FogCity Dweller

IHSW, TUSAL and a Winner!

2012-01-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

Wowzers! Thanks so much for the lovely, uplifting comments on my photo. I know...it's taken forever for me to post one but deep down at the core, I am a shy, private person. As a kid, I hid from the camera. Most of my childhood friends have pictures of me with something in front of my face (book, hand, hair) to prevent the photo.

Natalia said I have to post more photos so I am posting one more...super cheeser of a photo.

***

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW) wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I did manage to stitch quite a bit on Sunday but didn't finish the stocking. So close though. Here is a photo of how far I got.
I only have one small band of flowers to stitch at the very bottom and then to sew on all the charms and buttons. I am close! I adore the little village and the meadow. Look at all the little sheepies! So cute.

It's also TUSAL time. It's amazing how many threads I have in my jar already. All the orts are from Sadie's stocking and the perle cotton sure does take a lot of space in my ort jar.
But that's all I managed to do. I didn't even do any finishing.

***

Yesterday was the last day of the Year of the Bunny. It was a good year. I found clarity. I found my smile and myself. I made some wonderful blog friends. I shed some of my shyness and most of my sadness. I realized I am happy to be single and even happier to make friends instead of dealing with an endless string of first dates.

I have great hopes for the Year of the Dragon. New friends, lots of fun, good health and a someone to love. We'll see what happens. You never know.

Now to the winner of my surprise. The winner is Catherine! Catherine, I think it's your lucky weekend. Go buy some lottery tickets! Please email me with your address. I hope you don't mind waiting a bit because, uh, I never got to finishing this weekend and next weekend is already going to be insanity. I'll make it worth the wait, ok?!

Well, that's it for me tonight. I need to veg with the tv a bit before hitting the hay. I've got a busy couple of days at work. I don't even think I'll get much stitching in!

Until next time...

I'm Pleased To Meet You

2012-01-19T21:42:00.000-08:00

I always said that the most smile inducing photos are the ones that capture the real you. When you aren't really aware of the camera and you're living in the moment.

I suppose that in the midst of all the flash problems he was having, he captured me in mid-laugh.

I've been writing in this little blogspace for going on seven years. This is the first time I've posted a photo of myself. It's nice to finally meet you.

Much love,
Valerie

Busy Weekend and a Surprise

2012-01-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies! Hope you all had a nice weekend. And a quick welcome to my new followers and commenters. Things have been pretty busy of late and I haven't had a chance to get back to everyone to say thanks and welcome the newbies. Thanks for stopping by my little blogspace.

The weekend was great! I took an extra day off so I had a four day weekend and go back to work in the morning. I will have a lot of work cut out for me. Lots to get done in three days.

I managed to try a few new foodie places this weekend. No wonder the scale is yelling at me. I tried Nopalito after wanting to for the past couple of years. It was tasty and fresh trendy mexican food. I'd go back but it didn't fulfill that craving for artery-clogging refried beans loaded with melted cheese and Spanish rice. Hmmm, this is probably why the scale is screaming at me. I've been having really unhealthy cravings lately. Chicken and waffles anyone? The next foodie place I tried was Bar Tartine for brunch. I had buckwheat speatzle with trumpet mushrooms and fried eggs. Yum! I really need to try this place out for dinner. And lastly, Tanpopo for ramen. Probably the best ramen (except for NY) to date. Ugh, I think I better load up on fruit and veggies this week.

I watched two movies. The Iron Lady which was fantastic! Seriously...don't walk...run and see it. I didn't know very much about Margaret Thatcher but the movie was enlightening and Meryl Streep seriously did a fantastic job. She was very deserving of her Golden Globe this past weekend. I also saw Hugo in 3D which was different than I expected but very good all the same.

In between all the eating and movie watching, I fit in a 4-mile hike around the city and nursed a sore back. I also went to a restorative yoga class that then did wonders for my aching back and made me realize I really need to start up with the yoga already. At least with the restorative classes until I can build up the stamina for the 90 minute vinyasa yoga classes. 90 minutes of fast paced asanas can really kick you in the ass when you're out of shape.

Today, I went to a photo shoot. I had bought a deal for the hell of it and with the intention to get some new, fresh photos of myself. I don't really like having photos of myself taken so this required a lot of self peptalking. But I did it and I am hoping I have a couple of decent photos. I'll find out in a week. But I think the little ego boost was being asked out on a date by the photographer. I'll wait to see how the photos come out first! But it was nice to just be asked out at random in a real life situation instead of the annoying online dating scenarios I've placed myself in.

In between, I've stitched some on Sadie's stocking and it's really coming along. I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the week or the weekend at the latest.
I don't feel like taking it off the scroll bars to take a full photo but that will come soon with the finish! The bottom section is my favorite with the little village and the tiny sheep grazing in the meadow.

***

So I said that when I reached 200 followers, I would have a little surprise to celebrate and ring out the Year of the Bunny which ends on Sunday. Here is a terrible photo of a sneak peek.
The prize will be a finished pincushion and floss tag which will happen when I finish the above. I stitched iStitch Sew a Brown Bunny last year hence the 2011 already stitched on it but will leave it in since 2011 was in fact, the Year of the Bunny. It's been stitched on 40 count Antique White (or Ivory) Ricamo with CC Secondhand Rose and Cocoa Bean. I'm hoping to use IHSW to do the finishing but please don't be upset if you are the winner and it takes me a bit longer to finish and send it on. I will find a couple of other goodies in the stash to send along as well.

To enter:
1. Please comment,on this post only, saying you want to be entered;
2. Be a follower or regular commenter;
3. Do not post about this on your blog as it's for regular readers and followers;
4. Tell me what your favorite candy is!

Easy Peasy! I will draw a name on Sunday, January 22nd after 5pm PST.

Ok, time to head to bed and prepare for a crazy end of week.

Until next time...

Owwww!

2012-01-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling ouchie and low...
Kinda like this guy...

For being an "old youngish" girl, I've got a lot of back issues. Note to the younger generation...
1. For the love of all that is holy...lift with your knees. And don't lift more than you can by yourself.
2. Try to limit crazy falls down multiple full flights of stairs to none if at all possible. Not like the six and counting of yours truly.
3. Don't hunch over your computer. I see you hunching...stop it!
4. Don't sit weird. Like sitting with your right foot under your left butt cheek. Don't do that. I see you...stop it. You'll regret it later.

Oh, I'm sorry...am I exuding 80 year old cranky old lady? I've been trying to ignore the ouchie back all of last week but it came to a head this weekend when I had to try and take it easy and ice and heat and lie down and rest. I don't have time for all that! I'm busy. Or I was...

I will say one thing...I have no idea how my friend managed to get that christmas tree up the stairs by himself because I about passed out trying to get that monster of a tree out of the building by myself (which I shouldn't have done with a back about to go out on me). I will miss the twinkly lights but oh my, the space...and the light...how I missed thee!

I am so excited to have surpassed 200 followers! Thank you so much! I really do appreciate you all reading my drivel and commenting. I read every one and they make my day full of smiles. Thank you so much! I better get cracking on my surprise now.

Progress on Sadie's stocking has been dress fill-in. *yawn* No photo today but I did finish the fill-in so it's onto the hem, legs, shoes and sheep! Progress photo to come soon!

I am hoping to slowly feel more myself and less ouchie, get into some gym routine and back to my happy social self.

Happy Monday folks!

Until next time...

Busy, Busy!

2012-01-04T22:48:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies!

Can you believe I was off for 10 days and my apartment looks the same and I'm running around like a chicken with her head cut off?! Some things just never change. I do have to say that I had a wonderful time off from work and it was mighty hard to drag myself into work Tuesday morning.

In the last days of my furlough, I managed to:

~Go to the Walt Disney Family Museum and learn more about the man behind those fantastic movies I loved as a kid (who am I kidding, I still love them now!) and Disneyland. It was wonderful.
~Tried chinese soup dumplings which I'm still on the fence about.
~Saw The Artist which was fantastic and I recommend highly is you like classic films, the silent era and/or black and white cinematography. Loved it!
~Had a facial and was told by the estetician that I have nearly flawless skin and who was shocked that I was 36 because she thought I was 28. God, I loved that! I'd keep her if I wasn't so loyal to my Russian estetician who I've been seeing forever.
~Read a book...The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. It was a good read but I preferred The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose.
~Made a pot of soup.
~Saw My Week with Marilyn which I was pleasantly surprised over. Michelle Williams did a great job exuding the spirit of Marilyn and the insecurities she must have felt during her rise to stardom. Fantastic and I recommend this one too!
~Had a nice visit with an old friend who has the knack for making me believe the things I don't from other people. You know, the comments about being beautiful and having a lot of things going for me and being a good person. It's rejuvenating to hear and I've decided to listen for a change, hold it close to my heart and allow it to carry me through. I feel a little spring in my step and feel better than I have in ages!
~Saw The Descendants. Sad movie but well done.
~Met up with a friend who's starting a new relationship. I hope I imparted some good wisdom. "Don't change because they want you to. Change because YOU want to. Don't lose yourself. Be true to who you are." I'm hoping I don't lose another male friend due to female jealousy and insecurities but only time will tell.

So you can probably imagine that I haven't gotten as much stitching done on my furlough as I had hoped. And I did not start my Fairy Moon BAP on New Year's Day. I've decided to carry on with my stocking until it is done and I need to start a small project that a fellow stitcher was kind enough to lend me the chart for and can be my "carry around" project since I can't take the stocking with me anywhere. Once I finish the stocking, I'll start Fairy Moon and it will obviously have to be my "at home" project since it's so big!

In the meantime, the stocking seems to stitch up fairly quick and I am about halfway done!

I somehow need to find the time to put away Christmas and drag a tree down three flights of stairs! It's much more fun to put up decorations than take them down!

I noticed that I am about 6 followers away from hitting the 200 mark. I'm planning a little surprise for when I hit 200 followers and to also say goodbye to the Year of the Rabbit. The year wasn't how I had dreamed but it was a good year for me nonetheless and I'm incredibly grateful to put that terrible streak of bad luck behind me. It will be time for the Dragons to have their fun. So if you're not a follower, become one! I'll have a little surprise worked up in the next couple of weeks or so.

Until next time...

And We Say Hello to Another Year!

2011-12-31T23:04:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year where we look over the goals we set and see how well we did. I feel like I did terribly in the stitching arena but I did well on personal goals

2011 Personal Goals

~Be more positive and happy. - Yes, slowly getting there. I feel 100% better now than this time last year.
~Lose 10 pounds and exercise regularly. - Not really.
~Continue to save money - Not really, getting a new car but a wrench in my saving plans.

2011 Stitching Goals

~Finish Mary Wigham - No, but I got up to Part 5. I've deemed her an UFO.
~Finish BBD Where My Heart Blooms - Yes! I finished!
~Stitch one design per month on the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart Series - Um no. I stitched 3.75 blocks.
~Start two Mirabilias - No
~Stitch 12 Christmas Ornaments - Only stitched one! Big fail!
~L*K Christmas Rules - Yes and it graced my wall this year. Yay!

2011 allowed me 15 finishes...3 less than last year. I had hoped for more stitching time but things got in the way. My focus for 2012 is to enjoy my stitching and get some major projects up and on my walls. So my goals for 2012 are short and simple.

I'll stick with the same personal goals for 2012.
2012 Personal Goals

~Continue to be more positive and happy.
~Lose 10 pounds and exercise regularly. I;m hoping the fancy scale I just ordered motivates me.
~Continue to save money.
~Continue efforts of meeting new people and being social.

2012 Stitching Goals
~Mirabilia Fairy Moon
~Chatelaine Taj Mahal
~Seasonal stitching (Easter, Halloween, Christmas)

If I can get Fairy Moon and Taj Mahal done and framed (or at least to Jill for framing), I will call 2012 a successful year.

Happy New Year my friends. I wish you the very best. Smiles, happiness, love, health, prosperity and lots of stitching time.

Much love,
Valerie

Quick Fly By

2011-12-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post today to show my progress on the Shepherd's Bush stocking. It's really coming along!
This is the first time I've used 18 count linen and perle cotton. It kind of feels like I am pulling yarn through burlap. The "x's" are huge! It's a fun stitch though. I've been jumping around a little because filling in the dress is a little tedious. I will work on it through tomorrow and then have a new start on NYE. Well, at least that's the plan!

Yesterday was one of those lazy days where you wake up early but still lounge around in bed for hours afterwards. You know, complete with tv remotes, laptop, a book and the phone nearby. When I finally felt a surge of energy, it was too late to run my errands since I had to meet up with some friends for afternoon tea, english style. It was nice to see each other, catch up and stroll around my old neighborhood of 10+ years ago. Some things really don't change that much! All the important things were still around.

I'm off to get ready for another urban adventure. I'll tell you all about it in the next post!

Until next time...

Last TUSAL of 2011

2011-12-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies...I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Thanks so much for the comments on my last post. I was happy to survive another holiday but I tell you, next year I think I need to save myself the hassle and drama and just plan a trip somewhere. It always ends up that when I show up, I have to save dinner from overcooking, set the table, heat up all the food, serve everyone, clear the table, serve everyone dessert, clear that and then be told I need to lose 25 pounds and be attacked by a 3 pound chihuahua. Just call me Cinderella! Next year, maybe I can be in Fiji instead. Somewhere warm where some cute guy brings me tropical drinks! Pina Colada anyone?

In the last couple of days, I caught up with a dear friend, saw Young Adult, had pho on a cold, bitter day, bought Christmas cards at 50% off, hiked to Chinatown for delicious dim sum, egg tarts and fresh fortune cookies. Continued up into North Beach for a cup of strong coffee and further into Fisherman's Wharf to say hi to Laughing Sal. Then I walked back to Union Square to see if I could find a casual warm jacket on sale with no luck and I started my journey back home. It was a long, fun day but let me tell you, my feet ache from all that walking! But I guess that was all in lieu of a gym workout on the elliptical. I am trying to enjoy my vacation to the fullest. I know that as the week progresses, it will get quieter and I will be able to focus on stitching and goals for the new year.

I have been putting some time in on my stocking and I am happy with my progress. I will show a photo in my next post. This post is about TUSAL...the last one of 2011! I've already emptied my jar since this photo was taken and am starting all over for 2012. I will use this years orts for stuffing something. They are good orts...not like last years...so they'll help plump up an ornie or something or other. I did pretty good progress but didn't quite reach the top of my jar. I didn't have as many finishes this year as I hoped and I suspect I'll have less next year. All this socializing takes up a lot of time and I hope to focus on 2 big BAPs next year.
You all can join in on the TUSAL fun. Just sign up on Daffycat's blog!

Until next time...

A Special Christmas Message

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself. ~Francis C. Farley

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry and joyful Christmas. I am incredibly grateful to the friendships this little blog has allowed me with people that I would not otherwise have met. In times of great sadness, heartache and disillusionment, I shared my true thoughts and feelings and was always met with encouragement, hugs and support. I know most of my readers found me because of my stitching but to those that stuck through the personal posts and rallied, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your encouragement kept me plugging along, allowed me to regain my footing, put myself out there, fight for and find myself again. I couldn't have done it without you.

And even though I don't have a man in my life to ring in the New Year, I am amazingly content in the knowledge that I am the Valerie I want to be (+10 pounds and a couple of other things but whatever) and am looking forward to the adventures and friendships I will make and encounter in the coming year.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. May it be everything you wish it to be.

Much love,
Valerie

IHSW Update

2011-12-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I had grand plans for my weekend. I think I jinxed myself saying it would be quiet but the best laid plans oftentimes go awry. I had a little bit of a floor stand malfunction.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I decided to baste my fabric to my scroll rods so I could start my Shepherd's Bush stocking. I didn't want to do qsnaps since I can't really hold one larger than 8" for long because my neck and shoulder will lock up. And it took me two days because I've been so busy!

So on Thursday night, I finally attach the sidebars and clamped it into my Stitchmate and wouldn't you believe it...my scroll frame fell right out of the clamp and onto the floor! Since I don't use rods often, this was the first time I tried to use scroll rods with my Stitchmate since I got it and I didn't realize I needed to use Stitchmate rods/bars or have some ADP adapter. The only size Stitchmate rods I had were 16" and I needed 19" rods for the fabric. Ugh! Oh yea, and as I was doing all this, the band that keeps my q-snap adapter in place snapped so I couldn't even pull the fabric onto bigger snaps since the adapter wouldn't stay in place.

It put a complete halt to my plans! So I switched gears and just pulled out Shepherd's Bush Merry Be and got a few stitches in. I think I prefer the look of two threads instead of the called for one thread over 2 on 30 count. I am debating whether to continue with two or switch back to 1 thread for the daintier look. I always have this dilemna with their kits! Here is my small start.
But I didn't stitch on it long because my friend Mary came to my rescue! She said I could borrow whatever rods/bars I needed to help me stay on track with my projects. I passed by her house, got what I needed and of course, in my excitement put the rods into the sidebar backwards but whatever. It works, the frame stayed in the clamp and I was stitching. Here is my small start on Sadie's Stocking which will soon become Valerie's Stocking!

Since so much time was wasted, I didn't make much progress on my starts. I don't know how you serial starters do it. I can't stand everything you need to do to start a new project. Once it's started, I'm fine but I'm a spazz case before that.

Oh and here is my Hallow Eden finish. I love it!
I did run into a little issue when I took the qsnaps off. I was lazy and never took them off or put felt between the clamps so I have qsnap marks and the fabric got grimy where I was holding it. Since it's Lakeside Linen and Crescent Colors, I am worried about getting the fabric wet. So I'm debating what to do and how to get it finished. Snug frame...or cube finish. I guess no matter what, the scuzzy section will be hidden or cut off since it's not the stitching itself that is dirty. Any suggestions??

Well, that's it for today. I haven't had much stitching time so far this week but once Monday comes along, I plan to have a few "stitch ass" sessions since I will be off until January 3rd! Happy dance....happy dance! Woo!! I plan to relax, do things I don't get to do on the weekend and stitch my heart out!

Until next time...

Bringing Home the Tree

2011-12-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

After being Ms. Scroogette for the past couple of years, I decided early on, even before Thanksgiving, that I was getting a real Christmas tree this year. This was my year and gosh darnit, I'm having a tree! No little 5 foot fiber optic this year either. So I planned ahead and tried to pair my schedule with a friend of mine who I knew wouldn't balk at the request of carrying a 6'+ tree up 50 stairs and decorating it with me. You know...those types of friends are rare! Since our schedules are opposite, I took the day off during the week and we made a big day of it.

So, on a Thursday, after a yummy breakfast at an old-style pancake house, we headed to Home Depot. It's the most cost-efficient place to get a tree around here and I'm trying to do holidays on a budget. The bad thing about this plan is that Home Depot kind of piles up the trees and it's hard to take a gander without pulling trees out of the pile. Lacking upper body strength, especially after not being diligent about the gym, I about toppled over a few times. Wow, some of those trees were really heavy! I found a tree that we both approved of, as did some shoppers near us. After that, I was kind of scared to let go of the tree! No lady, you can't have this tree...it's mine! They did their fresh cut and wrap it in plastic bit and we somehow managed to get it to fit inside the CR-V and away we went.

My friend managed to get the tree up the stairs, without my help or being out of breath! I have no idea how he does it! In my excitement to have a real tree...I forgot what a biyatch it can be to get the tree to stay up straight in the tree stand! It took about three tries and a lot of cursing. Thank goodness for the Christmas carols on the radio because it's hard to stay mad when you're also trying to sing along to carols! The problem was that the trunk was cut too short so it wouldn't hit the sharp edge on the bottom to help hold the tree steady and the trunk was so soft because the tree was definitely fresh...and sappy. And I didn't want to cut the branches on the bottom since they created a lot of the fullness to the tree. It took some doing and we made it work. I thought it was a success when it stayed up the first night since it almost toppled over while we were decorating it. Ack!

Lights, ornies and star! Ta-da!
I am in love with my tree. I am oftentimes tempted to leave it on overnight but then I remember I live in an old building with old wiring and don't want to tempt the fates. So I enjoy it as much as possible when I'm home. I also uncovered some treasures when going through my Christmas boxes. Here are a few things I hold dear.

Fat Santa. Dear Fat Santa, I've been a very good girl. Can you please send me the winning lottery numbers? NO!? Well, it's a good thing you're cute.
Some ornies that have been gifted to me...

Mirabilia's Christmas Elf Fairy
Some knick knacks
Santa Snoopy and Reindeer!
The stocking my first boyfriend made me by slipping away from me at Albertson's to buy it and glitter gel to add my name many, many moons ago and a little reminder that this is my christmas and I'll make it merry in my own little ways.
And a splotchy pointsetta to adorn my very cluttered kitchen table. Don't look too closely!
There you have it. My pretty tree and modest decor. All these little things make me happy and smile. I'm very happy I decorated...even if the tree almost killed me! But I think we have a truce and she is certainly adorned and loved.

Until next time...be merry and bright.

Fun-Filled Saturday!

2011-12-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies! I've been having a couple of "Calgon Take Me Away" couple of weeks and am all wrapped up (ha! no pun intended) in all the christmas happenings. But I had to yank myself away from the card writing to just catch up a little. I probably have glitter in my hair and on my face but at the moment, I'm oblivious to all that. I've got so much to share and will have to spread it amongst a few posts. I've had some friends emailing me to make sure I am ok. It's been a much longer absence than I thought but I am well. Thanks so much for worrying about me.

Saturday the 3rd was my fun day. I'd been looking forward to it for months since my stitching group was planning our Christmas Shindig for that day. I went about getting my things together the night before and had grand plans to eat terrific food and get loads of stitching done.

I had hoped to be finished with Hallow Eden by Friday so I could start something Christmasy for the holiday party but as usual...I think I can stitch much faster than I actually can! Ha! As the weekend got closer, I decided to just take my time since Hallow Eden is small and portable anyways and I only had two more colors left to stitch.

As I left home in the morning, I noticed the postman on my block and asked him if he had any packages for me as I was expecting a package of finishing from KarenV. If I didn't get it that day, I'd have to wait until the following Saturday to get it from the Post Office. I was lucky because he had it! Yay! Since I was heading to the party, I put the box in the car and off I went. Once I arrived to the venue, I debated bringing the box in but when I mentioned it to some of the stitchers, they all urged me to get my box from the car and share. They all wanted to join in on the fun.

