliable yet fragile and that person works under extreme heat and stress to develop the right shape, color and density. I'd like to see that reviewer try to recreate anything that Chihuly or his team can make. And as we strolled through the museum and saw other exhibits consisting of traditional 1800, tribal, modern and some weird stuff made with rock sugar and shellac, I felt that the Chihuly exhibit was 100% more beautiful and inspiring than anything else in that museum. I mean, yes, the rock sugar shallac chandeliers were completely interesting but what the heck?! A tad bizarre, no? Each room in the Chihuly was filled with light and color, shape and beauty. It left me feeling a lot of wonder and inspiration and filled me with questions of how and what. I actually want to go back before the exhibit ends so that I can admire and perhaps answer some of my own questions. It is truly worth it, no matter what some "art critic" thinks.

And that was the extent of last weekend. Lien and I parted ways and it was back to my weekly grind.

Blog Transformation!

Woohoo! Look at me. Yep, I have a new look which has been some time in the making. I hope that everyone likes the browns and blues over the white and the dots. I was really trying to come up with something that felt more personalized to me, my city and my blog name and be easy on the eyes. As many may or may not know, I am one of the few San Francisco natives out there. Most of the city has been taken over by transplants and that's okay since San Franciscans have always been open and happy to share. Just think of the 60's, Summer of Love and Haight-Ashbury. My heart truly belongs to San Francisco and it's the city I love and I can't ever imagine being far from it long...whether it be distance or time.

With help from Lena at Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates, she helped create my blurry, indecisive idea into a reality. I won't lie and say it was easy on my part because it wasn't. I had an idea and searched high and low for a picture that I thought fit me and I finally found the picture above on Flickr and I asked permission from the photographer to use the photo for the blog. That all took a while...many websites of photos and going cross-eyed and not being able to decide what was best. My friend, AM, helped me tremendously. Thanks AM! But the Flickr photographer, Charlie, was kind enough to let me use his picture. What a relief! For those not familiar with San Francisco, this picture was taken on one of the piers along the waterfront and is facing inward. The very tall triangular building is the famous Transamerica Building obscured by the fog that San Francisco is so known for. And everyone knows that I absolutely love fog.

Once the picture was picked out, Lena said I should look at digital scrapbooking templates. Whoa, who knew there were so many?! More looking and indecisiveness and I finally decided on chocolate and blue and Lena made me some different templates to look at and ta-da!!!!

Welcome to my new blog! Isn't she pretty? It's still in a period of transition since I need to update the blogroll, stitching projects and actually write the posts that still exist only in my head. But for now, I'll just sit and admire the new look for a bit.

Reflections on Dating

I haven't had anything positive to say about dating in some time...and I still don't. There has been a lot of reflection and frustration on the subject though. In the past month, I've found myself conversing with unavailable men. There was...

The married guy I had to tell off for the obvious reason that he's married and his wife is dying to have loads of his babies. I will not get involved with attached men and frankly, I don't see screaming, wailing babies in my future.

And there was...

The guy who was married and is now divorced with 2 kids in Reno. Oh geez, that's way more baggage than I can deal with and I told him so. I can deal with divorce but not someone else's children. I don't think I'd even be able to deal with any supposed children I'd have hence me just saying I won't have any.

And there was this...

A while back, I sent an email to this guy on a new dating site I am trying out. We matched up high and even agreed that the other was cute and seemed cool. I contacted him. Problem #1. I contacted HIM. He emailed me back and commented on all the questions I asked of him but he didn't ask any questions of me. Hmmm. Problem #2. If a guy doesn't ask me anything about me and only rambles about himself, I am not interested in "chatting" anymore. I am very good about balancing both and I pose questions throughout my email versus the 20 questions at the end. If you only talk about yourself, I'm going to assume that you're self-centered and not really all that interested in getting to know me. So I never wrote him back. Well, yesterday I received an email from him that said that after review of his last email to me, he realized that he may have come off disinterested but that that wasn't the case at all and that he'd like to meet me for coffee if I was so inclined. Problem #3...why did it take him 6 weeks to figure that out?!

*bangs head on table*

You see what I'm dealing with here? I should just stop dating altogether and start writing that chicklit novel or Guide to Men for Dating from Girl Standpoint already. I have more than enough "research" but now seem to be low on time.