Karen did a wonderful job, as usual. She finished my Christmas Rules into a bellpull just in time for the holiday. She did say there were issues with this hardware so if you decide to buy it, be careful! However, Images Stitchery does guarantee their products and will take care of you.

And I found it's special spot!
And this is the backing fabric used. A fun, simple polka dot.
She also finished Tweet Gift but Full Circle Designs. I love this ornie. The cardinal is so cute and I plan to stitch it's companion soon.
Here is Almost Halloween by The Drawn Thread finished as a little pillow with the most perfect backing fabric and jumbo rick rack trim! And lastly, she sewed my Traveling Stitcher and matching needles piece onto it's pouch and needlebook for me. If I wanted to do it myself, it would have sat in the closet forever!
And the fun backing fabric for the Halloween pillow...

I am thrilled with the finishes and the fact that they will be displayed this year instead of gathering more dust unfinished in the closet. Thanks Karen!

The rest of the Christmas Party was great. We had a wonderful lunch and cake and I enjoyed a glass or two of wine along with chatter with some lovely ladies I only get to see a couple of times a year. It was so nice to catch up and share some laughs, stories and stitching with one another.

The Clubhouse was decorated very nicely with many trees and nutcrackers and some ladies brought some wonderful projects to show and tell. Here are some photos.
My dear friend Mary's French Alphabet Sampler. It's gorgeous! The picture doesn't do it justice and sadly I caught a glare from the windows behind me.
Narita's completed Flower Power. It's stunning and massive! It's almost the size of the loveseat!
Naomi's almost completed Mirabilia Winter Queen.

It was a fantastic day! I still have lots to share. My "bringing home the tree" story and the end result and I finally finished Hallow Eden! But...it will all have to wait another day.

Oh and before I leave, sign up for Joyzse's IHSW! It's this weekend and it actually looks like a quiet one for me (famous last words) and I plan on starting something Christmasy! I can't wait! Of course, that will only happen if I finish my cards, wrap gifts, head to the post office finish picking up the last of the gifts by the weekend. Oof...doesn't it seem like there's 5x more things to do because of Christmas!?

Until next time...be merry and bright!

TUSAL and Hallow Eden

2011-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post today since I'm feeling a little down in the dumps and un-chatty. Don't worry...I'm hoping to snap out of it soon. T'is the season and all...Fa La La.

I have my TUSAL update. How about you? Did you want to join in on all the TUSAL fun next year? Go sign up on Daffycat's blog. It's fun and you can have a jar of orts at the end of the year just like me!

I didn't get as much done on Hallow Eden as I had hoped (see: down in the dumps) but I forced myself to get some stitching done.
That was probably not the best idea since Adam is now a stitch taller than Eve and the tree is somehow a stitch higher than it should be...or lower. I can't figure it out. Seeing as I like my men taller than me anyways, I am leaving Adam alone and I'll just add another row of dark brown at the bottom of the tree trunk to even things out. I've no idea how my counting went wrong but I am hoping that is all and I don't encounter more errors once I get to the leaves. I hope to continue and maybe (?!) finish Hallow Eden by the weekend. I would really like to get back to Christmas stitching and have a NotForgotten Farm design plus my stocking to stitch before the year is over. Ok...stop laughing! I'm at least going to try!

I survived one holiday...only one more to go! On Friday, I went to Union Square along with 50 kajillion other crazy people. I, however, did not go there to shop and the only time I went into Macy's was to use the bathroom. Thank you Macy's! Not only were there shoppers. There were ice skaters. There were a ton of police officers in riot helmets along with a bunch of Occupy Black Friday protesters. I was a little surprised to see so many riot cops since I didn't even know this Occupy Black Friday stuff was even going on! I saw kittens. And I saw puppies. And I saw the great huge tree in Union Square light up!
It's officially the holiday season! Happy Holidays folks.

Until next time...be merry and bright.

Randomness & IHSW

2011-11-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

Let's start off with the randomness...shall we.

*My parents have been blowing up my work phone lately and asking me if I am busy. If I'm at work, it's good to assume I am busy and that I definitely won't be patient to discuss things like the cable bill and whatever else isn't an emergency but seems to be really important to an 80+ year old! Really? When I was a kid, I had better be at the nurses station half passed out and delirious with fever before I even thought of calling them at work. If I was raised like that, then I expect that as an adult too. I'm busy and work is too in flux for them to be calling me with unimportant matters.

*After the events of the last week, I have no patience whatsoever for my parents' negative doom and gloom outlook. Ugh! Be happy you're alive. Find a hobby! Enjoy the day! Read a book!

*I canceled a date on Sunday at the last minute. I try not to be one of those. I made the general plans...lunch and a downtown stroll where the guy lived since I wasn't familiar. All he had to do was pick a place to meet. I still didn't know where we were meeting 3 hours before we were supposed to meet. Major peeve. MAJOR! I am not going to get dolled up, drive 45 minutes away, in the rain, for some guy who can't even pick a lunch place. Pick a lunch place already! OMG!

*Sometimes, it just feels right to stay in your pajamas until 3pm.

*I am dreading Thanksgiving. Let's just get it over with already! I need to decorate for Christmas. And seriously...how has November passed so quickly?!

*Why must people stand so close to you at the grocery check out? Back up lady! I'll be done soon...unless you want to pay for my groceries. Then by all means...crowd me and hand over some money!

*Sometimes words speak louder than actions. Like that guy who chased me up the stairs last night. Tell me you're a neighbor and locked out instead of being creepy, chasing me up the stairs in an effort to get into the building and scaring the crap out of me. Jeez! I'd have called the property manager to verify you lived there and let you in. Instead I wish I could have maced you.

I had a work meeting today that ensured that my job is safe but that we need to move offices. The move is not ideal as I see a personality clash with someone who works in the proposed space. But beggars can't be choosers...

*I wonder if a kind Pinterest addict/reader would send me an invite request referral thingie so I can start pinning? I heard that Pinterest fulfills those requests first... Pretty please... Edited: Thank you, Thank you...I woke up to lots of invite emails. You are all the bestest!

*And in case you were wondering...I did buy the dress.
Now to find a party to wear my new dress to!

***

So it was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend! Did you all hermit and stitch? I had a pretty hermitty weekend which was perfect since a good portion of it was rainy and cold. I changed most of my weekend plans around so that I could be lazy but I was a tad distracted with this.
I had a day to read it because it was due to the library and I couldn't renew it...again. It was a very good book although some bits were pretty trashy. The baseline of the story was interesting. American lady becomes an asset for the Resistance against the Nazi regime during WWII in Paris. I loved the bits that mentioned locales within Paris. It allowed me to reminisce and think about what it was like in the 40's, during my favorite fashion era.

And I was also distracted by this.

I have a kabillion DMC skeins to wind.
I apparently have a long way to go to fill this jammer box! Does anyone else's hand cramp up when they wind bobbins? I have the feeling this will be a slow process.

But I got a little bit of stitching in. I am still working on Plum Street Samplers' Hallow Eden. It's a little odd working on Halloweeny stitching when it's over now but I fear that if I stop, I won't finish.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if we don't speak soon, may you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next time...

I'm Back!

2011-11-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies...I'm back! Did you all miss me? I missed you all. Apparently lots happened while I was gone and I came back to a majillion posts to catch up on and it's taken me days!

New York...was amazing! I had a wonderful time and have some writing to do and photos to resize to share with you all. The weather cooperated and I was freaking out for nothing. I walked so much...I should be down to 100 pounds! Yea, who am I kidding!

Things since my return have been a bit sad with the death of good friend's dad, some worries about job stability and feeling like I've been hit by a truck exhausted.

I just wanted to let you all know I had fun and got home safely but am in a quiet mood with very little stitching going on since I've been either burrowed under blankets or sleeping in my spare time due to this tiredness. If I'm getting sick...let it happen already! Much too busy to be this tired and not feeling entirely myself.

I am here...keeping up on blogs and forever behind with emails and always thinking on you all even if I'm a little quiet and otherwise mentally preoccupied with the little curveballs that life throws. Hug your loved ones tight and often. I give you all a virtual *hug*.

Until next time...

A Finish, a Start and Fun Mail

2011-10-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovelies...I think this will be my last post for a bit. I need time to figure out what I need to take with me, strategize and have my freak outs and panick attacks in peace. =)

Last week, I finished Plum Street Samplers Favorite Spot Sampler. I think it's so funny this piece got such a high vote when I needed help deciding. It was a very fast stitch and lots of fun. I changed out the white from GAST Oatmeal to CC Bamboo. It's just a touch brighter so it stands out a little bit better against the linen.

Since I had finished a few days before Halloween, I decided to start something Halloweeny instead of starting a small Christmas Piece I was going to start. It just seemed appropriate. I started Plum Street Samplers Hallow Eden. I'm using the called for 36 count Lakeside Vintage River Willow and the recommended threads.

Here's my progress up to Saturday morning:
And my progress as of tonight:
I haven't gotten anything exciting done, obviously, but each letter is a mini happy dance. It did take me a while to be "ok" with the Hickory Sticks. I was hoping for more of the darker brown but you know what? It's growing on me. The DMC isn't even close and I didn't want to mess with a toss.

I have the feeling I will have to leave my projects at home when I go on my trip. Everything is on 36-40 count. Not condusive for airplane or night time stitching in a space that isn't my own. I will probably kit up an ornie or take a mini Shepherd's Bush kit with me. Actually the latter might be easier.

On my birthday earlier this month, I won a giveaway that Anne was hosting. What a lovely surprise that was! The post office was holding my package hostage until I was able to retrieve it on Saturday. It was wrapped very nicely...
...before I tore into it!

She sent me some lovely things! I am in love with the pincushion. The blue/purple varigation is so pretty and smells amazing! She stuffed it with some lavendar and it's a wonderful scent. She also sent me some amazing teas (and tea steeper) to try which I will do tonight since I ran out of my normal nighttime tea just yesterday.
There are also some fabric cuts, flosses, trims and pins! So generous!

And a close up of the pincushion! Thank you Anne!
I hope you all have fun while I'm gone. I figure I have one more day of stitching and tv before I crack down and finalize my planning. Between working a full week and leaving on a red eye, my time feels slightly scrunched.

How are you all liking the new fall programs? I am really in love with Once Upon a Time and can't wait to see how it pans out. I hope it survives. I'm also digging 2 Broke Girls and Pan Am.

Au revoir mes cheries...until next time!

I Thee Covet...

2011-10-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

I was born in the wrong era. My body type is conducive to dresses with nice, fitted bodices and full skirts(you know, to accomodate the hips!). Pockets...even better! Light crinoline...fun! Dresses most popular in the 40's through 60's. I love it when this era makes a comeback in fashion.

This dress...I love!
Love, love, love. It's not even black and I love it. Ummm, I wear a lot of black. My resolve is faltering.

I guess I can buy it and see if it goes on sale in 2 weeks. If it does, maybe it wouldn't seem so bad. Just maybe...

And the savings would pay for my alterations since I can't fit into any dress off the rack. Short torso and shoulders can be a real drag when it comes to buying a dress that is not strapless.

Amazing that I can find loads to love when I am trying to not shop. And when I am trying to shop, I find nothing to love. Does anyone else have that problem?!

Damn you Anthropologie! And Claire...for dragging me there! :)

Stitchy post coming...I've been otherwise preoccupied with this dress and hoping I don't freeze my arse off in 5 days. I'm still not ready! O.M.G!

Be back soon....

Urban Hike - Coit Tower (lots of photos)

2011-10-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks back, I went on an urban hike with my new friend. He had never been to Coit Tower and I have the feeling he hadn't really been to North Beach. When people haven't been to North Beach, Coit Tower or the Filbert Steps, something kind of clicks and I end up being a tour guide. "What? You haven't been? Ok, we have to go!" So we did. Mind you, my new friend likes to moutain bike for 25+ miles at a time and hike 15 miles. I was going to be the out of shape one here. We met at Caffe Roma since I wasn't going to be able to get up that hill without caffeine. After adequate nourishment and a potty break, we started up. There were some photo op along the way.

St. Peter and Paul Church

Coit Tower (where we were going)

A peek of the Transamerica through the trees.

Since he hadn't been, he wanted to go up in the tower. I thought I had done the tower in grammar school but once I was up there, it didn't really look all that familiar so I think it was a first for me too! The view from the tower was amazing! So glad we did that.

Downtown Skyline with partial Bay Bridge
Cruise Ship at Pier 27

I was a little bummed because I noticed that the landscaping hasn't really been kept up with at the parking lot level of the tower. The trees and bushes have grown so tall that they obstruct the view except for one good spot. Perhaps Parks and Rec has been impacted with the budget that they've neglected the trimming? Or maybe it's a way to get people to pay for entry up the tower so they get a nice view.

Golden Gate Bridge with a hazy whitewash

After that, we went down the Filbert Steps (because going up might give me a stroke) to check out little cottages and gardens tucked up in the stairway. I love it here! I always imagine what it would be like to live in one of these little cottages and be hidden away from the hustle and bustle. I don't think I would like figuring out how to get my groceries home or move in/out though. What a pain!

Fountain at Levi Plaza

After the final descent of the last little bit of the Filbert steps which give me a case of vertigo, we walked along the Embarcadero to Pier 23 where we gazed upon the water while drinking Blue Moon and having a nice well deserved lunch. We waved at the people at the cruise ship docked next door and looked at the tugs, cargos and sail boats glide by.It was a fantastic day.

I headed home where I immediately fell into a coma from all the walking, sun, beer and food. Excellent day!

The following week, I did it all over again with Natasha. That day was aboout 20 degrees warmer and I was a sweaty mess but that's ok. We had fun!

More Coit Tower
Artsy shot of the Transamerica between buildings

I hope you enjoyed the photos. I am working on a stitchy post as I've got a finish, a start and fun mail to share. I think that might be a post for tomorrow though. I spent hours shopping today and I am daydreaming about a dress I saw at Anthropologie. Love the dress...hate the price. I know they are sold out of the dress in my size online but they have it at a local shop. What would you all do?! Ugh...I think I will mull it over while stitching to my Sunday night shows.

Until next time...

Randomness and TUSAL

2011-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

My brain is still a-buzzing so here's more randomness...

*Ever wonder what searches bring people to your blog? Here are some of mine:
-bunnies
-dating unemployed men
-stop sending me game (not entirely sure what this means!)
-single forever (at least I'm not the only one thinking this)
-at what point do you definitely know that you'll be single (uh, you'll know!)
-bunny says put your hands up (=/...since when do bunnies talk or dance? )...Put your hands in the air like you just don't care....heyyyy. Oh sorry, got a little carried away there.

*Between the dismal dating results and the parental mind games, I am feeling slightly melancholy and lonely. I am trying to not let it get to me. Usually booking my social calendar helps but it's a slow week and I am trying to reserve my $$ for NY and time to figure out what I want to do and where I want to be ahead of time...especially since I will have to rely on the molasses slow speed of the internet on my Blackberry while I am there.

*Last week, I went to the Apple Store and misheard "sixteen" for "sex change". I was really tired that day. Made the Apple employee laugh!

*There are eskimos controlling the HVAC at work and I was sitting at my desk with a wool jacket on and my hands and nose are frozen! Helloww...can barely type with frozen fingers! It's warmer outside than it was inside. I have to wear a turtleneck to work but can get by with short sleeves outside. I am really nervous that I am going to freeze my butt off in NY. Is it really going to snow this weekend?!

I'm baking a pumpkin bread for a work birthday potluck. The smell is almost too much to bear! How will I control myself from eating a slice tonight?! Mmmmmm....

Has it gotten dark and cold where you live? Brrrr...the force of the hermitting is great!

***

It's TUSAL time! I got a lot in my jar due to Christmas Rules, Almost Halloween and the frogging from that as well.
I also have a finish! But I'll have to wait to take a photo over the weekend. Favorite Spot Sampler needs to be pressed and I need some daylight in order. And I even started my next project. Unveiling to come!

Happy Friday Folks! Thank goodness! This has felt like the l.o.n.g.e.s.t. week ever!

Until next time...

Randomess!

2011-10-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovelies! It's been a while since I've done a "randomness" post. It was a very busy weekend. I'm not done with my urban hike post and the camera is at home anyways. This weekend wasn't very stitch productive so I've made progress but haven't finished Favorite Spot Sampler. Almost...4 more letters and 4 more motifs. Very close!

So we're left with my randomness and the thoughts that race through my head sometimes.
Like...

*How I talked on the phone with this one dating prospect. I hate talking on the phone and have pet peeves about it. I much prefer email or in person communication. My biggest pet peeve is when people are multi-tasking when you are talking to them. I think it's rude. If I receive a call while driving, I let it go to voicemail and I call that person back when I can devote my full attention to them. When someone calls me, I turn off the tv and give my undivided attention to that person. It's how I was raised and I believe it to be good manners. I feel slighted when people don't provide me their attention...especially if they are calling me. This guy was driving and almost went the wrong way because he was talking to me on the phone. I then had to wait while he righted himself. Not to mention the number of times I needed him to repeat himself as once he got home, I could hear him putting things away and dishes being banged about. I did most of the talking on that one since he doesn't seem like a conversationalist. I have to admit, it put me off. Hey man, I liked you in email but now I'm not so sure after talking to you! The same guy called me on Saturday...before 10am (!!)...and I was in the car and pressed for time so I let it go to voicemail. His message said "I'm at the shop waiting for my tires to be rotated so I had some spare time to call you." Be still my beating heart....how romantic. Not! It gives me the impression he only has time to talk to me when he is trying to burn some time.

*Dating rule #123 - No calling before 10am or after 9pm. Some girls need their beauty sleep, especially on the weekend.

*I have phone phobia after years of being a telephone switchboard supervisor. Despite this background, I have issues figuring out how my cell phone works!

*Most guys don't believe in astrology but I do. I think I have a quip for every sign. In the end, I think I just need to meet a nice, cute Libra man and I will be set. I'm off Geminis for a bit...need to recover after the last one.

*I have never encountered so many flaky men in my life! I have a 33% rate of return on my dating investments. Not very good. For every 3 men I "talk" to, I meet one. The last one took 3 days to plan. I said Sunday worked for me and he said he'd contact me with details. I waited and waited and waited. It is not cool to hold up someone's whole day because they refuse to plan. It's not that hard to pick a time and place! I think this is how I end up planning all the time!

*I had a terrible dream in which one of my friends died terribly and it spooked me like you wouldn't believe. It seemed so real that I really pondered it if was a dream. I usually don't have bad dreams and if I do, it's usually about being attacked by spiders. I hate spiders!

*I finally broke down and ordered the new iPhone 4s last week. I had a bad feeling about it so I stopped by the Verizon store to check in on my order and wouldn't you know it?! My order went *poof* into some abyss never to be found! At this point...no iPhone for me before my NY trip which is a huge bummer.

*I leave for NY in less than 2 weeks! I'm not ready!

*Bi-Rite Salted Caramel ice cream is decadant. So glad I don't live close or I would be buying multiple quarts of that stuff and calling it dinner. Yummy!

*How is it that I go to Trader Joe's to buy lunch and walk out with $65 worth of food?!

*It's so hard to have a lazy weekend when you've become a social diva. I'm having fun but o.m.g. so behind on everything and the apartment is a wreck! I think I need to try and have a lazy upcoming weekend and force myself to get home stuff done and plan for NY.

*I visited with my folks yesterday and when I got there, I explained I could only be there for 2 hours so that they knew upfront and I could avoid any guilt tripping when I was leaving. My mom was busy when I left and I tried shouting through the door that I was leaving. Deaf as she is, she didn't hear me. An hour later, she leaves me a guilt trip voice mail. I am over the guilt tripping. Don't they realize that they are driving me away? No kid wants to hear the same shit over and over again which in essence makes them feel terrible. If you are a parent...don't so this. It upsets me so much. My sister tells me to ignore it but how can you ignore something that is constant? I'm not lucky enough to have 1500 miles separating me from my parents and they understand nothing about youth, fun or trying to have a social life. They don't "get" me...never have. In their eyes, I'm a failure of a daughter because I refuse to live at home and take care of them and if I don't do that, then I should at least visit everyday. So tired of the "broken record" feeling with this situation.

*Busy weekend...birthday dinner (not mine), city tour and urban hike with my new friend, errands and dinner/drinks out. Amazing how fast a weekend goes by!

Hope you all have a great week!

Until next time...

IHSW October Weekend Update

2011-10-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovelies...what's cooking?!

Thanks again for all the votes on my new project and being stitching cheerleaders. I think it helped this weekend. It was a relatively busy weekend with pumpkin festival and birthday wrapping and work stuff and pub afternoon and cooking. But I managed to get a lot done!

First off, I have a happy dance to celebrate. Happy happy dance dance! Woohoo! I finished Drawn Thread Almost Halloween. I just love the little motifs. I bought this kitted up so it's on 32 count Wichelt Tumbleweed with the recommended DMC/Threadworx. This linen is as stiff as a board. I can seriously fold it in the middle and stand it up like a tent. I should have removed the starch but oopsie, I forgot, in my eagerness to start the project in the first place. Thanks again to Natasha for sending me the bit I needed so I could finish.
I hit the half way mark with Favorite Spot Sampler. This is such an easy stitch. If I had had a completely free weekend, I may have managed to finish it. As it is, I think I may finish by the end of the week. Because you know, work, gym and cooking really cramp my style. lol
I'm a little concerned that the white really isn't going to show up as well as I thought but I'm going to go with it for now and figure out if I continue on with the GAST Oatmeal or sub it out for a brighter white.

And now onto my pumpkin patch. I love pumpkins! Love...they are cute and fun and taste delicious. Breads, muffins, cookies, soups, raviolis. I love pumpkin. A few years ago, I went to the Pumpkin Festival and bought myself a glass pumpkin...which I promptly broke the minute I paid for it and walked half a block. I was upset! So this time around, I was going to buy another one and hang onto the bag for dear life. I stopped by one booth and saw the orange and black one and loved it. The little black dot detail and the swirls in the orange glass. It's gorgeous up close. The old man working the booth was a flirt all eyeing my pumpkin ale (kinda weird...did not dig it) and giving me a hard time since I was sipping and not downing the beer. Uh...I'm a girl and the only thing I can suck down that fast is a margarita! We walked around and encountered 10 more glass pumpkin booths but I didn't really like the other pumpkins as much plus they were a lot more expensive. I wanted to take another look at the flirty old man's booth when we looped around and boy, was that a mistake. The black one caught my eye because the stem is fantastic and the yellow one is gorgeous up close and more reminiscint of a real pumpkin with the green stem. Oh boy, I did not anticipate buying three! As the flirty old man was wrapping them up, I pulled out my own flirt and said I should get a discount for buying a whole pumpkin patch! And I got a little one which more than paid for my beer. Sometimes it pays to flirt with the old men too.

So here's my little glass pumpkin patch. I am so in love.
Look at them stems!
I made a wonderful stew last night. I'm kind of proud of myself since I don't really cook. Bake: yes! Cook: no.

Alright...time to get a few stitches in and catch up on a little tv. Hope you all had a nice weekend too.

Until next time...

And the Masses Said...

2011-10-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

...Plum Street Samplers Favorite Spot Sampler!

Wow, thanks to everyone for voting! I had over 70 votes! Where is everyone when it comes time to comment?! Ok, fess up...who voted twice? =D I was watching the poll like a hawk last night after work to see what was in the lead and I could tell it was going to be Favorite Spot Sampler. I was shocked! I didn't think this design was on anyone's radar. I haven't seen anyone working on it. Or talking about it. Nothing! I was also surprised that the stocking didn't get very many votes.

Of course, you guys picked the design I was the least prepared to stitch! I just received the pattern on Friday and I knew I had fabric and threads for it but where were they!? The closet got ransacked and I plopped myself on the living room carpet to find my threads and figure out what linen I was going to use. Here is a snap of my start.

Rather dark photo. Hmmm...I need photog lessons. I'm stitching this with the recommended GAST (so far) on 40 count Lakeside Pearled Barley. It seems to be a little darker than the recommended Lentil so it will hopefully show the "girl in white dress with blue satin sash" and the snowflakes better than in the photo. This is a rather whimsical piece and keeps making me smile.

I've made more progress tonight since I took this picture and will try to stitch a bit more on it since it's still early west coast time. I received the needed thread to finish my Almost Halloween thanks to Natasha who sent me a little bit so I can finish. Thank you Natasha! I am going to try to do that tomorrow in between attending a work event, going to pub/chess afternoon and trying to make beef stew. I do have to say that I miss having a boy that cooks but I do not miss any of the related drama. This cooking stuff though really takes time away from my stitching! But sometimes a single girl needs to eat something more substantial than salads and popcorn....not together, of course.

Today, I went to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival! So much fun! And I bought myself my very own little pumpkin patch! Wait til you see...you all will fall in love. I need to take photos during the day. I, of course, forgot my camera and didn't remember until we were sitting in traffic at a standstill. No way to turn back at that point. So I have no photos to show of the actual festival. Seeing how bad my photos are, perhaps I spared you all. lol

Ok, time to catch up on blogs, try to send emails (maybe) and stitch a bit more.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! And thanks again for the voting!

Until next time...

Help Me Pick Quick!

2011-10-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

It's IHSW and I have nothing to stitch on! I am waiting on missing thread for Almost Halloween so I need to take advantage of IHSW and start something new. But what do I start?! Please help me pick. I have a poll on my right sidebar. Go vote!

Plum Street Samplers Hallow Eden
Plum Street Samplers Favorite Spot Sampler

Shepherd's Bush Sadie Stocking

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Until next time...

The Birthday Getaway...(photos galore)

2011-10-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

So a long, long time ago...like April...I knew I had to get out of dodge for my birthday or I would go berserk and depressed to be spending another birthday alone, at home, with my parents who make me get my own cake and my own present and will probably criticize me because I had the nerve to visit them in yoga pants and without makeup. Because, you know...how am I going to meet a man dressed like that(!)...while stuck in the car, driving, between my apartment and their house. No way! Getting out of dodge! I would not be able to deal. It was bad enough that my mom was all hurt that I wasn't spending my birthday with her and kept making snide remarks about how I was going away with a man and why I wasn't bringing this imaginary man by the house to meet her. Seriously, it's amazing I'm as normal as I am being surrounded by that insanity.

So I booked myself a loft cabin in the woods. Me, a city girl, in the woods. I wasn't sure how bright an idea this was but that was the plan. Quiet, seclusion, relaxation...and lots of wine.

The night before I was supposed to leave, I had a headache and was exhausted and didn't have the energy to pack. I decided to check my email one last time before heading to bed. The laptop was driving me nuts...wanting to do updates. So I decided to just let it do its update but it got kind of stuck...so I turned it off even though it said to not turn off the computer during the update. People...do not turn off the computer!! Holy Cow. I ended up being up half the night trying to get my computer to turn back on and each time, I got a "fatal error" message. I was in a panic and emailing(from my phone since the computer was broken) every geeky nerdy friend I knew at 2am hoping they were up playing video games and could talk me through the disaster I created for myself. No luck. I managed to sleep for about three hours before I woke up again. I was a nervous panicky mess mainly because my budget does not allow for another laptop and I would be computerless which is akin to death. In relaying my misery via text to Claire, she told me to bring the laptop to her and her husband would look at it while I was gone. So I packed, dropped off my laptop and began my journey up 101 and 128 before landing in Mendocino 3.5 hours later. The drive up was gorgeous and hassle free. It was 90 degrees in the Valley and I stopped at the orchard and a winery on my way to stock up a little. But let me tell you, once I crossed over onto Highway 1, the weather literally dropped 30 degrees. I traded in one foggy city for one seriously foggy town! I found my rental and it was a gorgeous little space. Here are some photos to get an idea.

The Deck

The View

The View at Night
Interior shot from entryInterior shot from Kitchen
View of Kitchen from Bathroom

The owner is an artist and there were examples of her collage art around. Her work studio was below this loft space and wow...it's a wonderful set up with tons of light. I did a quick trip into town to pick up food supplies and I tucked in for the night and stitched while watching tv.

The big news story in the area was that there was a murderer on the loose who was breaking into rental cabins and homes looking for food and supplies who had a shootout with the Sheriffs and got away. Joy...oh, joy! Here I am alone in the woods with some psycho on the loose with a rifle and I have no cell phone reception. Where is my wine...la la la...let's try not to think about it.

The next day, I headed into town to get coffee, a pastry and do a walk around. I went to my usual go-to stops, visited the farmers market and walked along Main Street. The shopkeepers here are so friendly so each stop was at least 20 minutes because talking about the weather and the impending rain was a must. In one shop, I bought this cute Halloween decoration. I couldn't resist! Look at the fluffy neck muff! Love it!
At another stop, I bought myself a souvenir tee shirt even though I already have a lot of Mendocino shirts.

Oh and here are a couple of photos I took around town.

I walked around until it was time to see if Claire arrived at the rental...and she did. I timed it perfectly. We headed back into town for lunch and more walking around. We gathered more supplies to have a little picnic in the cabin and tucked in for more tv and stitching. Being a mom, this was the longest stretch of stitching she has gotten in in the past two years!

There's a reason for the picnicking too. The area is very lowkey and nice but the dining options are slim. They are either super casual and close very early or high end and too expensive.

On the third day, we headed out winetasting...in the rain. We had a fun time. Heck, who doesn't have a fun time wine tasting at wineries that have no tasting fees?! Bring on the wine! I ended up with 8 bottles of wine. The standouts to me were Toulouse and Breggo. Toulouse is one fantastic and dangerous place. They are still new and do their tastings in the barn because they are still trying to get the winery off the ground and built the tasting room. They have a heavy hand when pouring their tastes and have probably some of the best wine I've tasted. Their Gewurtztraminer and Pinots are excellent and if I could have afforded it, I'd have bought at least one of each Pinot Noir they offer but as it was, I splurged and just bought one. If I win the lottery, I'll buy myself a caseload! Breggo is another place known for their Pinot Noir but I stuck with the whites during the tasting and they were excellent...they really have a skill for pairing interesting notes. We also visited Navarro, Husch, Brutacao and Lazy Ridge.

Lazy Ridge (i think)

Brutacao Vines
Pinot Noir Grapes
Husch Tasting Room - So Cute!
Wine booty

I was pretty toasted after all the wine tasting. We headed back to have an early dinner at a tapas restaurant I was dying to try and when we got there, the restaurant was closed! As in closed because they went out of business and there wasn't even any furniture in the space closed. Wah! After much debate over where we should eat and not really liking any of our options we decided to eat at the bar at the Inn at Little River and we had a nice meal with ollalieberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert. No chocolate cake but it was pretty tasty. After dinner, Claire made her way back home and I relaxed in the loft in a food and wine stupor. Too stuffed to read or even stitch! So I watched tv and relaxed and was happy that they "caught" the murderer so I could sleep in peace and not dream about some psycho breaking in and trying to steal my stitching.

The next day was my long journey back home. Why is it always longer to go home than it is to arrive? I arrived safely and relaxed at home. It was a nice birthday getaway! And you know the best part? When Claire arrived to Mendocino, she brought my fixed laptop with her. Her husband was able to fix it and I was over the moon happy! And she also brought me a bluetooth thingie because I always say I can't talk on the phone in the car because I don't have one (ticketable offense to drive and hold a cell phone at the same time). So happy!

So, birthday weekend was a success! The only bummer was that I did not score chocolate cake! I know what chocolate cake I want. I just need to find the time to go to Mara's for a slice of sinfully rich chocolatey goodness.

I hope you all enjoyed the photos! Time for me to clean for the cleaner. *grumble* How's this place get so cluttered and how come the laundry can't put itself away?! Magic wand, where, oh where are you!?

Until next time...

Come Dance With Me

2011-10-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

...the happy dance! Happy happy dance dance!

Because last weekend, while relaxing up in the woods, I put the last stitch and last button on Lizzie*Kate Christmas Rules. Yay!
And a closer look...

(Couldn't resize this one the same as others)

This project was a pleasure to stitch. I think I really needed some fun colors and light sentiment to help put me back on track. Lift me out of the muted color zone I'd been in for quite a few months. This is stitched on the recommended 32 count Light Mocha Belfast with the recommended Crescent Colors and Weeks. The only change I made was substituting CC English Ivy for the WDW Bullfrog since the skeins of Bullfrog I had were a rather terrible green.

I've pulled my Drawn Thread Almost Halloween out of the basket and have been slowly frogging and restitching it again. Yea, I know. Not terribly fun but I am much happier with the coverage of two threads versus one. Here is a photo which is deceiving. It looks like I am finished but I am frogging as I go so "ween" is getting frogged.
Of course, with the frogging, this means that I've run out of one of the colors since I purchased this as a kit but I think I have a friend helping me out with the last little bit I need to finish the orange bits in the "ween" part of Halloween! Stitching buddies are the best! It shouldn't take me much longer to finish. I do need to figure out what I did with the black buttons for the spider's bodies though. It looks like a melee happened in my stitching /storage closet. It's a miracle I can find anything in there!

I am really enjoying the seasonal stitching at the moment and I think I will run with it til the end of the year. I am pondering making Plum Street Samplers Hallow Eden and Shepherd's Bush Sadie Stocking my next projects. I've never stitched on 18 count linen or with perle cotton so that might be an interesting "experiment". I wonder if I even have size 24 needles and a threading thingie.

Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful birthday comments and wishes. I realized I must have been out of it on my previous post since I didn't even title it. That's very unlike me. I always try to come up with something even if it's boring as all get out. My birthday was lovely. And to make it even better, I won Anne's giveaway! Woo...happy birthday to me!

I also received a couple of coveted Jardin Prive charts from KarenV, a Halloween chart from CarolR and Carol sent me this lovely little Halloween pinpillow and goodies.
Thanks Carol(s) and KarenV!

I am still in the midst of catching up from being away. That's what happens when you return to 150 personal emails, 250 blog posts in your reader and 95 work emails. And I was behind to begin with. But I am catching up...slowly but surely.

I will do a separate post about my getaway weekend and still need to post about my urban hike.

Until next time...

They Say It's My Birthday!

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm on vacation...drinking wine, relaxing, visiting the beach and hoping that I can score myself a scrumptious slice of chocolate cake!

2011-09-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

I've started my vacation and so far, it's been a blur of family stuff, Opera at the Ballpark, errands and doctors appointments. Nothing really exciting. Just trying to get things done. Yesterday was the girl junk doctor's appointment. It's always awkward sitting there in those terrible plasticky paper coverings at the doctor's office. They aren't even gowns! But it's probably good that I really like my doctor and she's very down to earth and actually takes the time to chat. We joked about dating and men and the difference between hookups and real relationships and what has happened to the state of relationships in this day and age. I mentioned my age...because of mammography and cancer now running in my family and she asked about my standing on kids. If you've read my blog for a while, you all know where I stand. I've got major episodes of puppy fever...but baby fever...uh no. Not once. Not even a little bit. She wanted to make sure...you know...in case I needed a referral to a sperm bank. Because I am apparently getting old and my time is limited to have kids if I want them. So weird!

Not sure how I really feel about that, especially in light of turning a year older on Saturday! At least she said she wouldn't have guessed I was as old as I am. The good ol' genes are still pulling their weight!

I've been busy stitching on Christmas Rules and am very close to finishing. I did find a mistake today but will make it work since I don't feel like frogging much when it's barely noticeable. I'll show a picture when I finish.

TUSAL is here. I'm so mixed up on my days that I'm not sure what the exact date is but I've seen people posting so I'm assuming I am late.
It's after 10pm and I should be packing for my road trip but I am sporting a massive headache. I think I just need to wake up early, throw some stuff in a bag and wing it! I can't believe it's time to leave but am looking forward to a little me time.

Lots to catch up on when I get back!

Until next time...

IHSW Update!

2011-09-19T19:57:00.001-07:00

Hello my lovlies...did you all have a nice weekend? I did...but much too short, as always.

It was filled with socialness and I ended up forcing myself to relax on Sunday. Friday, Claire and I went to a little wine bar and had a nice Indian dinner. Nothing fancy but a nice way to end a busy week. Saturday, my new friend and I went on an urban hike in North Beach and Telegraph Hill. I love doing this and never tire of it. It's a more touristy thing to do but I don't care. The views are amazing! I took pictures but am too tired to resize them now so I will treat you all later. After our hike, we stopped at a nice little spot along the Embarcadero to chat and relax over a nice lunch and gaze at the boats gliding by. Definitely not a bad way to spend a Saturday! On Sunday, I decided to skip the Scavenger Hunt. The organizer didn't even tell us the meeting spot until midnight Sunday! Being a planner at heart, stuff like that annoys me and I decided that having clean undies was more important than scurrying about in the heatwave we're having. I think that was a good decision since me and hot weather don't mix well; add in the stress of meeting 20plus strangers and then asking random people for things for the "hunt"...meh. I slept in, visited my folks, did laundry and went to the gym.

I'm throwing myself back into the gym. The socialness promotes more drinking and eating and I've been feeling a little jiggly in spots. This feeling wasn't helped by my dad bluntly telling me I've put on weight. Eff! Thanks Dad! Ugh...the old folks have not mastered the art of "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!" =( You'd think they'd learn by now considering how much I act out when they are not nice.

So gym yesterday (1.8m only since they were closing), today (4.1m) and tomorrow I will try some cardio class to mix it up a bit.

It was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. I got a little bit done considering the busy schedule. I finished Rule #9 and started the very boring border on Rule #10. Sorry for the craptastic photo. If I didn't do it now...it may never get posted!

I was hoping to finish all the rules by my roadtrip but I am starting to think that's wishful thinking. Three more rules in one week?! Yea, not going to happen. But I am close...so, so close!

This is a hectic week at work especially in preparation of me being on vacation next week. Woot! My sister is coming into town for a visit on Wednesday since it's my mom's birthday this Saturday and mine is the Saturday after. We are ramping up for the busy part of the year.

Fall TV is starting up! I am so excited! I run the risk of reverting back into my hermity ways and I will have to be careful. It's tempting to just go home after work and assplant into the recliner to watch tv especially since I sense the days getting shorter and the nights growing longer. I would say the weather is getting cooler but we have Indian Summer here and I got home at 7pm to a sauna of an apartment. But the breeze flows in the windows and it feels nice. I have to try and keep a regular routine of gym after work with at least 3 social get togethers a week.

Well, time to peel off and try to stitch a little before calling it a nice.

Until next time...

Dating and Stitching

2011-09-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the nice comments on my last post. I'm definitely frustrated but I think it's just heightened by it being the hormonal time of the month and obsessively wasting time on the damn site. There's nothing for me there so I need to throw myself into other avenues of distraction like the gym and home projects.

Not all dating experiences have been bad. I made a new friend and that's a plus. I even had a guy tell me I look like a cross between Marisa Tomei and Mary Louise Parker. I consider that a positive thing! Mind you, the guy is dressed up like a pirate in his profile pics. I seriously have no idea what that is all about and really don't want to find out either! What a way to market yourself. Ahoy cute girl, come on an adventure with me and I won't make you walk the plank!

Today, I had a different guy send me an email that said, "what do you like to do for fun?". Period. I list all my fun stuff in my profile. Stop looking at my pictures and read my profile already!

Ok, that's it. I will stop talking about dating now. It annoys me. Oh, but I guess you all figured that out by now. =D

How about stitching? I can talk about stitching because I've actually done some. Last weekend was pretty quiet. I was a lazyass with the exception of Sunday when I dragged myself to the Park to partake in the Opera in the Park event.
It was a gorgeous day...just perfect to lounge around in the sun with a little picnics and a handful of friends. I did manage to get a funky sunburn because I didn't spray my SPF70 very well. Yep, they make sunscreen that strong and I still manage to get sunburn. I'm just happy I had it because otherwise I would have turned as red as a lobster! Remember how I said people look familiar because I've seen them on the dating site? Turns out I recognized a photo in the program as one on the dating site. That guy is an opera singer! So weird...I recognize people everywhere!

Anyways, on my lazy Friday and Saturday, I managed to finish the 7th Rule and stitch the 8th Rule in Christmas Rules! ANd I made a tiny start on the 9th one as you can see here.
I signed up for IHSW even though I have a pretty busy weekend planned. I am hoping to at least finish this 9th Rule. If you want to join in on the fun, go sign up on Joyce's blog!

The weekend arrives and it's probably good I have a busy one so I don't sit at home sulking on the state of my social life. I'm heading out with Claire tomorrow and we haven't decided what we're doing but should be fun no matter what. She has decided to crash in on part of my birthday getaway in a couple of weeks. It's been so busy lately that I haven't even had time to plan anything other than the rental but I think it will be nice to just do things as I go and be leisurely about it. I seem to pack things too full if I think and plan so I'm not. The plan so far is wine tasting, hiking, visit the beach, stitching, tapas dinner and hitting the quirky coffee shop and delicious bakery as much as I can.

Saturday will be an urban hike with my new friend to show him Coit Tower, the murals, the view and the cottages inset into the Filbert Steps. I wonder if he'll think I'm weird if I take a ton of pictures. Who's the tourist...him or me?! Sunday, I have my choice of Comedy in the Park or a Scavenger Hunt. I think the Scavenger Hunt sounds like a ton of fun and am leaning towards doing that. I've been lazy about the gym this week but I think I will make up for it with these Sat/Sun plans.

Hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Until next time...

The Dating Game

2011-09-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

***Disclaimer: This post is Rated R. Content material: foul language, sexual topics and frustration exhibited towards opposite sex. If you're sensitive to that, hit the back button now. Thank you***

Hitch: Now, on the one hand, it is very difficult for a man to even speak to someone who looks like you. But, on the other hand, should that be your problem?
Sara: So life's kind of hard all around.
Hitch: Not if you pay attention. I mean, you're sending all the right signals - no earrings, heels under two inches, your hair is pulled back, you're wearing reading glasses with no book, drinking a Grey Goose martini, which means you had a hell of a week and a beer just wouldn't do it. And if that wasn't clear enough, there's always the "fuck off" sign that you have stamped on your forehead.

Have you seen the movie Hitch? That scene in the bar, where Sara is sitting alone, waiting for her friend, and some sleeze-bucket comes up to her and drops the stupidest line ever? Yea, I can relate. She is me and I am her. I don't really sit in bars by myself anymore because I see myself as a target. And I don't say that to have a big ego. I say that because the minute I walk into a bar alone and there is a group of guys on the hunt, I feel their eyes on me. I don't like it. I have mastered the "buzz off look" and I do have it stamped on my forehead.

***

Someone recently said that you never know what you're going to get or experience in online dating. I've been online dating since the inception of this little blog and let me tell you, that statement is so true. Sometimes I wonder why I keeping doing it. At times, it's fun, other times, frustrating and sometimes, even downright traumatizing. I feel like it's my only outlet to dating though seeing as I can't date within the workplace(not that I want to) and my pool of friends don't know any single, eligible men (which frustrates me to no end). I'm getting kind of tired of being the one with the interesting stories but not getting a good setup in exchange for them. Help me out a little here, 'k?!

In the beginning, online dating was exciting and fun. It slowly got old as I encountered married men pretending to be single. Guys in relationships whose girlfriends hacked their accounts and then emailed me to tell me the guy I was talking to is abusive. Guys who use 10 year old photos and let me tell you that those 10 years were not kind to their appearance. Lazy guys...and the list goes on. This doesn't mean that I don't meet nice guys...some who were boring or some where there was no "spark".

***

The past month or so has had me questioning why I've bothered, yet again. I know why I did but again...the frustration and feelings of being perpetually single settle in.

There have been a few wishy-washy, flaky guys. It's frustrating to spend time emailing with nothing coming of it. I'm not online to acquire countless penpals. I have a hard enough time staying caught up on emails with people I actually know.

I did meet a nice, but boring guy who I didn't feel any spark with. He recently went through this big production of telling me he hit it off with someone and was going to see where things went with her. I had to tell him I was spending time with him on the pretense of friends to begin with so he could do what he wanted but it'd be nice to continue to be friends. We go on urban hikes and the like. He's the type of guy I can be friends with because if I was actually dating him, he'd realize very quickly how sloth-like I can be. That's one of the problems of the elible men in my dating pool. They *all* like to hike, bike, run, swim, marathon, hanglide, parasail, ski, snowboard, hit the gym everyday, hit the clubs and dance all night. Then there's me whose into art, culture, food, film, urban hikes, yoga and other things that are visually or audibly stimulating. I need to find a guy who has an even mix of active and fun interests. But hey, I made a new friend out of the madness of online dating.