I've been wasting too much time on unavailable men. And I keep telling myself to just lay low, relax and do my own thing. People keep telling me that that's when you "least suspect it". Blech! I hate hearing that. Oh and the whole bit about guys being attracted to happy people. Oh hey...I'm just a little bitter and annoyed right now but I'm truly a happy, smiley person with some sarcasm and quirkiness thrown in. What's not to like about that?! I mean, I'm obviously attracting men here...they are just all the wrong types of men. *sigh*

So I try to deal with the rotten apples I'm being handed here and I also try not to think about the fact that I'm a little pent up. It's been a while...a long one and I'm getting annoyed that it's actually THIS hard to meet a cool yet nice guy. But I still have my wits about me (barely) and am not about to "hook up" with any of the rotten apples I've been handed because that is so not my style. But if things around here don't change soon, I will not be held responsible for any stupid decisions I may end up making.

I've been talking to friends at work and they've been trying to convince me to look into Team in Training as a cool way to meet new people. There's a problem though. I haven't run in about 20 years, I am scared to death of falling off a bicycle and getting run over by a car in the process so I don't bike and I am one of the worst swimmers out there. I do not see a triathalon in my future...at all. So I am brainstorming how to put myself out there. For some reason, I don't have problems meeting strange men on dates but the prospect of putting myself out there to meet new people as friends makes me nervous. I think it's because I've always felt much more comfortable meeting people one on one or in small groups. But all these meet up events are bigger groups and when I'm in a big group...I'm not so witty and sarcastic but more reserved and shy. Go figure.

Does it all really have to be this hard?!

Shopping Frustrations

At lunchtime, I ventured to the local shopping mall to try and find a birthday present for my niece. Note that the keyword in that statement is try. She'll be turning 14 and I was given instructions to find her clothes for her birthday. Ok...I can do that. She likes how I dress except with the hemlines shorter and the necklines lower (much to the objections of her mother). Now, I know I shouldn't have tried to accomplish this task during my allotted one hour lunchtime but I like to multitask during lunch as much as possible so that I can have as much of the evening to myself to lounge or socialize as I see fit. I arrived at the mall and immediately hit:

Gap: I had seen some very cute shorts online and found a pair of them in the store...in size 2. Ummm, yea. Do people out there actually wear a size 2?! Because let me tell you, I for sure do not and neither does my niece. I saw some possibilities there but it all seemed too boring and overpriced. Next...

American Eagle: I think I saw the shortest miniskirt ever made! If it will not cover my butt, it sure ain't being bought. Is there a shortage on fabric that I don't know about? Because I for sure will not pay $40 for maybe 1/4 yard of fabric that somehow got turned into a skirt. Next...

PacSun: Dear Lord, there are stores out there that only carry Junior sizes? We're in America. Doesn't everyone say that we're the most overweight country in the world? How do these stores stay in business? I guess all teenyboppers are supposed to be straight and skinny or something. Next...

Hollister: I wanted to leave the moment I stepped foot into this godforsaken store. Why is it so loud?! I wonder if the kids who work here wear earplugs. There has to be some level of ear damage if you're in there a long time. I wonder if the company realizes that is a workers' comp liability. And why is it so dark?! How do people see what they are trying to potentially buy?! Oh and they only carry Junior sizes too. Next...

Abercrombie and Fitch: It smells like someone dropped a case of cheap cologne and every single bottle broke. I actually saw some cute shorts here but then realized that the biggest size they carried was a 10. I hate stores like that! Who are these stores to define what size they go up until? I guess 10=fat or something. I'm a size 12 on the bottom and a size Small on top. God definitely graced me with too much booty! If the store will not accomodate all of me, I am not shopping there. AnF...please air out your store.

So I managed six stores in one hour including The Walking Company where I bought some leather lotion for my handbags that are looking a little dull. I also managed to get lunch, socialize with some co-workers I ran into at the mall and get a venti iced coffee to keep me awake through the second half of the workday.

In terms of the birthday present...I've no idea where to find some decent fun clothes that will cover booty and the rack. I suppose I'll be hitting Old Navy and Target next. I kind of wish some moms with teenyboppers checked in so they could give me a clue. Finding cool teenybopper clothes that actually fit a curvy yet well proportioned girl...and woman for that matter...seems to be impossible.

Now I kind of wish I had just gone home at lunch to watch tv and stitch a little bit.

Two Down, Ten More To Go

I came back home from Pasadena in one piece and decided that after being away from home for almost an entire workweek, I would reserve the weekend for myself...and I stitched. My goal was to finish the February Snapper square with the accompanying border and I did it! Yay! Here is a picture of January and February with border. I am leaving the snaps off the piece until I am completely finished. Now it's on to March!
I really didn't do very much this weekend except stitch, lounge, eat, run some errands and saw All About Eve at the Stanford Theatre. I totally love this movie and was very happy to catch it on the big screen. Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet and ho-hum weekend. It was the best!