I started emailing and chatting with this guy who, friends, was drop dead gorgeous! At least his photos were. And his photos were a little too professional and meticulous and I was wondering if this guy was even real. He mentioned meeting and then retracted it? Ummm...what? Who does that? He painted on the side and so he talked a lot about painting and art and models. He was very direct and explicit about the models and women he liked. Classic face, rubanesque body. Big boobs, big bum, curvy. I fit that description and physique very well and he would bring it up all the time. I have the feeling he was waiting for me to offer to model for him. After the 5th+ time of his saying he liked big butts, I told him he was very direct and never heard from him again. Ha! Guys really hate hearing the truth. Frankly, I think he's a troll hiding behind a computer screen trying to get girls to come over and model nude for him because he looks f-in hot in his photos. The last thing I need is to model nude and have my photos get out to all the guys in my department. Um, hell no.

(Click to read the relevant caption)

A couple of days later, I received an email from a different guy who seemed a mess. Unemployed, no real direction and not even my type. He emailed me to say I had a classic beauty. It was a nice compliment so I replied to say thanks and that was it. A couple of days later, he sent me another message asking if I had any interest in partaking a lover from the site and went on to say he thought I was really beautiful and how he thought he could satisfy me. Ugh! Yea...really. I am not lying. There was a part of me that was disgusted and a part of me that was flattered but mostly, I was just grossed out. I replied in that manner and told him that the purpose of a dating site it to date and that there are sites out there specific to booty calls if that is what he wanted. Over the course of the month, this guy has emailed me to apologize, ask if I'd reconsider, told me he regretted that approach since he feels I am truly the real deal and a good catch, wished me the best of luck in my search while sending me an erotic short story he wrote of his imagined sexual encounter with me. Wonderful. I've managed to acquire another stalker. At least this guy doesn't know my real identity.

Then there was the guy who wanted to have a text relationship. I don't really like texting unless I am running late or need a quick answer on something. I definitely dislike flirting and guys making kissyface comments to me in text...before I've even met them. I am not going to reply in the same context either if I haven't met them because they can be one of those trolls with 10 year old pictures. Thank.you.very.much.but.no!

And despite all the weirdness, I was brave enough to go on a real date with a different guy (not any of the ones above) and had a nice time on the first date. We met at a wine bar, had fun conversations and migrated to another place for cocktails and appetizers. Together, we seemed to have good energy. I had my reservations though because he was super alternative and into things I knew I wouldn't put up with for very long. Not to mention, after appetizers, we took a little walk and he was very forward. Kissyface, grab ass, flattering compliments about my assets. I had him walk me to my car and he asked me if I'd be his girlfriend! First date! I'm not committing to being anyone's girlfriend on the first date. Despite the forwardness and alternative lifestyle, I figured a second date couldn't hurt. It would help me make a decision. I had to explain that I wasn't going to go dancing or clubbing(his plan), that I was more interested in getting to know him and insinuated that he wasn't going to "score" on the second date. Well, the second date ended up being a therapy session. He's a widow and went on and on about his deceased wife (sad circumstances I understand but this is a date), talked about the various other dates he had had and how soon he had sex with them (as soon as second date) and the quality of it and then at the end of dinner asked me if we should split the bill. I decided to just be done with him and pay for the meal. He obviously just wanted to have a "girlfriend" to have regular sex with even though it was apparent he is not over or healed from the death of his wife three years ago.

After these various online dating experiences, I'm starting to feel like men only see me as a pretty face with generous boobs and ass. I get that guys like that. I have it. I don't like that feeling of guys thinking that "oh yea, I'd tap that" line when they see me. I am more that pretty looks, big boobs and a nice ass. And this is with me playing down my looks. I hide behind glasses and live in jeans, cargos and hoodies most of the time. I am smart and nerdy and fun and sarcastic and kind and genuine with a good sense of humor who can sometimes be a cranky ass and a little neurotic and yes, I happen to have a pretty face, big boobs and a nice ass. But most of all...I'm a genuine person who deserves to be respected and have men realize I'm a great catch. And I am. And I've had men realize and tell me that...oftentimes too late.

And before you all think I have my stuff hanging out for all the world to see on the internet, I have headshots and pretty routine photos where my stuff is covered. I'm wondering why I'm getting this sort of response to my profile when the photos are sedate.

I'm starting to feel like I will really be single forever. I know, I know...it happens when you least expect it. Meh. Years ago, when I first tried online dating, they had these quizzes that would tell you the probability of meeting your match and I took the quiz. My probability was 7%. That is sad...and the older I get, the more I am starting to believe that is true. I am frustrated.

Even more frustrating is having your face on a damn dating site. Everywhere I go, I wonder why people look familiar. Later on, I realize it's because I've seen their picture on the damn dating site! All I want is to get the hell off the site. But I think that at this point, I'm just going to have to take myself off of it although my preference would be to come off the site because I met someone fabulous on it. I want to have this feeling...

And come away from it feeling giddy and excited and hopeful of the possibilities...instead of feeling like guys just want to feel up my junk.

And if anyone knows a nice, fun, cute, tall guy who has their act together in my area, let me know. It can't be worse than dating one of these guys on the damn dating site.

This post has probably freaked out my sister if she's reading this. I am not moving to Texas unless there's a nice Texan that will sweep me off my feet or come live in SF!

And you married folks...you guys/gals are lucky. And sorry if I offended any of my male readers by using generalizations despite them being true to my experience. I know all men aren't like that.

No Pouting!

2011-09-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I never really caught up on sleep this weekend so I'm feeling a little quiet and lethargic. I guess that's what happens when you stay in the city into the wee hours of the morning, have very little sleep (again!) and then eat a ginormous brunch of french toast, bacon and egg (uh...food coma) and then walk an art festival in the sun for hours. By Sunday evening, I felt like a truck hit me. Thank goodness I had an extra day off because as it was, I spent the entire day in my pajamas watching NCIS episodes like it was the last tv show on earth and only ventured into the neighborhood to pick up lunch/dinner at 5pm since I never got my act together to go to the grocery store. I still haven't...I may starve to death in my apartment. Oh wait, I have an endless supply of popcorn. I'll be ok.

I did get a bit of stitching in though and finished the 6th rule and reached the halfway point on Christmas Rules. Yay!
Excuse the wrinkles. I don't iron until I'm completely done and I have this one all rolled up on an 8" qsnap.

I even got a little farther and am almost done with rule #7. I wonder if I can finish this in the next month or so.

I've been debating what to do with Drawn Thread's Almost Halloween. I haven't been very happy with it even though I am almost done. I followed the intructions despite my own hesitations and preference. The instructions call for using 1 strand of floss over 2 threads on 32 count. I can already hear the collective groaning. Exactly! The coverage is spindly and sparse and I am thinking of ripping it all out and starting over. I think it may just be the project to resurface on my little getaway at the end of the month. Something to work on on the deck or in front of the fireplace at night.

Hope everyone had a nice Labor day weekend! Tomorrow is Thursday already...wow, I can't believe it!

Until next time...

August TUSAL

2011-09-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend so far and taking a break from laboring. I'm just doing a quick fly by post to share my August TUSAL. You can see that Christmas Rules has been my focus with those reds and greens towards the top.

This morning I woke up at 5am because I heard airbrakes and rumbling. May not be a huge concern to most but I knew that sound in an instant and knew there was trouble. I hurried to the front windows and saw my street was blocked and there was a fire truck, fire engine, Chief's vehicle and police cars. I knew that with only 2 "engines", it was something minor but still, my heart leapt in my throat and I hurried to get presentable (starting to think I should just sleep fully clothed with bra on from now on after the alarm issue and now this!) in case there really was a big fire in my building and I had to hurry down the fire escape. Luckily, it was just a pot fire down on the first floor but I seriously wonder if the other tenants in the building even had a clue! One of the downfalls to living in a beautiful old building like I do is that fire alarms and fire sprinklers are not required so we depend on individual smoke detectors. I basically live in a firetrap. Be sure to have smoke detectors and change out your batteries annually. A $25 smoke detector and single 9-volt battery may be the difference between life and death. I managed to fall asleep after with the windows open to air out the burnt toast smell that permeated the building after but let me tell you, I feel sluggish now and I am supposed to be up and smiley for plans in the city in a couple of hours. I think I will need a double espresso to perk up!

I have another post in the works about dating observations that I've been debating on sharing. It's not G-rated...because things in dating can get weird. And well, stitching is always G-rated.

Ok, I'm off to get ready for the city. Remember to check your smoke detectors, change the batteries, check your stove/oven/appliances after cooking, love one another and have a happy and safe holiday.

Until next time...

IHSW Update

2011-08-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

So...I had grand expectations for the weekend. But you know what? They kind of fell flat. I was super restless as the work week drew to a close and that usually means that I flit about and waste a lot of time without getting anything accomplished. Does this happen to anyone else? It's like I can't relax and have all this pent up energy and if I have nowhere to go...oh boy...I become this restless, anxious, cranky mess.

I think this all came about because I spent the week with a work, gym, home routine all week with no social output. The gym is not social! I don't want to be talked to when I'm a sweaty mess. By Friday, I was ready to go out and have fun but had nowhere to go or anyone to go with. This is dangerous because I will troll on the computer and waste my entire evening without a stitch being accomplished.

I had stitching group on Saturday and was supposed to get tons of stitching in but I ended up being a social butterfly and then a sleepy butterfly after I ate my lunch. Note to self: pack lighter lunches for stitching group. Of course, the hostess is such a sweetheart, she wouldn't have minded if I had a little doze on her sofa. lol I did manage to finish the 5th rule on Christmas Rules so some progress was made albeit minor.
After stitching group, I met up with a friend for dinner and to see Breakfast at Tiffany's at the classics movie theater.

I spent Sunday exploring the city. I should have brought my camera but I always think about that after! I walked between Pacific Heights and Russian Hill in the search for cool glasses and a seafood lunch. I found some cute frame options at a fun boutique in Russian Hill. Glasses have been a frustration for me lately. I have a long, oval face and a skinny nose bridge but I like nerdy plastic frames because they are nerdy and are good at hiding the thickness of my hi-index lenses. It is impossible to find a decent frame! At least I have some options now. Now to decide and see if I can find them cheaper as I don't think I can afford a new pair with my budget at the moment. I had my heart set on a yummy seafood lunch at Swan. I hoofed it all the way there only to find out they are closed on Sundays! I settled back over to PacHeight and tried out Woodhouse Seafood instead. It was average and just made me sad that I missed out on Swan. I will have to save it for another day...that's not a Sunday!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Until next time...

Weekend Recap and More!

2011-08-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovlies....Happy Wednesday! Two posts in under a week...that's a record breaker for me nowadays. I thought I would come back to let you know about my weekend and a little bit of stitching.

I gave myself a 4-day weekend by using a couple of furlough days. I need to take 13 (!!) in the year so I have 11 more to go. Having days off during the week is wonderful but despite having a 4-day weekend, it flew by as if it was a normal 2-day weekend.

On the first day, I went to the Picasso Exhibit with a friend. Let me just start off by saying that Picasso was a strange, strange man with very strange taste in art. I had gone to a lecture at the library last month for a quick lesson on his style of art which was very helpful for me and my friend. For whatever reason, the DeYoung received the exhibit from the Musee National Picasso Paris under the agreement that there would be no chat boards. I really think that chat boards make an exhibit so not having any was strange. This also means that you walk the exhibit in under an hour since there is nothing to read! My friend was lost so I explained to him the things I learned in the lecture while we walked. The realm of "periods" Picasso painted...such as impressionist, blue, pink, cubism, surrealism, modern, etc. and how the wives and mistresses played as his muse. My friend got to the museum before I did thanks to a crapload of traffic and he picked up docent tour tickets so we walked the exhibit on our own first and then did the docent tour. It was helpful to hear a little bit of history...at least for those people who didn't know much about Picasso other than he's famous and you have to go check out his exhibit! The downside to the docent is that they skip over a lot of the paintings. So if you want to go and see the Picasso exhibit here in SF, get the audio tour! I cannot stress that enough. I was fine with the self walking and the docent tour because I already had some Picasso background but for newbies, the audio tour is the way to go.

After the exhibit, we rested in the cafe for a little bit and then walked over to the California Academy of Sciences. This is a great place to visit if you have kids. Me...I have no kids but I have guy friends and they are like grown up kids so I sometimes get the chance to go see the fishies and Claude the albino alligator. They have a snake exhibit going on now so we went to see that. Frankly, the huge hairy spider on display scared me more than the snakes. I could barely look at that thing. It was huge and hairy and all you saw is web...I scurried past squeaking in apprehension. Ugh...can't stand spiders!!

After that, I met with Claire and we had dinner at Burma Superstar. This place is awesome but you seriously have to get there right when the restaurant opens at 5pm to avoid a long wait, it is that popular. We indulged in too much food but had a great dinner. After, we browsed the shelves at Green Apple Books. I need to go back with a list next time. Each time I go, I get overwhelmed with all the book choices that I can't even decide on a book to buy! Does anyone else have that problem?

So that was Day 1! It was a very long but fun day. Day 2 consisted of me going downtown for an appointment and then I met up with another friend and we went to North Beach for a cheap lunch. We went to Golden Boy for some Sicilian Pizza slices. I've talked up Golden Boy already so I'm not providing a link. It's a little hole in the wall place whose draw is square pizza sold my the slice. After that, I needed to go to Stella Pastry for my cannoli. My friend says that Stella is high-end and he refused to order anything. I have no idea what he's talking about but I'm dealing with someone who will go to hole in the wall places and refuses to go to any "yuppie or foodie" places. After that, I went to spend a little bit of time with the 80-year old set and see how they were doing.

Day 3 was quieter. It was farmers' market and errand day for me. I picked up some peaches, strawberries, fresh corn, plouts and grapes. No hazelnut croissant today...that's at Sunday farmers' market. I will have to get one this coming weekend and take a photo for everyone...so many people commented on it on my last post. I've been trying to tidy up and organize my apartment so that was on the agenda too with a little bit of stitching.

Day 4 I treated myself to a movie and went to see The Help. Has anyone else seen it yet? I thought it was very well done. Lots of laughs and tears...bring tissue! I feel that considering the time constraints, they did the book justice. Be prepared...the movie is 2.5hours long. I tend to get fidgety in movies but the movie didn't *feel* that long to me. I really enjoyed it. After I got home from the movie, I stopped by the street festival near my house. It is held every year but this year, it seemed to have crept up on me unnoticed. I walked out and saw so much traffic and didn't know why until I saw the huge tents a block away! The booths could have been better but I enjoyed a yummy gyro and margarita while listening to some great music from the bandstand. I love street festivals!

I had it in my head I wanted to make a fresh peach pie entirely from scratch and so I did. It was my first time making pie crust. What a pain it is to roll that out...I need a larger cutting board to do that. I don't think the crust came out that great but I think that was because I didn't roll it off thin enough (small cutting board) and the dough got warm and overworked. But I still took the pie to work and everyone raved. I guess maybe I'm my own worst critic. It was tasty...I just wanted a crumblier pie crust. Here's my pie...no beauty queen but certainly tasty!

So I'm going to pose a question to those of you who have gotten this far and haven't fallen asleep already. *poke, poke...hey, wake up* Sunday night, my apartment manager (I should say former because he got fired due to some shady new hiring of property management that I am not happy about), knocked on my door and told me to look at a chair and footstool he had in the hall. So I did. And I saw this.

He told me to take them otherwise he would have to throw them away. He's moving and couldn't take everything since his new space is smaller. He said he'd had them for 30 years and they were given to them. I couldn't let them be thrown in the trash! But I don't know what to do with them. Needlepointed chair and stool. It looks like they were done at different times since the wood on the two pieces don't match exactly and one fabric is darker than the other. Or maybe that's dirt in which case...ewww, and how do I clean it?!

So if you found these, what would you do to restore them and make them shine? I know they need some cleaning and new stuffing/padding especially on the chair. I do have an old friend whose husband does upholstering so maybe I can ask her what to do and if he would give me a good price on the work. That's not in the budget right now so it will have to wait another day. In the meantime I will hold onto them to save them from the trash bin. But I would love ideas!

So I obviously had a busy weekend. I think I've forgotten how to relax! But I got a bit of stitching in and finished the 4th "rule" in Christmas Rules which is Honor Traditions. I am almost finished with the 5th one but not quite.
This Saturday is stitching group and since I plan on going and stitching my little heart out, I signed up for IHSW on Joyzse's blog. International Hermit Stitching Weekend is the 3rd weekend of every month but this is the first time I'm joining in. I might actually get a lot of stitching done. Time will tell.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you all but thanks for sticking with me. Enjoy the rest of the week!

Until next time...

p.s. For those interested in my tombie hardware. It is manufactured by Images Stitchery Design and I ordered mine from Inspired Needle. I know that Attic Needlework also carries it too.

Lots and Lots of Stitching Stuff!

2011-08-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm here, I'm here...omgosh...what day is it?!

*I am still tired...need more sleep!

*At farmers' market on Sunday, I bought breakfast and a hazelnut chocolate croissant to indulge in later. Seriously, I don't know why I wait. I should just slather it on my hips as that is where it will end up later. That's besides the point though. For the next two days, I was wondering what happened to my croissant before I realized I accidentally put it in the fridge! Oops.

*My last three posts each have exactly 17 comments. Weird! (well, they did when I started writing this on Wednesday! lol)

*Last weekend, I worked a garage sale at my coworkers house and managed to sell a few things. I haven't done one of these in years! It was entertaining! I also went to SFMOMA to see the Steins Collect. It was a wonderful exhibit and if there are local readers who are into that sort of thing, I really recommend it. The Steins were a wonderful group of people who really tried hard to bring wonderful art to the masses and they still do to this day. I am heading to the DeYoung tomorrow to see the Picasso exhibit!

*I need to find my notebook and carry it around me so I can jot down my ideas as I go. I always remember things in the shower, in the car, in the grocery store. Yea, basically everywhere I don't have a computer! Once I get in front of the post screen I forget!

But that's ok today because this is a real, honest to goodness stitchy post. Shocker!!

I've been working on Christmas Rules whenever I have a spare minute or two. Since I haven't had too much time to stitch, progress has been slow! There was also the dilemna with my WDW Bullfrog. It was too olive-y. I went around looking at all the skeins of Bullfrog I could get my hands on and those were either the same as mine or even more olive-y. I didn't like the effect at all. There was lots of mumbling and grumbling on my part and I finally got around to just switching that color to CC English Ivy. I am much happier with it! The only place the Bullfrog survived was the little tree branch the bird is perched on in the 2nd block.

I also worked on Almost Halloween a little and am close to being done.
I am really enjoying Christmas Rules now though so not sure if I will get back to it anytime soon.

A little while ago, I decided to send a few things on to KarenV for finishing. I knew I'd never get around to it and she is so creative. For those that don't know, she has started her own finishing business and I took advantage of it. I sent her L*K Boo Club, Shepherds Bush Wish and Blue Snowgirl. I love them all! I will let the pictures do the talking.
I can't get collage to work in Picasa! You can see more and much better pictures on Karen's blog here. She did a wonderful job and I am wondering how I can stitch faster so I can send her more things to finish!

Here is a close up of the tombie hardware. Click to make it bigger so you can read it. The epitaphs really make me giggle and I think it's perfect to set off Boo Club. I am so happy they started making this one in black!

And last but not least, TUSAL. It's way late but better late than never. There are lots of thread in there from Christmas Rules and all the cursed Bullfrog frogging.
Well, I think that's it for me right now. I am taking a couple of furlough days this week so I can explore the city and take care of a few things. Time to relax a bit before tackling traffic or BART.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week. The summer is flying and I can't believe kids are already returning to school!

Enjoy the weekend!

Until next time...

Randomness

2011-08-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

*I am not sure how I manage this hectic pace of mine because deep down, I'm a low energy person. Hence stitching being my hobby and not hiking, mountain biking, running, rock climbing, marathoning, triathaloning, surfing, hang gliding, skiing or snowboarding like my other city cohorts.

*This is probably why I feel like I am going to pass out each Friday. No joke. Somedays, it's extreme willpower and stubbornness that gets me through the day.

*The days fly by and I sometimes forget to call my parents all week. This means that by Sunday, my mother calls with her guilt trip. "Excuse me, you haven't called all week Valerie. Did you forget you have parents? We could be dead for all you know!" I reply, Sorry Ma. Been busy. Deep down, I want to say "How can I forget! You call me every week to remind me!" But that is a very bad daughter comment to make when I try to be a good daughter. If you have grown up kids trying to make their way in the world, don't guilt trip them! Better yet, call them up and say hi and ask how they are doing. My parents believe they shouldn't call their kids and that the kids should be the ones doing all the calling. Seriously!

*How can I explain to a pair of 80 year olds that I am trying to live my life and not theirs. And that since I am trying to live my life, that means I am busy. And I go out. And sometimes til the wee hours of the morning. And that means that I can be tired and I want to sleep and not visit them? How am I supposed to meet new people and make new friends? This won't happen with me being a hermit at my place or me spending endless hours visiting them at their house. They don't seem to understand and I feel like we are both selfish. They are old and retired and want to have company. I am young and vibrant and want to be out with people my own age. I guess we've reached the point where we will just have to be disappointed in each other because it's time for me to live the life *I* want and not the life my *family* wants. Besides, it's time for my boomer siblings to pull some weight. Which they are...finally.

*I need to find and develop a routine between working full-time, hanging out with friends (new and old), gym, possible dating, stitching, blogging and general errands/projects/shopping/cooking/tidying. It is hard! Not to mention it's been all or nothing lately. Ex: All social; no gym. Being so social means that I eat/drink out more than I would at home which then means things feel a little tighter and holy cow, where did this jiggly bit come from?! I need to do some Jane Fonda bends or hulahooping to take care of that! Or the gym...yea, I guess the gym would work.

*This year marks my downhill slide to 40. I am closer to 40 than I am to 30. OMG...say it aint so! Thank goodness I keep getting comments that I look 28. I will grasp at any straw I can at this point.

*To my new commenters, thanks for stopping by my blog! I try to reply to new visitors but some of you don't have emails linked to your comments. Welcome to my little corner of blogland!

*To my regular readers, I haven't been commenting as much because of this hectic pace I am keeping but I am still reading and keeping apprised. Stop inspiring me so much though! I barely have time to stitch as it is. When will I have time to jump on the bandwagon?! Everywhere I look...mystery sampler, Chats, Miras, ornies, Shepherd's Bush, Blackbird Designs, Halloween! *sigh*

*This was supposed to be a *real* post but the camera decided it had enough and needed a nap so it's recharging for it's next photo session. =) So that means more randomness for now!

Until next time...

Super Exhausted

2011-07-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

...I seriously have no idea how I made it through the week!

Let's recap from last Friday:

Friday...headed into the city to tag along on a birthday invite a friend had for a get together at AsiaSF. This place is the epitome of *alternative* San Francisco nightlife. This is not for everyone but it is fun. I had a good time and stayed out much later than I thought I would...finally getting home about 1am!

Saturday...I mixed my liquors the night before so lets just say I needed a lie-in to recover a bit and even then, I was moving very slowly. I managed to head into the city to meet a new person (possible friend) and have dinner. We tried the new outpost for Pizzeria Delfina which delighted as usual. Since there was a long wait, it was a good opportunity to walk the neighborhood and get to know each other. I think I met someone who eats slower than I do...which is s-l-o-w. The night again ended up later than usual and I ended up at home a little past midnight.

Sunday...Claire and I headed back down to the Gilroy outlets to shop. I need date clothes! Not that I'm dating really but I would like options. My closet is seriously lacking in cute clothes but seems to be abundant in comfy "I like to think I'm college age" clothing. We walked around for four hours shopping in the heat and we still didn't get to all the shops I wanted to. I came out with 5 new tops (4 cute, 1 work), pants and a pair of black heels. I think the shock of the trip was coming away with single digit size pair of pants! Can't remember the last time that happened. The pants have considerable stretch in them though. I wish I could say the same for the size 10s I'm wearing today that are threatening to cut off my circulation at the waist. Anyways, after the shopping, there was a considerable drive home and dinner and by the time I got home, I only had time to check email, stare at the tv and go to sleep. At 130am, I got a terrible scare. My car alarm went off and scared the crap out of me and probably woke up the entire building. After debating with myself whether I should go check, I went down to the garage and all seemed fine. I had a hard time going back to sleep after that.

Monday...dinner plans after work. Reasonable hour but so tired from the night before.

Tuesday...went straight home after work and tried to catch up with my personal computer work...semi-successful.

Wednesday...Dinner and Billy Elliott. It was a fun night! I am glad I got to see Billy Elliott but it made me ask a ton of questions. How young do these kids start with voice/dance/acting lessons to land a child role in a traveling Broadway musical?! Got home at midnight. Late for a school night!

Thursday...my quiet night. Tried to go to sleep early but wasn't too successful. Finally got to sleep at 11pm and at 1145pm, my car alarm went off again! I have no idea why? This time, the doorbell got rang, I had neighbors going downstairs and nasty notes on the car in the morning. I was so anxious about the alarm that I could barely sleep.

Friday...walking zombie and running on fumes. Seriously. I looked terrible; felt terrible. By 9am, I was calling the dealership asking them to have an alarm guy check out the car because one more night of that and I will probably have a nervous breakdown and the neighbors might call the police. So...I used my lunch hour to have that done and I hope that what they did, did the trick. By 5pm, I thought I was going to pass out and so I headed straight home, showered and fell asleep by 6pm. I woke up about 9pm and just rested and finally got to stitching about 11pm. I think I felt that if I was up, I could at least react to the alarm better if it went off. Thank goodness, it didn't. I fell asleep at 2am.

Today...Woke up about 930am. My neighbor down the hall from me is moving today. =( He moved in at the same time I did and we'd greet each other through our kitchen windows. I guess the upside is that I know who will be moving into his unit and she is nice. I won't have to break anyone in. But her current unit is next to mine so hopefully I don't get any loud party person moving in there since the living room has a shared wall. I did neighborhood errands, treated myself to breakfast and decided to go to the Marina Outlets because I wasn't sure if the single digit sized pants really fit best (a little tight at the waist) so I wanted to try on the 10. Well, they only had one size 4 and that was it. So I did a fashion show in my pants to decide and they told me that they will stretch and the 10s will be too big. So I stuck with them and even ordered the same pants in charcoal. And I also found a cute dress (in a single digit size too!) that would be cute for work or a date with a black cardi and some heels. Since it was all 50% off, I figured I was getting a deal! After this though, I am freezing my credit card in a block of ice like Calamity suggested! I am feeling kind of broke after this month of crazed shopping and spending.

I'm feeling a little bit more rested now. I hope the car alarm doesn't go off again as it really sets my nerves on edge. I booked my trip for New York so it's really happening. Now to figure out what I want to see this time around!

I have a lot more to say but I know this is a lot to process and I don't even have pictures for you all. But they are coming! I just want to stitch a little bit more before I show my progress. Thanks for sticking with my randomness and crazy social and barely stitching right now life.

Until next time..

Randomness

2011-07-21T15:27:00.001-07:00

*I've reverted back to my bad sleeping habits and I am exhausted!

*I always have lots to say until the minute I sit behind the *new post* screen and it all just magically vanishes from my memory.

*I've apparently been busy since I don't have much stitching to share so I will reserve that for another day.

*I went to the gym for the first time in months last week and I felt great...until the next day...and the day after that. My leg muscles were screaming! I am trying to convince my body it's ok and that the end results are worth it. The pep talk isn't working all that well.

*I just ate a bag of Doritos. Should definitely go to the gym now to work off the 14G of fat and 260 calories. Doritos are evil! They are also so yummy!

*The gym has individual tvs in each exercise machine. Which you have to admit is kind of cool. But can you believe that even with the draw of tv (we all know how much I love it!), the lure of the recliner is so much stronger!?

*Last weekend I went to go see this 80's cover band. I love 80's music and can listen to it til the end of time. I had so much fun singing and dancing and people watching. It was an interesting cast of characters but fun, fun, fun.

*Why is it that when you are trying to not spend money, that is when you suddenly find things that you really like...like sandals and flats and a new red handbag and this and that and and and. It may be time to lock my credit card in a place I forget to remember.

*So far, I've cleaned out 1.25 closets. I am slow. I hate cleaning with a burning passion. I managed to fill 3 trash bags full of clothes I don't want. Unbelievable. How did all that stuff live in my little tiny closet?! And I still have most of another one plus a dresser to clean out. I imagine that may yield another bag or two. Crazy! We won't even talk about the office/storage/stash closet. That's a scary little place right now.

*Since I hate cleaning, I have a cleaner that comes by every 2 weeks. It's a luxury but between working full-time, trying to be social, hitting the gym (hopefully more frequently than I have been) and doing the good daughter duties, the last thing I want to do in my free time is clean. I'd rather stitch. I told my cleaner that I was clearing things out and that she could look in the bags and see if there was anything she wanted, to help herself to it. I may as well have given her a winning lottery ticket! She was so happy and she took the whole lot! Saved me a trip to the Goodwill!

*Why does it seem like every guy I talk to is unemployed? Where are the gainfully employed men?!

*I've made leaps and bounds in the last six months and I'm happy with where I am. It feels good to say that and really feel it too. And I actually really and truly feel ready for a new relationship (although my wardrobe is not ready for dating) but I am happy in the mindset of making new friends, whether they are women or men. Less pressure...more smiles. =)

Until next time...

ETA: Damn Doritos. One nanosecond on the lips = 35 minutes of ellipticaling to burn off 260 calories and go 2.55 miles and deal with neck sweat. I hate neck sweat. How does the skinniest part of my body produce so much?! But I digress...I conquered the Doritos! But you know...I don't think it's worth it. Now if it had been cake...maybe it would be worth it. Doritos are evil! Note to self: take 100 calorie packs of popcorn to work to deal with the salt cravings.

Ow?

2011-07-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

The weekend flew by...as usual. I forced myself to relax, stitch and organize. Ok, maybe force is a harsh word. But I kept on thinking up things to do this weekend and then kept on reminding myself, "you're supposed to be mellow this weekend". Yes, I lecture myself sometimes. Don't we all?!

I had a new start! So far, it reads "Ow" but will soon read Halloween. Here is my start on The Drawn Thread's Almost Halloween.

I bought this as a kit back when it was released last year. I thought it was the cutest so I am using the recommended 32 count Wichelt Tumbleweed linen and the DMC/Anchor/Theadworx. Boy is this linen stiff! I hear a little *pop* each time my needle pierces the fabric.

The pumpkin is a little off but I didn't feel like frogging it out and going back to the beginning. Would you have noticed if I hadn't told you?

I think this project will be a quick one.

I can't believe I started yet another project. This isn't like me. I tend to be more of a one at a time project type of stitcher with one in the sidelines in case I get bored with the main focus but I think this makes 5-6 wips now!

I came across a little dilemma with Christmas Rules and just don't feel like figuring things out just yet. I am almost done with the header with the exception of the dark green background on the letters U and E. The green is WDW Bullfrog but my skeins of Bullfrog are more medium green than dark green and it so obviously looks dark green in the photo of the header. I much prefer the look of the photo. I pulled the DMC equivalent and I'm not 100% thrilled with that either and I really prefer overdyed to DMC as it is. I am just too lazy to look for an alternate and I also wonder if I just got some bum skeins of Bullfrog. You know, dyelots and everything. They can be so iffy! What would you all do?
So until I figure out the Bullfrog situation, I am putting Christmas Rules on the back burner.

I did spend some time each evening cleaning out one of my closets. I knew I had a lot of clothes that I haven't worn in years and it was just time to really assess what I have. From that little closet, I have 1.5 bags full for donation, about 8-10 pieces I will try to consign and a couple of things I may set aside for a future garage sale one of my co-workers may put on. Living in an apartment, it's hard to have a sale. One closet down, three more to go!

Getting rid of clothes is hard for me. There's always this feeling of "what if I need it", "what if I lose the weight", "what if I gain weight", "do I really want to get rid of my fat pants". This time, I pulled out things I've saved for years and I don't know what I was thinking. I had things that were too high waisted (hello 90's!), too big, too long (I must have shrunk), too out of style. I had a couple of surprises with pants I thought were too tight which miraculously fit...with room to spare. And there were a couple of things that were a bit too tight which will now be my incentive to get my lazy ass to the gym. Ugh...I hate the gym!

I hung a couple of skirts I like on the door which I never wore because I figured I would lose the 5 pounds easily and I'd be able to wear them. Well, they are still tight. So I will hang them on my door so I can see them.

Maybe it will motivate me and I'll have cute outfits for upcoming dates. Well, none are planned but I'm open to the possibility.

Did I mention I have three more closets to purge. Sheesh...how does one person acquire so much stuff yet wear the same things all the time?! I can at least find work pants and my weekend pants now.

I also took myself to the movies and saw Midnight in Paris. I loved it! It was Woody Allen in true form. Owen Wilson did a fab job although I really wanted to strangle Rachel McAdams. She was a pain in the ass and such a money hungry snob. You'd think for all that attitude, they'd at least touch her roots up to act more the part. But anyways, if any movie is filmed in Rome or Paris. I am apt to watch it. I figure that even if the movie is terrible, I am getting my money's worth in seeing beautiful sites I would love to visit. There are movies I can see over and over which I think are fun but I also watch them to see the backdrop. This was no exception. In 2000, I took me, myself and my broken heart on a 9 day trip to Paris and I walked every inch of that city. Throughout Midnight in Paris, I kept telling myself "I've been there and I've been there". They even showed the Shakespeare and Company bookstore I spent an afternoon in browsing the titles. It made me itch to go back but with a fun someone and not nursing a broken heart. The movie also features an era I love! So seeing the costumes and hearing the music was thrilling! I would totally recommend it if you're into Woody Allen's quirkiness.

Well, that's it for me tonight. Going to see if I stitch for a little bit before bed. Hope you all have a great week!

Until next time...

This and That; Here and There

2011-07-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

That's been my life the past couple of weeks. Very social. Very busy. Very tired. I think I need a break from being social and am planning on a hermit weekend. Will save me a little money too as this being social business can be taxing on the pocketbook!

I've been to open to the public brewery night which resulted in a spirits tasting and countless pints of beer. Ok, 3 pints but I kind of lost track because I did that cursed (but yummy) spirits tasting first thing. I had to ask my drinking mate the next day how much I actually drank since things around that second pint got a little fuzzy. Great beer, fun music, great company. It was a great night and I'd do it again. Just need to plan better and make sure I have a big lunch that day...like a burger or a burrito...definitely not a salad! I also have to remember that I can't keep up with the guys...I've gotten a little too old and lightweight to keep up.

I've been to Tales of the City. If you read the Armistead Maupin series, they made a musical out of it and it was fun and fab. It ran a little long and so that made for a really late night on a school night but I survived the next day with lots of coffee.

And I've been to the symphony because I couldn't resist the 2 for $20 deal they offered. So I invited a friend and we went to one of my favorite pre-symphony eateries and had fun cocktails and coq au vin.

I met up with another friend I hadn't seen in almost a year and he taught me how to play chess. I think I've forgotten now. So many rules...these move up and down and those move diagonally, these can move multiple spaces but these only one at a time. I need a cheat sheet! But he was very patient and was nice not to kill my queen right off the bat and we had a nice little game which I of course lost, since I've never played before but I made a valiant effort and want to play again! I just need a cheat sheet. Throughout the years, I've asked many people to show me chess and no one ever did so I was very happy that someone finally took the time to spend an afternoon in a pub with me and teach me chess. We got lots of strange looks at the pub but there's plenty to do in a pub besides drink and watch the game(s).

I went to acupuncture. My earpopping is still driving me nuts so I've turned to modern medicine and am taking claritin for that. It's getting better but still happens. I've never had this happen with summer allergies...it's so strange. My mood is better assuming annoying exs leave me the hell alone but the getting out and being social is hugely beneficial for me at this point.

I met up with an old coworker and his lovely wife one afternoon for lunch at Barbacco. It was nice to just take Bart to the Financial District. It was a glorious day and the food, company and conversation was great. I am having fun reconnecting with all my old friends. I hadn't seen so many in so long it's a shock to see some of them as they seem to have changed. And it was also nice to try a new place...I definitely have to go back to this place. The pork meatballs and lasagna were delicious!

I went to the Fillmore Festival which is my favorite out of all the ones offered in the city. I wandered, people watched, had a margarita or two*, listened to music, ate and caught some rays. It was another scorcher in the city and this meant I had to run to the drugstore to buy sunscreen otherwise, I'd have ended the day looking like a lobster! Thank you Neutrogena SPF70!

I went to the beach and breathed in foggy, misty, salty air and watched the pups run in and out of the surf and chase down their balls. And did a quick lunch with a new friend and had a sweet, buttery, cool crab roll.

So...I've been busy and very little stitching has taken place as evidenced here. I'm on my third week and only have half of the header for Christmas Rules stitched. It's a very sad sight!

I also think that my stitching mojo is fading. I haven't been in the mood to put more than a couple dozen of stitches in at a time. I guess I'm having too much fun being social and running around. If I'm not social, I'm trying to finish reading my book (which is now overdue at the library), watching a bit of tv, spending too much time on the computer or sleeping.

I'm tired!

The TUSAL jar looks about the same except with the bright red, white and green from Christmas Rules. I frogged so there's lots of red in there.

Well, that's about it for me. If you got to the end of this short story, I did want to say that I finally managed to complete my collection of Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazines(yay!). In trying to complete it, I had to buy a small lot and have an extra copy of the 1998 Just Cross Stitch Ornie edition that I would like to sell. This is a hard to find magazine as can be indicated by the current $30 and $65 starting bids on eBay. Those people are nuts! I'm a reasonable person (despite being a total stash hoarder). Please email me if you're interested and we can discuss price. I can take payment via 123stitch gc, paypal or trades. The first person who emails and agrees to price and payment gets the magazine. Easy peasy. (Magazine has been sold!)

Well, I don't have a free night to myself until Friday. I can.not. wait. I'm looking forward to my hermit weekend. Should I watch tv? Stitch? Finally clean out a closet? Organize stash? Hmmmm....

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July and Canada Day! Hope the week has transitioned to an easy one!

Until next time...

*I may sound like a boozer in this post but I usually don't drink that much.

Restless

2011-06-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

I am restless...and slightly bored. I have great urges to be out and about and exploring. To breathe in fresh air and be surrounded by energetic vibes. It's frustrating when your pool of people to experience these things with are slim and those people are married with kids, hermits, unemployed or flaky. Like I said before, this making friends business isn't for the weak in spirit. It's not easy and is slightly exhausting.

I definitely haven't felt like being cooped up at home stitching so uh, I don't have anything of substance to show. I did frog what I had started on Christmas Rules though. I know, I know...I said I wasn't going to but I'm a little OCD when it comes to things like that. The red didn't bleed and it was smooth sailing...for once. We won't even talk about how I got chocolate on the fabric. I mean seriously, something is up with this project. I should throw it in the corner and call it a day.

So instead of stitching, I've been reading. I've been trying to get through The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.
The first 100 pages were a struggle for me and as slow as I read, that took me a while. But once I got through the first 20% of the book, I really got into it and attached to the main characters. I read the last 100 pages in one night...so curious to find out what happened and what the ending would be like. I think I got into The Forgotten Garden almost immediately and I was a little frustrated that the outcome wasn't the same with The House at Riverton. But in the end, it was a wonderful read. I have Kate Morton's last book in hand as my next read. It's called The Distant Hours. I read the prologue and already got all confused. I will have to read it again.

I did volunteer this week at the food bank and I think the art sorting event was much more fun. I think that people were just so focused at their tasks at hand that there was less into socializing and more into counting. Do you know how many small oranges equals 3 pounds? The answer is 10-12. I do have a note, you probably shouldn't volunteer at the food bank so soon after treating yourself to a manicure. Lots of polish chips! Oh well, it's all for a good cause.

***

I did have a nice time at my dinner event last weekend. We tried this southern cuisine restaurant in a sketchy area of the city...Tenderloin. If you're a tourist, this is the neighborhood you don't really want to get lost in. It can be eyeopening and annoying. Me...I walk fast, mind my own business and say a lot of "not today" to the people asking for money. We all met at Farmer Brown and had a really nice meal. I had cornmeal encrusted catfish with yams, green beans and pickled onions. It was a huge portion and just divine. My only complaint was that the yams were too sweet but that also meant, my sweet craving was fulfilled and I didn't need to order dessert! The served complimentary jalapeno cornbread which were delicious but small. The group was very friendly and diverse but I think I was the youngest. I'm not sure how well suited the group will be for me since I'm most interested in meeting people more my age who are interested in going out.

We all went our separate ways after dinner and it was still so early so I went to visit with a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a few months. This friend is also an old-ex from over a decade ago. I know it may seem strange but talking to him is opening up my eyes to the Valerie I was. At least the aspects I would like to get back so it's a nice kind of reminiscing. I was shocked to see him though. He had hit a very rough patch due to the economy and just recently found a job. It's a job way below his previous classification and pay range but he is very happy and positive to just have a job. I don't ask how bad things got but I think the fact that he lost 70 pounds (I'm guesstimating) is a big indicator. If I had passed him on the street, I would not have recognized him at all. Serious! I am still in shock that he transformed from a teddy bear kind of guy to a skinny (a little too) kind of guy. I have intense urges to bake and fatten him up a little. As it was, I left him with two huge homemade blueberry muffins I had made just because I happened to bake...not because I knew he needed a little plumping. It kind of puts things in perspective a little. To be a little happy and thankful that you have a job that allows you to pay the rent and the car payment and the bills and FOOD...even if your job makes you a tad unhappy and seems tedious. Some people out there are struggling and are too proud to let you know that they need help and are unable to find jobs and are at the point of being happy for ANY job.

***

The other day, I gouged myself in the eyebrow because I got a little tweezer happy. I do that sometimes...I have this thing for keeping the perfect arch and I get a little carried away. This made me remember an email I got from some guy on that annoying dating site. He said he "liked my eyebrows" and that I looked like I could be "Christopher Mintz-Plasse's sister". I had to Google...I didn't know who that was. Apparently, I'd be his older sister because this guy is a kid! I was 13 when this kid was born.
I'm not sure how I feel about being told I look like Christopher Mintz-Plasse's lookalike in girl form. I guess I can see it a little bit but what a weird thing to say to initiate conversation.

***

Thanks for all the nice comments and thoughts on my last couple of posts. My dad had his surgery and seems fine and is driving already. I have the feeling he's going to forget his eyedrops and/or get them confused. My sister told me the drill and I'm confused myself!

Hope you all have a great weekend! TGIF!

Until next time...

Love After Love

2011-06-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Love After Love

by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Don't You Hate It...

2011-06-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

...when you go to the trouble of pressing your fabric, sorting your threads, finding your pattern(s). You pull out your calculator and do your calculations to figure out how much margin to leave. You wonder why in the world the shop cut your fabric wrong and only left you 1.5 inches of margin on two sides?! And you grumble and curse under your breathe and vow you won't order from them again...

And you start your project anyways and you progress slowly. And it suddenly dawns on you that you aren't using 28count fabric but 32 count. So you did the calculations wrong. Which means you really have more margin than you thought. And you feel bad for all the grumbling and cursing and realize you're the stupid one who started the project in the wrong spot. Ack!

I wonder if I should rip out what I've done. But I'm stitching with red and red doesn't remove so easily. Perhaps I should live with my 1.5" margin on one side. I doubt I'd frame it anyway as I see this project as a wall hanging anyways. But it really bothers me that I have a tiny margin. I think I need to get over it.

***

I've lost 2 followers. Was it the acupuncture? Or the random thoughts? Or my online dating bashing? Or slowness in stitching? I always wonder. To those who are followers. THANK YOU! I appreciate my readers and the comments more than you know.

***

In case anyone was wondering, I went to Costco after my last post. A single person really has no business going to Costco. That place is ridiculous! Everything is huge! But I have enough wine and frozen chicken to last me the next three months. Hey! Don't judge...a girl has to eat and drown her sorrows/anger once in a while.

But, never fear! I got my nails done yesterday and it was heaven. I'll take a photo with my new sandals so you all can see over the weekend.

***

For those who are following the acupuncture, the second session went well. I got more needles this time. Head, ears, stomach, hands, shins, ankle, feet. I didn't find it very relaxing this last time. There was a sicky in acupuncture coughing all over the place. He was distracting. I think he interfered with the acupuncturists chi as she was switching out linens and disinfecting once he left. Good to know they do that though. She seems to take positive energy very seriously and he had negative sicky energy. She won't be in on Monday and I will have to miss a whole week of acupuncture. My ears are still popping though so the needles in the ear didn't help me much this week.

***

Today, I felt spontaneous (i.e. bored) and I tried to corral a friend to go out with. I've decided that everyone is boring because I couldn't find anyone who would leave the house! This making friends business is too slow (and hard) for my taste. And I'm very impatient! And I want to go out and have fun.

Instead, I went to my union meeting (13 furlough days to contend with), came home and almost crashed the car because the painters were parked in my parking spot in the garage (nice of them to let me know!), and then went for a 2 mile walk, got dinner and have been on the computer since. At least I got a walk in.

***

I forgot to tell you all that I did my first volunteering bit last week. It was an event to sort art supplies for a school program. My task was to measure out 10 yard lengths of black yarn and tie each into a little bundle. I got to play with yarn! Who knew doing that was so tiring. By the end of my two hour stint, I was too tired to go to the social gathering afterwards. I am seriously out of shape! =D Everyone was really nice though and I had fun playing with yarn and chitchatting with my partners in yarn. I signed up for another event next week...food bank. I'm looking forward to it.

***

This weekend should be mellow. I am trying to decide between a movie matinee or stitching group tomorrow. I have dinner plans with a social group in the evening and Sunday is Father's Day. Time to hang out with my dad and get some laundry done. My dad is 82 and is having cataract surgery on Wednesday. It you have some good thoughts to spare, it would be much appreciated.

Happy weekend folks! TGIF!

Until next time...

You Will Be Single Forever...

2011-06-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

I’m sure whatever male readers I have will cringe at the series of posts that may come to fruitaition due to responses I get from online dating.

This hasn’t been a dating blog in a while and I am more focused on being healthy, more myself and making new friends than being desperate for a date. Besides, I don’t really have the time or the wardrobe at the moment. I do have an online profile that does need some serious work. I don’t think that I will meet the love of my life via said means but I have it up as a method of moving forward. This particular site is convenient because it is free but it is also the site I met my ex through and we all know how well that turned out. There are all kinds on there and I have very little faith in it. For the most part, the contacts I’ve made recently because of the profile have been annoying.

You may ask why I don’t use a paid service for a better outcome. They are as bad as this one and I’ve seen the same photos/people on the paid sites as the free site. People double dip in online dating. So…why bother paying? But that doesn’t matter. I don’t feel all that serious about dating and would rather just meet people (via social networks, volunteering, etc.) and see if something develops from that instead of this online dating and the wham bam thank you ma’am outlook that stems from it.

Like I mentioned before, guys (at least the ones I’ve encountered online) have problems communicating, yet are amazingly arrogant and rude. I received an email from one guy, who I’ve been trying to avoid for various reasons but mainly because his first contact with me was an email to ask me what high school I went to and say he was surprised he didn’t know me. Just because someone grew up in San Francisco, does not mean you know everyone of the same age. Seriously? Not to mention, it’s nice etiquette to say hi, how are you, I enjoyed your profile before you go asking personal questions about people. But no…just the question. My reply was that he wouldn’t know me from high school period.

Another email; I decide to explain. I now wish I had kept the response so I could copy and paste it here but I was super annoyed and deleted it. He basically put down where I grew up and how he didn’t really consider me a city native, asked me what my passions and loves are and then says “you will be single forever.”

Really? Why would anyone say that to someone they didn’t know? I emailed him back and told him that there is a chance that someone will remain single no matter how many or few friends they had and wished him luck on his search. Besides, people who cannot form complete sentences annoy me.

Why would he ask for more (personal) info about me and then make a comment like that? What’s the context? Does he think his comment will scare me that I’ll run to him so that we both won’t be single and at least have each other?! Was it because I’m not all warm and fuzzy over his random emails?

I would rather be single forever than deal with stupidity like that on a regular basis. The guy can be well off and have all the money in the world and I still wouldn’t settle for the likes of him.

Besides, I've got more important things to think about today...like whether I should go to Costco or get my nails done after work. Decisions, decisions....

Where Does Your Heart Bloom?

2011-06-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Dare I say it blooms at home?

Mine does...and in the City of Fog when I pause enough to breathe the moist, ocean air.

I finished Blackbird Designs' Where My Heart Blooms last night! Yay! I started this back in September right before I left for the Shepherds Bush Retreat. I had wanted something new and small to cart around and it fit the bill. I still remember Alma Allen came up to me when she saw me stitching on it and I was just over the moon! Alma Allen...talked to me! Wow! I stitched on it all throughout retreat and maybe a week after and I managed to get to the halfway point before putting it aside. I finally picked it up a two or three weeks ago and managed to get the other half done. I realized that I don't really like stitching over 1 on 40 count and that I really shouldn't leave that part to the very end. *grumble*

Blackbird Designs
Where My Heart Blooms
40 count Lakeside Fawn
Recommended GAST/WDW

Here are a couple of closeups.

I love the eyelets!

And the over 1 detail is great...even if I didn't like stitching it. :)

I'm not quite sure what to do with it now since it was one of those pieces I wanted to stitch but it doesn't necessarily fit in with my decor. For now, it will get ironed and hung in the closet until I can figure out how and when I would like it finished. On 40 count, the finished size is 6.5" x 7". It is very dainty.

I'm not quite sure what to do next. I don't really feel like stitching on Mary or my little BOAF piece. I am debating if I should start L*K Christmas Rules. I could use some whimsy and fun colors and Mary and the BOAF are not fitting that criteria. For now, I think I will try to get back into reading for a little bit until I can decide.

The weekend shaped up to be a nice one that passed by much too fast. I tried a new (to me) restaurant which was a change from the norm but didn't disappoint. I went shopping for new eyeglasses (unsuccessful and more on that later), bought a fantastic new dress (can't find it online), explored a neighborhood that I hadn't in a while, spent time with a good friend and reconnected with a new-ish acquaintence which allowed me to take a nice 2.25 mile walk to the beach in good company. Crisp, blue sky and ocean air. I forget how rejuvenating it can be!

Tomorrow is another acupuncture appointment after work and I'm looking forward to it! I'm amazed one session helped me get to sleep earlier...even on the weekend...where I oftentimes stay up til 2am! Despite the rest, I still feel tired on some days...like this morning. I was a slug until it was time to meet up for my walk. If I didn't do that, I may have stayed in bed all day!

I did get a nice surprise this week in the mail. A while back, Karen V. was trying to rehome some items and I had asked for this cute little purple drawstring bag she had stitched and sewed up. It arrived and is adorable in person. Don't you think?
It is finished so perfectly! I am going to use it to keep my threads together at my stitching stand. I love it! Thanks Karen!

Well, I think that's it for me today. Back to the daily grind tomorrow. Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Until next time...

Unblock My Chi Please...

2011-06-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

I decided to try this acupuncture place that supposedly mimics how things are done in Asia. No fancy individual rooms. It's 4 recliners in a small family room setting with relaxing music and scent. This would turn off most people but I'm willing to try anything once as long as it doesn't involve me jumping out of a plane or holding a spider. I did a bit of research and deemed it safe and they were very reasonably priced and had excellent reviews.

The lady there was nice. She asked me a bunch of questions and between the stress, anxiety, tension, depression and IBS that cropped up in the past year she said it sounded like I was a perfect candidate for acupuncture and that my chi was blocked. Um, I would figure. Sometimes, I'm surprised I'm not in some mental institution what with all the stress and drama. I have the feeling things have leveled off now so it's time to get me back to my old self. The social, slightly adventurous self who isn't so thrilled spending her nights at home all the time. Sometimes...yes. All the time...no.

So I sat with needles sticking out all over the place. They didn't hurt. It hurt a little when I moved...which you aren't supposed to do but I'm a jittery type of person sometimes. It gived you a feeling of heavyness and because you feel a little weighed down, you relax and sometimes, fall asleep. I had to take my glasses off during the procedure and at some point, the lady asked if I was ok to go and so I asked what time it was (blind without my glasses; can't even see the clock on the wall!) and I had been there for over an hour! So you definitely relax. All week, I've been heading to bed early which is a first for me. By 1030pm, I'm sticking in my earplugs and turning off the light. Usually, this didn't happen until 12midnight or even 1230am which means I'm a freakin' mess when the alarm sounded at 630am. I still don't want to get up but at least I don't feel like a steamroller ran me over.

The lady says I should do 8 - 10 more sessions to see all the benefits. Apparently, my chi is really effed! I'm curious to see what other benefits I see so I'm willing to give it another try and will go back on Monday. She also suggested I take Omega-3 because I've been so scattered and forgetful and have dry skin issues. Does anyone take Omega-3? There's way too many options out on the market.

***

Stitching update in next post. I had to frog last night. Grrr! But I am so close to the end of WHMB. I have a busy weekend planned so don't know how much stitching I will be able to get accomplished. I hope I can finish!

***

Today, San Francisco has a heavy heart as it pays tribute and buries two firefighters. The fire service has been under attack lately because of the high cost to fund pension plans and bad press. It is sad that it takes a tragedy for people to realize that it is a fair exchange for those who are in the practice of running into burning buildings when everyone else is running out. In this instance, they paid the ultimate sacrifice to ensure safety of a home's residents and the neighboring property. This hits close to home for me because of my job. Today, the fire service and the City of San Francisco mourns alongside the families.

If you come across a fire engine in your neighborhood, thank them for the service they provide. You never know when they will be the ones running to come and help you with little regard for the danger they put themselves in.

Until next time...

Randomness #...I Lost Count (Edited)

2011-06-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

*You can try your hardest to help someone but it won't do any good if that person isn't willing to help themselves.

*You can't make people change. Even if they do, it's only for the short term and then they revert back to their "normal" selves.

*Sometimes, peace, quiet and stitching (and tv...can't forget about that!) is more therapeutic than a night out on the town.

*I'm thankful for friends who lend me an ear and tell me they think I did the right thing even though at times, I don't think I did.

*To help someone because it's the right thing to do...for them...sometimes means it is not the right thing for you and you come out a bitter, angry, resentful shell of the person you used to be.

*Reminders of the person you used to be 12 years ago are spirit-lifting and smile inducing. I miss that person! Now the goal is to find that "me" again and have fun doing it. Oh to be young and carefree.

*Sunday farmers' market...wheat loaf, lemon curd croissant, strawberries, apricots, eggs, cinnamon raisin bagels, zucchini and summer squash. Yum, yum, yum. There were squash blossoms but I don't know how to make those...

*I'm grateful for an awesome onsite apartment manager that can save me and my scattered brain when I lock myself out of my apartment.

*Random text invitation from a friend to go see a movie made my day!

*I wonder what acupuncture would be like...guess I'll find out tomorrow! Eek!

*All day meeting tomorrow....it's going to be a looonnnng day! And a sad day as I'm sure the topic of the two SF firefighters who died will come up. It hits a little too close to home.

*I'm happy that people seem to like my randomness posts! Thank you, thank you...

*Today is the first day in the past year where I am 100% happy that I am single and that I am done mourning the loss of a relationship that probably would have killed me on so many levels if I had stayed in it. My heart has finally caught up to my head. And I feel deserving of all the things I was holding out for before...waiting for that mad, passionate, extraordinary love to find me. And I got tired of waiting...and I settled. No more settling...no more pinning...no more sadness. I am done and ready to have fun and rediscover myself.

*I'm making good progress on WMHB and I may just finish it by the end of the week! Stay tuned for a picture when I do!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend...I'll be back soon with photos and stuff.

Until next time...

Randomness, WMHB & TUSAL

2011-06-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

*Why does the $40 shampoo give me an allergic reaction but I can use $5 drugstore shampoo without a problem? My scalp is itchy! =(

*I couldn't cut my hair short. I have a long "Rachel" instead. At least it's wavy and flippy. Yay!

*My friend leaves on Saturday and has been driving me nuts this week! I'm kind of looking forward to them leaving now so I can refocus on myself.

*Flaky people drive me bananas.

*I got my license plates! Yay! Now my car looks like everyone elses and I can take it into the depths of the city...once I practice some parallel parking.

*Amazing that my parents are so deaf they can't hear that 1/2 a plastic panel is loose and dragging under the car?!

*I'm eager to get out and be social and meet people. Can I meet everyone now?! Like now? Where is everyone? Ugh, patience isn't a virtue that I have.

*Why am I watching Mob Wives?! When did this show even come on tv?

*Is it worth emailing the guy you've already blown off twice because he lives in the opposite direction of everything that you do?

*Can I develop a consulting business teaching guys how to correspond with girls in online dating? Apparently, a lot of guys need some help. It should be more me, me, compliment, comment about girl profile, say something nice, me, me, ask opinion about something, I liked this about your profile, hope to hear from you, have a good night, name. It ends up being me, me, me, me, me, me, me, nice to meet you, name. WTF! Maybe I can get a show on Bravo...kind of like Millionnaire Matchmaker except with normal, everyday geeky guys. Dating 101 for the Regular Guy or something like that.

Why am I here again? Oh yea...stitching stuff. Today is the New Moon and you all know what that means. TUSAL time!
Not the best photo but all the light colors on top are due to Mary Wigham and the progress I've done on my Where My Heart Blooms.

Speaking of WMHB, I've been devoting any of the stitching time I came across to it. I'm too lazy to take it off the qsnaps for a proper photo but this will give you an idea. I've been building the house all week!
I'm surprised I stuck with it since the house is stitched with Flax and Shaker White. Not the most exciting colors but I've been determined. I'm almost done with the house and will soon move onto the windows and the bottom border.

I've been seeing all the progress photos for the With Thy Needle and Thread Mystery Sampler. OMG...I am so tempted to start my own! This wasn't the BAP I was planning on starting either. Can I resist?!

Well, better see if I can get off the computer and get some stitching in for the night. Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day Weekend!

Until next time...

Bummed Out

2011-05-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

That's how I've been feeling for the past 4 days since I found out one of my local friends will soon be moving to the East Coast. Things are complicated and the move is better for my friend but all I feel is disappointment and sadness. It makes my circle of local friends that much smaller. We've also been hanging out a lot lately and it's made my weekends feel less lonely. Now with this friend leaving, I will have pretty open weekends again. It just makes me realize that the people I can depend on are few and far apart and I really need to work at putting myself out there and meet new people. It is hard work people! Meeting new people for friendships is just as hard, if not harder than dating. And I'm supposed to do both?! Very stressful. So the past few days have had me thinking and looking into volunteer groups, active groups and social groups. Just thinking about putting myself out there, exhausts me and I'm already pretty tired as it is. But I figure if I don't, I'm going to become the cranky, lonely old spinster that everyone avoids.

In spite of the sad news, I tried to rally and have a good time. Friday, Claire and I got together at our favorite place, NOPA. I've mentioned this restaurant so many times, I won't get into it much other than to say it never disappoints and we had a lovely meal even though we were brave and strayed from our usual. This time we split a smoked trout appetizer, a halibut entree with a side of greens and splurged on a slice of butterscotch icebox pie and a chocolate cake. Sinful, yet delicious. Gosh, I love that place!

Saturday, I was a very sleepy attendee at my stitch-in. Since I'm bummed, my mojo is floundering but I figured I should get out of the house and see people instead of being a depressed hermit in my lovely apartment. So I rallied and had a nice visit with the ladies and stitched a bit, talked a bit, yawned a bit and ingested as much caffeine and sugar to keep me as alert as possible. It kind of worked since I managed to finish Part 4 of Mary Wigham. Mary, Mary Quite Contrary. She kind of drives me nuts. I'm having an issue with the yellows and pinks since my original choice of colors sometimes blend into the fabric. I ended up choosing CC Queen Bee for the yellow flower motif. It's a tad bright but I think I like it. At least it shows up a lot better than the Straw I was trying to use.
And a shot of the whole thing (click for bigger, clearer photo)
I'm getting tired of the muted colors most of my projects are using at the moment so all my
WIPS are driving me nuts and when you add in the floundering mojo, I'm just not really "feeling it". I'm setting Ms. Mary aside for a little bit and I've put Where my Heart Blooms on the floor stand and pulled out a small BOAF WIP just in case. They both have the muted color issue though so I'm not sure how successful my stitching pursuits will be this week but I'm not about to start something new now. I must finish a WIP before I have a new start and I feel pretty determined about that.

Yesterday, I asked a friend to the movies and we went and saw Water for Elephants. Have you all read this book? It's wonderful and whereas, I wasn't happy with the casting selection for Marlena and Jacob, I was pleasantly surprised and thought it was a well-done movie. I really enjoyed it. The movie, of course, skipped over a lot from the book but I think they still did it justice. Afterwards, was just a quick lunch and a lot of Tivo watching. I finally managed to hook up the Roku and put a lot of movies on my Netflix queue but was tired by the time I was done that I haven't tried it out. I hope to do that this week.

I may just be blathering about movies and books for the next couple of weeks instead of stitching! I hope I don't bore you all. I finally finished Olive Kitteridge and started House at Riverton by Kate Morton. I'm excited to read it and have heard great things about this book and if it's anything like The Forgotten Garden, I'm sure to enjoy it!

This week, I'll be brainstorming hairstyles. I feel like I need a new look...some sort of change so I have a hair appointment at the end of the week. I'm not sure what to do. Now, it's a long layered look which I like but am a little bored with. I've been really frustrated with my hair lately as it just seems to shed and shed. Age? Stress? And the new growth seems to be coming in grey! I've managed to avoid it this far but looks like things are catching up to me. I'm getting old! I'm not ready to color it but just want something fun and complimentary.

Well, time to watch a movie on the Roku. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Until next time...

Randomness Con't...

2011-05-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

*The minute you think of treating yourself to a mani/pedi, you break a nail to the quick. Oww! Instant savings though. No mani/pedi for me...at least not right now.

*I hope the teen that practically ran me off the road learns how to merge soon. You can keep your hands at 10 and 2 but that doesn't mean you're a safe driver.

*Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.

*Spending time with stitchy friends is rejuvenating.

*I've decided to "let things go" and I feel better for it. I guess they call this "acceptance". Now, how do you change 30+ years of pessimism and negative thinking?

*Mind over mood, mind over mood. SERENITY NOW! Oops, I slipped a bit of Seinfeld in. Serenity Now, Serenity Now! Costanza/Stiller could always make me laugh.

*Should I rent that cottage in the woods for my birthday weekend? It's a long way off but peace, quiet, beach, trees sounds nice. Maybe I'll meet a lumberjack and he'll sweep me off my feet. I hope there aren't any wolf spiders in those woods. Spiders are scary!

*I'm wearing contacts today. First time in 4 months all because I managed to get a blemish where the nosepad of my glasses sits. Ouch! Guess this allows me branch out a bit and see the world through different lenses.

What else...hmmm. Oh yea, I've been meaning to write about this book I read. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I had picked it up from the library and something about it caught my attention. I grabbed it as an afterthought.
I tend to like books that have a bit of a historical twist and can be set back in time. This book is fantastic and if you like books with historical twists, set back in time and in different countries...you should check this one out. It does have flashbacks and different narratives which some people may think is annoying but I was able to keep it all straight and enjoyed it. I am a very slow reader now and the book at about 650 pages took me a week to read. That was fast for me! I didn't want to put it down! The story flashes back between Australia and England. I enjoyed it so much that I went back to the library and took the author's other two books out on loan. I haven't started those yet.

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading Olive Kitteridge.
It's a collection of short stories revolving around Olive in a small coastal Maine town. It's enjoyable with bits of sadness.

My stitching get together on Saturday was fun. I had a good time hanging out with the ladies and getting to know everyone a little better. I was serious about stitching though so I did my best to stay focused on my Mary. She's coming along. I still have 1 more motif to stitch in Part 4 and I'm not quite sure if I'll be able to finish it up tonight. Tomorrow will be my one week mark from the last post but I have dinner plans in the city which means no stitching or blogging tomorrow. But if I don't finish it tonight, I have another stitchy get together on Saturday and I know I will definitely finish then so I'll be back with a Mary Part 4 finish photo soon!

**sidenote: I do live pretty caffeinated because otherwise I'd be comatose and sleeping. I don't do mornings well at all. The caffeine brings about lots of random thoughts hence the recent posts. :)

Until next time...

Randomness

2011-05-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

*It's a bad start to the week when the necklace you associate with your grandma suddenly just breaks. Luckily, I noticed it and rescued the broken chain and medallion. I'd have been crushed if I had lost the medallion. The chain has held up to 20 years of daily wear and showers so I guess it was time.

*Why is it that when you are looking for something, you can't find one you like? Current dilemma...new purse. Everything nowadays looks large enough to carry my weekly groceries!

*How many calories do you burn off going to every Michael's store in search of DMC instead of hitting the gym like you're supposed to?

*How healthy can Avocado Ranch salad dressing be? Avocado = good source of fat. Ranch Dressing = ?!. I guess the fact the salad has bacon and ranch means I just ate an unhealthy meal. It was tasty though. I'll do better at dinner.

*Waking up at 1030am everyday for a week was luxurious. Waking up at 7am for work now is slightly torturous. 2 alarms and I can barely wake up! ZzzZzzzzzZzz

*I was told I am lucky I am single. I don't really feel that way though. Amazing how we want what others have. Married folks want to have space and be single. Single folks want to have someone to share their life with.

*I'm not sure a curvy body should wear spaghetti strap maxi dresses...at least not this one.

*I can't wait to get my new pedometer from Amazon. Time to (re)practice what I preach. 10,000 steps a day...here I come...eventually.

*Oh, and my new Roku! Thanks for all the recs and comments about it. That's on the Amazon order too.

*I forgot to order a phone ear thingie...what are those called? Nobody calls me until the minute I start driving! (Talking on a cellphone while driving is a ticketable offense here)

*I'm so happy to have working phone, internet and Tivo! And Stitchmate! If I didn't have to go to work, I'd never ever leave the house. EVER! Oh wait...10,000 steps. Dammit!

*46 more DMC to complete my collection. All the non-stitching people think I'm insane. I know you all get it. Will the next Michael's trip be a success to my collection? Love those 20% off coupons.

*If I concentrate on Mary Wigham, how much longer will it take me to finish??

As you can see, my brain's been buzzing.

Speaking of Mary, Here's what I've accomplished in a week. Not bad I suppose. Excuse the photo...it's nighttime and I snapped it quick.
I managed the light pink, black and dusty rose motifs along with 4 sets of initials. I made a small start on the burgundy one. I didn't think I would like that black one but I enjoyed stitching that one the most so far. The burgundy one seems fun too. I think I will stick with Mary through the weekend. Tomorrow, I am heading to a stitching event in Monterey (road trip!) with one of my stitching groups. They are doing this whole retreat extravaganza but I am just driving down for the day. I wonder how much stitching I will actually get done. There are three more motifs in this part (part 4). Can I do it in one more week? We're gonna find out.

Time to pack my stitching bag. Have a nice weekend!

Until next time...

Scattershot

2011-05-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

Oof, it's been a busy few days. The vacation sped by and I'm back to work. I feel like things have been eventful but it all revolved around running around buying/pricing modems, installing Comcast and finally getting my phone, internet and Tivo back up and running in time to go back to work. I'm just happy it's working and that everything isn't in various stages of influx or broken. The apartment is a mess since I now have to figure out where this new surge of cables is supposed to go but it's all working and that really makes me the happiest.

Since I'm on the topic of technology/electronics, does anyone happen to have a Roku and if so, what do you think about it? I'm intrigued since it allows you to stream Netflix and Hulu onto a tv. I can totally broaden my tv viewing obsession by seeing things on demand. Is it a good product?

And on top of that, I had arch shades installed...finally. It's been a year in the making. The light isn't as bright in my front room anymore but things have been getting really faded since the sun streamed right in full-force. I also have more privacy since the people who live across the street no longer have an uninhibited view right into my living space. I can actually walk around in my undies if I want and not worry about giving the old men across the way a show. Here's how the windows look now.
The sun would stream through those arches and shine on the wall above the tv. I have plans for that wall...I can't have any fading happening!

***

On the stitching front, progress has been slow on the things I should be stitching. I'm in a quandry. There are so many projects I want to start and I have been planning and envisioning certain projects hanging in particular spots in my apartment. The thing is that I am not currently working on any of these projects and I am dying to start them all and they are all BAPs. I already have 2 BAPs, one medium and a couple of small ones in the hopper and just that amount of WIPs is stressing me out. I can't start another BAP! I'm having enough of a problem juggling the ones I have. What to do?! I don't want to stop working on my current projects altogether since I may never pick them up again. I think I have to buckle down and try to make some headway.

I hope this will help! Two handed stitching is much haster than one handed!
I ordered myself a Stitchmate and it arrived during my vacation. Please forgive the terrible photos but it is a fantastic piece of craftmanship. Back in March, a wonderful lady let me borrow her Stitchmate. That in itself floored me. Here's this lady I've met a handful of times who goes "you can borrow mine to make sure it works with your chair before you go and order it". Took me a bit to pick my jaw up off the floor and even more time to accept her offer since I'm one of those "oh, I couldn't possibly put you out" type of people. But I borrowed it for TWO weeks and fell in love. This is actually how I managed to stitch and finish Part 3 of Mary Wigham. I am so happy to have my very one! Now, a Stitchmate is pretty pricey but I am pretty sure this will last me forever and so I just couldn't deny myself any longer. Plus, I have a million BAPs to stitch and I'm hoping this will make it scads easier.
**Please note that the chart holder placement is different than it should be. If I had it as directed, it blocks my ott-lite. I'm glad I got the extended arm! I still need to play around with that part a bit.

So I have pulled out Mary and will try to get another section completed while focusing on my smalls and my medium project which is Where My Heart Blooms. Maybe by the fall, I'll be in a better space and can start on the "art" I want on the walls.

During vacation, I stitched solely on Blue Snowman when I had the time to stitch. I think it should be called Blue Snowgirl. She was a joy to stitch and I love how she looks. My only complaint is the floppy fabric. My stitches just don't lie very nice on 30 count WDW fabric, especially with just one thread but I followed the instructions and just think the piece is full of whimsy. So cute! I just love the stocking and the "tights" she is wearing! I'm not sure what to do with it now that it's done but I think it would be nice as a flatfold or a cube. Something to think about.

And let's not forget my TUSAL report for the month. It's slowly growing but it's hard to tell. There's a mishmosh of threads from Blue Snowman, A Wish For You and my Tiny Garden Fob.
While taking my TUSAL photo, I tried to stage the jar with some anemones I bought at the farmers market over the weekend but the photo above was better. I couldn't help sharing the anemones though. They are so colorful! I've enjoyed them this week placed in my little owl pitcher.
And finally....my new set of wheels! I remembered to take my camera with me when I visited my folks. Much easier to take a photo in a suburban setting.
I love it so far! I'm still scared to have to parallel park but I'll deal with that when I come to it.

Well, Mary is calling and it's tv night (ok, when is it not but it's Thursday! Grey's and Private Practice). One more day to the weekend! Can't wait.

Just in case I don't make it back before Sunday, I'd like to wish all the moms a fantastic day. Hope you all have fun.

Until next time...

A Little Catch Up

2011-04-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I hope that everyone had a lovely weekend and Easter/Anzac Day. Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post. It's nice to have such a wonderful support system in blogland. I tried to send out quick replies to the comments if I could but wouldn't you know it, my phone and internet died! I didn't get to everyone I wanted to but please know I appreciate each and every comment.

As far as the phone and internet, well, that's just a pain. I wanted to switch to Vonage for phone service and keep "naked DSL" with AT&T but they just cut me off completely. Thanks AT&T! Good riddance to you too. I am waiting for Comcast to send me the install kit so in the meantime I am phoneless and only have internet because I am "borrowing" it. Shhhh....don't tell anyone!

And to add to the pile, my cable started acting up over the weekend. I can live without a phone and I can even live without internet (I have a Blackberry!) but I cannot live without cable. I've got shows to watch and things to see! Luckily, Comcast sent out a repair guy on Easter Sunday and the cable box seemed to work under the spell of his magic fingers.

So I hit the trifecta. I have all the luck.

But the exciting news of the weekend is that I bought my new car! I haven't got a picture of it though because my garage space if very dark and tight. I traded in my 15 year old burgandy Nissan Altima for a 2011 Honda CR-V in charcoal grey! It's very exciting and scary! Exciting to have a shiny new car...with keyless entry...and a working stereo...with leather seats...and a working sun visor...and a little spot to put my sunglasses. Ohhh...so exciting! Scary to be indebted to the bank for five years though! Yikes! So I see a lot of budgeting, road trips and stitching from stash in my future. That's ok though...I have shiny new car! I'll take a photo soon.

I've been stitching but somewhat halfheartedly. I wasn't really feeling my projects and I decided I needed some whimsy. So I pulled out my Tiny Garden Fob kit by Shepherd's Bush and stitched it up. It had a pretty good message for me...
I love this cute design!It just makes me smile. I still need to finish it up into a fob and hope to do that by the end of the weekend.

And then I pulled out Blue Snowman by Shepherd's Bush too. I love the whimsy and have been missing it. It's my usual stitching style. I obviously haven't gotten very far on it though. Hopefully it will grow some today. It will be my main focus for the evening.
White blob on blue fabric. I warned you I didn't get far!

I have been working on A Wish For You on my Anniversaries of the Heart. I love this block but it is draaaaging! The house is cute and I love the quirky two-tone brick but it took me forever to build it! Forever!
I still need to stitch the over 1 verse and I am dreading it! I am changing the verse a bit and omitting any personalization so I have to make sure that it will fit in the space allotted. I do NOT want to frog over 1. I haven't had the brain for math lately so I have been putting off this part. There's only 3 more days to April so I had better get moving and finish it already.

I am on "vacation" this week. I had to "use it or lose it" so I've been sleeping in til 1030am and catching up on much needed sleep, eating lunch at 3pm at the little eateries in the neighborhood and relishing in the fact that I can wear yoga pants in the middle of the day. It's already Wednesday! It's going by too fast! I should have asked for two weeks off! lol

I do have another finish and things to share but that will have to wait until the next post. Again, thanks for the comments and hanging in there with me through the whine and the hard times. *hugs*

Until next time...

Meh

2011-04-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

I am feeling meh. You know that feeling. I'm just going through the motions and trying not to succumb to the feelings of being overwhelmed, sad, stressed out (!!!) and completely exhausted. I've had a long stretch of seemingly bad luck and after so much time, it gets hard to rally and even harder for me, the die-hard pessimist, to see any of the positives. And there are positives, don't get me wrong. It's just that the negatives are just so draining.

It's hard to be unsure how secure your position is at work. It's hard to see parents getting older and getting more confused and immobile. It's hard to be the youngest and go through it all alone. It's incredibly hard to have to rebuild a new circle of friends...especially when you are feeling meh and are more prone to being a hermit when things don't need to be taken care of. It's hard to shop for a car when you don't want to deal with salespeople. And it's especially hard to realize you don't really have anyone to put down as an emergency contact because everyone has left or become unreliable. It's hard to keep whining about the same things but seriously, nothing seems to get better. Perhaps I have some voodoo hex on me that I don't know about?

So, I'll be laying low for a while as I am tired of being a downer on my own blog. I'm stitching when I can but my motivation is slowing down. I think I need something bright and vibrant to stitch on to set me into a better mood.

Speaking of the blog, my little space is turning 6 soon. Can you believe that?! I'll rally to host a surprise a little later. Nothing huge...I have a car to save up for and all...but something cute and useful.

Until next time...

Coming to You...

2011-04-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Live behind my new laptop!

Woo!

I'm still getting used to it so if you see a bunch of typos, it's cuz this keyboard feels very different from my old one.

I should probably explain what happened to my old laptop. I usually keep it on the floor in front of my recliner. It's usually out of the way. Well, I had borrowed something from a friend and had company over one night and when I tried to step over my laptop (since the borrowed something and my friend was in my way), I stepped on my pantleg and couldn't step wide enough to clear the laptop and I ended up stepping on my laptop instead. That was not a good night. I was unbelievably upset! The screen had cracked and crystals were leaking all over the place. The laptop works but the monitor is pretty jacked up. So if you learn anything from me, don't store your laptop on the floor cuz you might step on it and jack everything up. What a mess! So now, I have a new laptop I have to learn. And no, it's not a Mac. I wish it was! But the $900 I saved by not buying a Mac will go into whatever new car I end up buying. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices like that. In the end, I know whatever car I buy will last me longer than any laptop so it's best to invest the money there.

When I went to Best Buy Friday night, I wasn't sure what to expect. My old laptop is a Toshiba and I loved it. It would have lasted me at least another year if I hadn't stepped on it like a dumbwit. But all the new Toshibas have 10-keys now which is all fine and dandy is you're an accountant or have an Excel fetish. I had my criteria...no Dells and no Compaqs. I was deciding between an HP and a non 10-key Toshiba. And I bought the HP. Why? Because it's prettier. Navy with a interesting pattern and a cool built-in screensaver with more artistic applications. Yea...I'm a girl. I like quirky and I like interesting. I am hoping that picking HP won't be a mistake. I managed to convince a guy friend to help me set up the new laptop so it saved me from having a fit and my head exploding. Even with him knowing what he was doing, it took almost 3 hours. Left to my own devices, you all would have read about me in the paper. "After many hours, California woman , 35, had conniption fit and caused a melee in an attempt to get her new laptop setup. Casualities yet to be determined." I still have a bit of computer stuff to deal with though which will go into next weekend. I need to make sure all my files from my last two laptops are saved and recycle them plus I am thinking of switching internet providers. AT&T has gotten too expensive and I am thinking of switching my internet to Comcast and my phone service to Vonage. If anyone has any experience with either, I'd love to hear about it.

So the stitching! Here's my progress on Mary Wigham.
I've completed part 3 with that last motif going into a good part of Part 6. I complete 3 large motifs (gold, blue, ivory), 2 small ones (green, pink) and 2 sets of initials. I had a hard time with the gold motif and the blue one. The gold motif was frogged once. Half because the dyelot blended into the fabric too much and half because of counting errors. The blue motif was a pain. There are major symmetry errors in that one and I had to correct them. Plus, it called for blue and black and I changed it to blue and dark blue. I think it looks nicer that way. So far, it may be once of my favorite motifs despite the headaches it gave me. I am now a third of the way done. Woot! I hope the next section is easier than Part 3!

Here's how it looks so far.
Please excuse the wrinkles and the blurriness.

I also started A Wish for You from my AotH series. I think I will do something a little different with the personalization here. Still deciding. But in the meantime, I'm building the house.
I love the little shamrocks. Deep down, beneath all the latin fire, I identify Irish. Dark hair, pale skin, freckles and an affinity for bangers and guinness. Yep, I fit right in. So I am really enjoying this block. I think I will work on it for a couple more nights before I have to set it aside for some secret stitching.

And last but not least, my TUSAL update.
This time Giggles is modeling my TUSAL jar. It's slowly growing. Lots of orts from Mary and AotH.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Obviously most of mine was occupied by laptop buying, set up, visiting the ailing parents and doing lots of laundry. I did go try a new restaurant yesterday though. I read a lot of local food blogs and newsletters. A while back, a southern place opened up in Oakland that I was curious about but in the last couple of months, the same place opened a second location in the city. So Sunday, I trekked over to the nitty gritty Tenderloin to see what this place was all about and encountered a wait about 40 people deep. That isn't uncommon here. San Francisco is full of foodies waiting to try the latest great thing. So Claire and I took a walk and encountered Philz Coffee. Another place familiar to me through my foodie newsletters. What an interesting coffee shop. There is no "house" coffee here. Philz is about brewing individual fresh cups of coffee. There is a menu with about 30 different blends...medium, chocolatey, herbal, spicey, dark. In the end, I picked a turkish blend with cardamon. Cardamon in coffee?! I had to try it and it was good. Different...but good. Fueled with caffeine, we continued our walk and headed back and we were still faced with a wait. That's ok...time to people watch. We saw some very interesting people. I think I saw a guy dressed as a girl in a very short catholic uniform skirt. Shorter than I ever rolled mine up! This place certainly attracted a mishmosh of interesting people. It's what makes San Francisco what it is. When we finally got in, we had a wonderful meal at Brenda's. We split granny apple with caramel butter beignets and I had a hangtown fry (oyster, bacon and scallion scramble) with potato hash and toast. Claire had an andouille sausage omelet with grits and those may have been the best grits I've ever tasted in my life. Mind you, this isn't the place for a diet and you may need a nap after eating here! OMG, with only eating half, I got so tired and drowsy! That's ok though. The leftover beignet was breakfast and the leftover scramble and potatoes was dinner! I think I better go to the gym a couple of times this week to work some of this off!

Well, that's it for me. Time to lay a little more brick on my house. Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Until next time...

Goodbye March...

2011-04-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

...and good riddance!

March has been a rather unkind month. It was bad enough that there were approximately 21 days of rain...this other stuff had to happen.

First, my cell phone blew up. Ok, it didn't blow up. It got unnervingly hot and then shut down and wouldn't turn back on again. I received a replacement and it's acting kind of funny. Not to mention that it keeps sending me the same old email as if it was new mail. I think I will have to brave Verizon and do a complete upgrade.

Second, I am still without a laptop. I haven't been able to bring myself to go shopping for one because I hate dealing with the purchase and set up of technological and electronic devices. They confound me. I can use them...I just can't set them up without a fair amount of swearing and hair pulling and a high desire to throw things about. This weekend though...I will prevail. I hope!

Third, I took my 15 year old car to the mechanic because I felt it had a recurring issue plus other things I thought were wrong but was too scared to really find out about. He was very nice. He came and picked up my car from work, did an oil change and checked things out and then flatly informed me he will not fix any of the things wrong with the car and it was time I got a new one. Seeing as my car is maybe worth $2,000; it's hard to justify dropping a grand on repairs. So...time to shop for a car for reals. It would be nice to have a car I feel safe in, that will allow me to take road trips, actually had a sun visor and a working stereo system. I'm excited about that. I am not excited about having a car payment though.

So...phone, laptop, car. Umm...that's a lot of money. I may just end up having to become a hermit and forgo any vacations for the year since I won't have money for much else.

Lastly, I spent all of Sunday in the ER with my mom. She took a bad fall and fractured her pelvis. No fun. Her mobility is pretty compromised and it just makes things that much more difficult and stressful.

So, I'm a bundle of nerves and stress and anxiety. The only bright spot in March was the trusting nature of a stitchy friend but I'll tell you all about that later.

Stitching has been progressing. Part 3 of Mary Wigham is complete. She was a pain in the knickers...seriously...what possessed me to do this?! I can only hope that Mary stops having tantrums as I get farther along. I've started the next block on my AotH. It's coming along. I just love the little shamrocks! Pictures will be forthcoming...can't really do all that from work.

I'm looking forward to spending time with one of my stitchy groups tomorrow. I'm hoping it will help alleviate some of my stress. And if I can get a laptop and do the 4 loads of laundry that are calling at me...the weekend will be a success.

Hello April...please be sweet.

Happy weekend everyone. I hope to be back soon with some pictures!

Until next time...

Bit of a Break

2011-03-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm forced to take a little bit of a blogging break. I managed to have a little accident with my laptop and it's my main outlet to the internets. Time for me to do a little research and buy a new one and then transfer all my data to a safe place. Ouch! I think my vacation fund is going to take a hit and I may end up with a staycation soon instead. Oh well.

I might just catch up on the housework now! Oh who am I kidding. More stitching time!

Be back soon....

Finishes and More Finishes

2011-03-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies...it's been a while hasn't it? It's been busy in my little corner of the world. Busy, busy...yet when I reflect at the end of the week, I can barely remember what kept me so busy. Anyone else relate?

Anywho...I've lots to share so you all might want to get a cup of tea and a snack. Don't get those crumbs in the keyboard though!

A while back, I was talking about finishing and how I actually got a couple of pieces finish-finished and off in the mail. Well, they've been happily received and now I can share. I shared this finish earlier. It's Blackbird Designs Bluebird stitched on a scrap of 32 count Lakeside with GAST Brethren Blue.
I made it up into a pinpillow. Very simple...filled with crushed walnut litter. I found a black safety pin lying about and thought it would be fitting and made simple pins. I bought terrible glue and those crystals were sliding. I am just hoping that they finally set. I backed it with some of my favorite blue batik shown below.
I mailed the pinpillow to my penpal Belen in France and I can only hope that it cheered her up. She recently celebrated her birthday and I felt a cause to make her something handmade. 2010 was an unkind year to her as well and unfortunate circumstances made her a widow way too young. She needed a little cheering. Blue is one of her favorite colors and she wrote me to tell me that she liked the gift and the goodie I included. I am so glad!

2010 was an unkind year. I am glad it's in my past but there was one outstanding piece of business leftover from last year...my blogiversary giveaway. I'm not sure what the mental hangup was. The finishing or the fact it was what I was stitching on when everything imploded. I'm not one to owe anyone anything though and I finally sat down and did the finishing. It was all I had to do. I am embarrassed that it took me so long to finish and send on but I am happy it's been passed onto it's new owner. Sharon won my giveaway many moons ago and she was happy with the gift and the goodies. I stilled the Shepherd's Bush 2009 scissor fob and included a pair of silver Ginghers. Here's the front.
And the back. It was charted to say "All Is Fine in 2009". Ummm...yea. So I changed it to say "Stitch and Be Happy" because that is true to a stitcher 100% of the time...well...outside of any major frogging.
I used the kit supplies and filled the fob with crushed walnut litter as well. It was my first time doing this finish with the ribbon and despite it being fiddly and poking myself with a beading needle multiple times, I am really happy with it! Now I need to stitch it for myself! Sharon posted photos of the goodies I sent here. I was in such a rush to send things off that I forgot to take photos of the goodies. I had a runner up winner for my blogiversary too and made good with Lisa and sent some non-stitched goodies off to her too. I am not doing that again. Next time, I will have the stitched goodie done *before* the drawing. Yeesh...guess that means I better get busy again and quick!

I also finished the first Blackbird Designs Bonus Pattern for my Anniversaries of the Heart! I know...I'm shocked myself. But that pre-stitching for my class drove me bananas and I needed something to keep me sane so I decided to get a head start.
I am SALing with Lisa and Sally. Their AotH projects look great! Here's how mine looks so far.
I am really enjoying this project. I don't seem to want to stop stitching on it but I am going to try and take a break from it for the rest of March so I can devote a little bit of time on my Mary Wigham and some smalls.

Now for the stitching that was driving me crazy! The pre-stitching for my class. The stitching itself didn't seem like a lot but it was very time consuming and fiddly...you really had to pay attention. My class was with Sandie Vanosdall of The Sweetheart Tree though the Bay Area Sampler Guild and the pre-stitching was for the M'Lady's Quadreille. I was hoping to be a super stitcher and finish all the stitching and backstitching before class but I only managed 1/2.
I had to frog a good portion because I found a counting error and had gotten sidetracked with my AotH. Sandie only wanted us to do the first side of the quadrille and all the outlining anyways so I was ahead. The class was nice and we covered specialty stitches I had never done before. Finishing this quadrille will be a challenge but seeing as I stitched the date...I had better get this done this year. We were also given Lady Dunmore's Sampler kit which I think is stunning and the main reason I signed up for this class. It has the same stitches as the quadrille so if I can master this quadrille, I can definitely tackle the sampler! Strangely enough, The Sweetheart Tree isn't really my usual thing but this really caught my eye.

Here's a close up of my 2 completed sides of the quadrille before any specialty stitches.
I will have to add this to the rotation for this year so I can complete it!

And finally...my TUSAL for the new moon. My jar is rapidly getting full. I guess I've been getting a ton of stitching done. Amazing how it never feels like enough. All the projects I want to do play like a slideshow in my head!
I have a new little friend to help me display my jar this month. Isn't she cute?!

Well, I better run. It's the Southland finale!

Until next time...

Let Your Life Speak

2011-03-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

I've been struggling to find my words the past few days. But today, I find I need to fumble through a little bit to express the sadness and appreciation I feel for Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle and the Roswell family. I am so saddened that she passed away and had great hopes that things would turn out well for her when I learned of what happened yesterday. Lisa brought her wonderful designs and charisma to our stitching community and we will sorely miss her.

The title of my post is the title of one of Lisa's designs. Lisa's life spoke to all of us. We were inspired by her love of Halloween and her creativity and she spoke loudly to many of us even though we may have never met her in person. Our stitching community has suffered a great loss but I know we will pay tribute to Lisa in our stitches and by continuing to bring her designs to life via linen and thread. She will not be forgotten. My deepest sympathy to her family.

Since I feel that today is about Lisa, I'll share my stitching and stuff in the next day or two.

Remember to let your life speak. Take pleasure in the little things. Dance as if no one is looking. Love freely.

Finishing ADD

2011-02-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else have it?

I have a really hard time mustering up the motivation to finish stitched items. And when I finally do find that motivation...I flutter about like a butterfly. I find I need to reward myself for doing any little bit of finishing. Fifteen minutes of finishing, thirty minutes of reward stitching, fifteen minutes of finishing...you get the idea. Then I go about, collecting the things I need to finish and inevitably, there's always that one thing that you just can't find. I had two things I really needed to finish because I had to get them out in the mail. I was looking for my muslin but I couldn't find it anywhere so I improvised with some interfacing and finally finished what I was making. Once I sat down, I remembered where my muslin was...in my stitching basket! Of course, that was the one place I didn't look. How come you always find things when you don't need them anymore?!

Well, truth is I still needed my muslin for the next finish. I'm really happy with both finishes and I hope the recipients enjoy them. I just wish it didn't take me that long to get things actually finished though. How do people have finishing enthusiasm and where can I find it?! I have a little pile of ornies accumulating that need to be finished. I have visions of finishing them with felt and need to buy a pinking cutter. You'd think I was trying to source a leprechaun and a pot of gold seeing as how hard it is for me to find this in my local shops. I'm going to have to do a little internet shopping to find one.

Hopefully my gifties will wing their way to their recipients quickly so I can share. In the meantime, here's the ornie I started as my "reward".
I haven't stitched much on it since I completed my finishing. I actually haven't stitched much at all in the last few days and I can feel it. Finishing and pre-stitching doesn't satisfy my need for actual stitching. It doesn't count...it's just extra work. Does anyone else feel that way?

Last night, I finally started my pre-stitching for my class. There isn't really a lot of stitching as much as there is a lot of backstitching (ewww) and what actual stitching there is, is fiddly. I can't stand fiddly stitching. 1/4 stitch here, 2 full crosses there, another two stitches waayyy over there. I am hoping to get through it fast so I can get back to some real cross stitching!

I hope that everyone had a nice holiday weekend. Mine was busy busy with periods of relaxation...mainly because I was feeling like I was coming down with a bug and forced myself to take it easy. There was boring stuff like doctor's appointments and laundry and errands and there was fun/nice stuff like visiting with my aunt, hanging out with ladies at my stitching group, dinners out locally, shopping and movie watching. The movies of the weekend were The Social Network and Black Swan. I saw The Social Network on video and I think it really opened up my eyes about Facebook. I'm not a big Facebook fan despite having a profile up. I log on to see whose getting married and having babies since Facebook has now replaced normal means of communication between people. It was interesting to learn how Facebook really came about. Black Swan was really well done! Natalie Portman did a fantastic job and I now see why she is up for nomination. Two days after seeing the movie, I am still cringing though. There were some scenes I just couldn't watch...they were kind of oww, ewwww, ugh...can't watch this part...and once it passed, I was ok. It was very much a psychological drama and I guess it works if I'm still thinking and cringing two days later.

Thank to everyone for their encouraging comments and emails regarding my last post. I am very behind in replying! I appreciate the time it takes to tell your own story and it feels better to know I'm not alone and that others are in a similar situation. I just wish things were easier.

Well, I'm off to backstitch some more. Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Until next time...

Building is Complete!

2011-02-16T22:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I had six days of bliss before the "do this" and the "do that" and the "I need a favor" and the "you need to come and take your father to the emergency room" call. In the end, my dad's ok. Apparently when you get old, you forget to take your medication or you just plain refuse to because you think you're smarter than the doctor. I dunno. All I know is that I'm more annoyed with my family and would like to know what makes my siblings exempt to all this. Family, work, travel, busyness, distance. I'm sorry, I don't think those are valid excuses. I'm trying to express to my parents that I am just too tired for their stuff and need to ask my siblings to help with some things. They don't listen...because they don't want to "bother" my other siblings. Nice to know I get the short end of the stick.all.the.time. After 23 years of being their secretary/caretaker, I'm pretty much done and someone else needs to help out. Yep...23 years. I've been doing all their little things since I've been a child. Childhood? What childhood? When your father states to the doctor that your relationship to him is "secretary" rather than "daughter", it's like being stabbed in the heart. The anger is incomprehensible. I say this to my siblings but I think they think I'm being dramatic so I am writing it here for the whole world to see because it's the truth and it's how I feel and there's no shame in that.

Well enough of that. It sets my blood to boil just thinking about it that the only thing that makes me feel better is stitching or sleep. With all the hoopla, I didn't get to finish the construction and landscaping of Valentine Rose until last night. I made one substitution and changed the color of the door from GAST Apple Cider to GAST Harvest Basket. Olive colored door...meh. I grew up in a red house with a tan front door. This kind of fit the bill.
This was my first time doing chain stitch. It looks much harder than it is! I had tried it with 2 threads since I had to do my satin stitch with 2 threads for the basket to look right but it was like 3-D flowers and they were popping off the fabric! I had to rip them out and restart the chain with one strand. I am happy to be done!

Here's how my AotH looks so far...
I have to do a little finishing now. I am super behind but better late than never I suppose. I will work on finishing through Friday and then I hope to start the pre-stitching for my class during the weekend. I am going to try to be a "super student" and stitch as much as possible. There isn't much since it seems to be more backstitching (yawn) than cross stitch. Thank goodness the specialty stitches will be covered in class because otherwise, I'd be watching a lot of youtube and cursing. I guess I better watch the cursing in the class. But I think the ladies will be nice and help me out.

The weekend was busy. My Friday night plans were shot due to the hoopla described above. On Saturday, I made a quick pitstop to the LNS to pick up my class kit and ventured to a brand-spanking new restaurant in the East Bay called Southie. I saw a write up on one of my many foodie newsletters and saw a photo of their crab roll. OMG...soooo good. Light and fresh with a little celery, mayo and lemon. Basically a take on a lobster roll which is practically impossible to get around here. You East Coasters are lucky! After lunch, I was pretty snoozie and basically caught up on tv and made dinner. Sunday, I went to go see The Fighter with a friend of mine. Excellent movie! I loved Amy Adams and that's not really something I'd say otherwise. Usually, she's all fluffy and squeaky and cute. In The Fighter, she was pretty down and dirty. I think Micky Ward's fame happened in the 80's which totally explains the scary hair-dos and the uh, other issues in the movie. Seriously, those hair-dos were scary! High bangs, feathered out the ying-yang and two or three toned hair. Yikes! I think they got the accents down pretty well. We'll see what a native has to say. But for most of the movie, I was going "Low, Mass?...what a weird name for a town", before I finally realized they were saying Lowell, Mass. But it was very well done. I still think that The King's Speech is the stronger movie now having seen The Fighter. I guess I better go see Black Swan so I can be fully prepared for my Oscar viewing in two weeks.

Earlier this week, I went out to dinner. It was interesting. It was a nice restaurant on a busy night. We were seated next to foodie bloggers. At least I think that's what they were. Professional level cameras blinding me to death while taking pictures of each of the 50 kabillion dishes they ordered. Really? Am I famous? Has the paparazzi discovered me?! Did I win the lottery and no one's told me? Because that's what it felt like. I understand foodie bloggers because if it wasn't for them and yelp, I wouldn't discover new restaurants but if you're blinding other patrons...um yea. We were also seated next to a larger italian group who were laughing so loud, the rest of the restaurant was turning around. Umm...yea. And I seriously couldn't understand a word our waiter said. Thank goodness my dinner companion could "translate". Most frequently repeated phrase..."what'd he say?!" Eh, makes dinner interesting. I had a martini, yummy salumi and pate and a nice meal.

Well, that's it for me. I apparently had more to talk about than show today. Maybe next time, I'll have more progress...on something. I feel kind of lost seeing as I shouldn't work on AotH til next month and have to do pre-stitching. But what about Mary...and my ornie?! I'm going to have to figure out something I can put a few stitches in while working on massive amounts of backstitching.

Until next time...

Building Houses & Surprises

2011-02-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Building a house is hard work! Oof, I'm tired! Laying bricks, slapping on mortar, hammering on roof tiles, installing window and door frames and erecting a chimney. Lots of work! Here's how my Valentine Rose looks after a week and a half of stitching...or, uh, building. Not bad!

The house still needs a little more work...a bit of mortar and installing the door. I think I will do the door last as I'm unsure of my dyelot for that area. Besides...I think I could do with a change of scenery so I'll head over and work on the potted plants in this block.

I am stitching along with Sally, Jane and Lisa on AotH. I think I'm a little farther along but they'll catch up soon. I'll soon be busy with class pre-stitching, ornie stitching, finishing and trying to get farther along on Mary Wigham.

I would *love* to finish this block by the end of the weekend. That might be hard as I have a hectic schedule through next Tuesday. Yikes! Busy, busy! Not to mention, I need to finish a couple of things that need to go in the mail. I must put my finishing procrastination to an end. I just need more time...and hands. Yea, both, in abundance, would be helpful!

Last night, I received a lovely surprise. A few weeks back, KarenV emailed me asking if I would like a pattern she had when she was done with it since she had seen it was on my wishlist. How sweet! I said yes and put it in the back of my mind. Well, I was surprised to see a big envelope in my mailbox for such a tiny chart. Imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope and out came a baggie filled with assorted trims and a stunningly cute Birds of a Feather Angel ornie. It took me a bit to close my mouth from the shock of it all! She recently showed this ornie finish on her blog and I had commented on how cute it was. Little did I know it was me who was the intended recipient!

And a close up of the ornie...so cute! I just love the pompom trim!

I've been reading Karen's blog for a while now and I'm always surprised and inspired by all her finishes! They turn out spectacular and she always has the perfect fabby and trim. One day I commented that I wished I could find similar trims locally but how my selections are limited. Well, I guess she remembered! So many lovely trims. I am so excited to use them. Thank you so much Karen! I love everything!

Well, short post for me today. I hope to stitch and then drag my lazy bum to yoga instead of just thinking about it all the time. I could use some zen and meditation. I'm sporting a tummyache today though so I may just hold out until the weekend.

Hope you're all enjoying the week...2 more days to Friday!

Until next time...

Ups and Downs

2011-02-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

"Don't let one problem discourage your goals."
~Bunny Year Lucky Dinner fortune from my Fortune Cookie

Up

Considering my whine earlier last week, it seemed interesting that this was my fortune during Bunny Year dinner. Weird...I guess the noodles were trying to tell me something. Bunny Year dinner was very yummy. Potstickers, soup, noodles, rice and king pao chicken with enough leftovers to last me a couple of days. I love leftovers!

Down

Tried to do the right thing despite coming across the most incompetent receptionist ever. Not delivering messages and blatantly eating food on the phone does not exude good customer service to me. Don't make me mad with bad customer service either because even though I am a cranky-ass, my previous profession was all about making customers have a lovely stay and be happy. I know! Hard to believe. But on Friday, happy due to my Happy Bunny Day dinner, I found a credit card in the lobby of my building and tried my hardest to get it back to it's owner. I used my mad Google skills, found where it belonged to even though the owner of the card doesn't even work in my building. I should be a frickin' detective. I think I missed my calling. Anyways, I called the office and told the dumb receptionist to please give this man a message that I had something that belonged to him and could he please call me or pass by my suite.

Ever get the feeling on the phone that the person on the other end isn't even listening, let alone writing it down? Yea. I had that feeling. But I gave this guy the benefit of the doubt. At the end of the day, I call back and ask if he gave the owner my message. His response, "what message?". I could have jumped through the phone and choked him. Are you serious! At that point, I was mad. If he had delivered the message, the owner would have his card. Instead, the owner is on his way back home...3 hours away. I got the owner's phone number to let him know that I'd had his card since the morning and I had hoped to reunite him with it if he had only gotten my message. I can only hope he gets it back since I followed his instructions to give it to someone else. Sometimes doing the right thing is a frickin' hassle! But better I had grabbed the card versus leaving it there for who knows what to happen.

All I know is that if I happen to lose my credit card somewhere, that some kind soul out there will try to get it to me intact so that I didn't have to be without a credit card and go through the hassle of canceling it. That receptionist totally screwed it up!

Up

Met up with a bestie and caught up, had dinner and watched No Strings Attached. Usual fluffy chick flick with humor. Entertaining but nothing to write home about.

Down

I don't know what Scottish bagpipes and the ringing of a bell mean to you but to me, it is the saddest sound on the face of the earth and enough to bring me to tears. Spent the day celebrating the life of a coworker who succumbed to lung cancer. Despite the loss, I try to think that Dave is in a happy place because he is reunited with his wife, Connie, who he lost to breast cancer a year ago. After so many years, it was so apparent that they were deeply in love and that loss hit Dave hard. Now they are back together. But the cry of the bagpipes and the ringing of the "last call" makes me choke up and re-evaluate.

Up

Ever feel like you need a complete wardrobe change? I'm feeling that way. My clothes are either old, faded, stretched out or need mending. Not to mention my niece told me I had mom jeans?! It was time to shop and I actually felt like it. That's rare. I went outlet shopping in 75 degree weather. It was gorgeous and I got a good dose of Vitamin D not to mention found some incredible bargains! I am so happy. I had fun. I found nice clothes for a total deal and even bought a little black dress in a single digit size! I don't know how that happened but maybe that is incentive enough to go to the gym so I can ensure that I can still fit in it when I have the chance to wear it!

So I'm on a up...I hope it stays that way!

Stitching

I've been stitching on Valentine Rose this past week but it's been busy and I've maybe managed one hour each day which isn't a lot but it's better than nothing. I find that I need that hour (at least) to keep me sane. Considering the overall time, I guess I've done ok. That house is huge! I've put on the roof and installed the windowframes and doorframe but am still laying the brick. Lots and lots of bricks. I'm planning on stitching for the rest of tonight so I wonder if I can finish the bricks and do the cement stuff between the bricks. I forgot what it's called. I'll show a photo in a couple of days. No photos today but I'll share a new obsession.

Chatelaine Frosty Knotgarden

Chatelaine Evening in the Park

Someone get me off the Chatelaine site! Holy Crap. Each time I go there, I see a new one I like. I now have a couple of patterns; Taj Mahal and Frosty Knotgarden. I think I'm too scattered to understand the chart...they look confusing! I am debating which one to start my Chatelaine obsession with...I can't decide. Um, not to mention figure out how in the world to fit it into my so-called rotation. *sigh* I need more hands.

Time to blowdry my hair and lay some bricks on this here house. Hope you all had a fun weekend!

Until next time...

Happy Bunny Year!

2011-02-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies...it's a day to celebrate! Happy Lunar New Year or as I call it...Year of the Rabbit.

I'm ready to celebrate. My apartment is clean, I'm not wearing black (my sister will be shocked), I'm planning a nice meal revolving around noodles to promote longevity and will probably have an orange too. And my dad even gave me a Macy's gift card yesterday! It's not cash in a red envelope but hey, it's close enough. The gift card is red. I'm considering that lucky too since he knows nothing about Lunar New Year or how to celebrate it. I need as much luck as I can get, you know?!

Let's see who else is going to celebrate for sure. Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway. I hope that new commenters continue to comment. I may whine but I don't bite. Promise!

So the results...I don't know how you get the Random.org photo on the blog. Do you have to be a paying customer? Anyways, here is the shortened list...

There were 56 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

9. Mainely Stitching
40. Maureen
2. Danielle
43. Pat Matejcek
18. Blu
20. Sally
10. Mel
15. Cath
51. Linda
22. Catherine

The winner is Barbara of Mainely Stitching! Barbara, please shoot me an email with your snail mail address. Congratulations!

***

There's more stuff to talk about. Today is the New Moon so it's time to show my TUSAL jar. Compared to my last report...where it was empty...there's been much improvement. I've been stitching my little heart out.
Yes, I am getting my money out of my pumpkin pincushion! It makes me happy to see it so I've left it out way beyond Autumn. You can click the photo to see my orts up close...little orts from Mary, Snow Garden, my Angel ornie and the BBD pincushion so it's a hodgepodge of colors.

I also got some nice packages in the mail that resulted in this...
I got my fabric shears back from Gingher. I'm impressed! There and back in 2 weeks all for the small fee of $7.50 for sharpening. Much less than taking it to the local shop! So I can get to my finishing soon. May not happen this weekend since it's getting full but maybe the weekend after. I also got my order from Shakepeare Peddler. I signed up for their Fabric of the Month so I received a fat quarter of Examplar which will come in handy for sure. I also ordered a Stitcher's Pack to see what that's all about. I'm about 50% on this...there are some cute colors for smalls but not sure about half of the little cuts. Will have to see if I can find what ornies to stitch on them. I also ordered a copy of A Sampler Enthusiants Book of Days Calendar after seeing this on Michelle's blog. I think it will be a good way for me to keep apprised of what I stitched on what day...especially seeing as how scattered I've been lately. So happy mail too!

Well, almost time for my bunny year dinner! Happy Bunny Year to you!

Until next time...

Out of Sorts

2011-01-31T20:03:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. I've been feeling out of sorts for the past month. Being scatterbrained and so tired and pulled in a lot of directions. I've gotten some comments that I sound overwhelmed and I guess that I am. I've been feeling the distance between me and my friends and the increased need for attention my elderly parents are exhibiting. I think I'd be able to handle it all better if I had a support network. But I don't...it's just me taking care of everything. It's sad to have this feeling that everyone needs or wants something from me but when I need or want anything, I have to do it myself because no one else is going to do it for me. I want to go in one direction and am forced into another...trying to appease others at the risk of neglecting myself. And because I want to beat to the tune of my own drum, I feel kind of guilted. That Catholic guilt will kill you, you know...or at least force you into the scary white jacket and padded room.

And even though I love San Francisco, I often daydream of picking up and moving far away from here so I can finally have a life of my own, with less responsibility. And time to recapture the creative drive that is so incredibly stunted. I can follow a pattern but at this point, that's about it. The dreams about designing and owning a small little sanctuary for stitchers are just that...dreams...because my energies and focus are elsewhere.

So, I'm in a "nobody gets it" mood. Nobody gets why I am so stressed and sad and frustrated and resentful. Least of all, the people who are making me feel this way. When I feel this way, I need silence and alone time. My chirpiness decreases; my hermit tendencies increase and I focus more on my stitching since it's what I do at home.

So my stitching has been coming along.

I finished my Heart in Hand Little Angel in the Clouds. I think it's so cute! I will have to restitch soon with a pale lavender heart instead of the tan. I also stitched a little gift for my penpal. She has intermittent internet so hopefully she doesn't see this! I stitched Blackbird Designs Bluebird on a scrap of 32 count platinum with GAST Brethren Blue. I'm debating whether I want to add pins and buttons.

Well, I sent off my shears to get sharpened a couple of weeks ago and I realize I don't have any scissors to cut fabric other than those. I guess I better hunt down a Joann's or Michael's coupon so I can buy a backup pair. So no finishing for me...yet. I can't even cut my fabric down!

And I started on the border for BBD Valentine Rose last night. I wasn't supposed to start until February but with the absence of fabric shears, I decided to at least be productive. Plus, I am taking a Sandie Vandosdall class with my Sampler Guild in March and I hear there's pre-stitching. I don't even have my kit yet...I wonder how much stitching I have to do! So I had better get a move on on my personal stitching so I can drop everything once I receive my kit.
It doesn't look like much for now. This block has a huge house that needs to be built! Maybe by the weekend, I'll have some house to show...if I can squeeze some stitching in between the responsibilities.

So...don't be surprised if I'm not as chirpy as usual. I am trying to find my happy place. It's quite hard with the constant interruptions and such but I'm trying.

Thanks for all the entries for my surprise! There are some new blogs I need to check out. I really enjoyed the responses to my questions. I've got lots of movies to add to my Netflix queue. I'll answer my own questions on Thursday when I announce the winner. Movies and travel are two things that make me happy besides stitching and I am trying to reacquaint myself with both.

Well, I think I'm going to head to bed early tonight. Hope you all are having a good start to the week.

Until next time...

Did Someone Say Bunny?

2011-01-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

So remember a while back I was talking about doing a little surprise in celebration of it being the Year of the Rabbit? It's that time. Surprise! It took a little while for things to come in because even though my brain may spit out ideas fast, the postal service and the release date of things can be slow.

Here are the things I am giving away to ONE lucky winner. I wonder who it will be?!
CCN Bunny Hop with overdyed threads, The Trilogy Happy Bunny Bunny Day, L*K Hop Squared, JBW French Country Rabbit, 2 bunny buttons and a cut of bunny backing fabric.

So what do you have to do to enter?

Answer one of the two questions in your comment...on this post only.

1. Since we're in Oscars movie season, what is your favorite movie? It doesn't have to be an Oscar-nominated one.

or

2. If you had the vacation time and could travel anywhere, where would it be and why?

That's it! Please don't post about this "surprise" on your blogs? I'd like it to go to a regular reader who happens to enjoy my ramblings instead of someone who came by just because they heard about my g-away.

Deadline to enter is February 3rd which is Chinese New Year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

What Day Is It?

2011-01-24T19:57:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like that? I feel like that *all* the time! Days go by at a blur and I try to keep the days straight. I remember when I was in my teens, the days just dragged on. I had the audacity to be bored and felt like I had nothing to do. Now I relish not having anything pressing to do and just taking the time to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet. Being kind of a loner, I relish alone time and stitching time. It helps me decompress from the stress of the day. If things are too busy and stressful, I feel like a chicken with her head cut off.

This past weekend went fast. But then, when don't they. I spent all of Saturday at traffic school and it was kind of torturous. The class I signed up for was a comedy traffic school and frankly, the instructor needs to work on his material. We did the exam in the form of Jeopardy and it was so annoying. I had the right answer quite a few times but as we were split up in teams, the spokesperson would always side with the "doctor". For being a doctor, there's a reason she was in traffic school. She doesn't know the traffic rules! We were losing terribly the first half. Finally, I got to shouting out the answer. Screw the spokesperson! Let's just get on with it already. I obviously become more vocal the more frustrated I am! Next time *knock on wood that there doesn't have to be one!*, I'll do the class online. I just wanted a break from the computer. I am on one between 10-12 hours each workday. After a while, you just kind of want to go out and actually see people.

The movie of the week was Blue Valentine. It stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams and I chose it because I felt like seeing Ryan Gosling (he's cute!) more than Natalie Portman. But the movie was meh. Kind of made me happy to not be married. Some scenes were hard to watch...and not because of it being violent. It wasn't. It was more because of the emotion. How love came about and then was lost; dealing with a disintegrating marriage. I did enjoy the scenes that took place in the past more than those that took place in the present but I think that was part of the point. How come so many Oscar picks are dramatic downers?! Mind you, Oscar noms don't get announced until tomorrow but there's been some talk about Blue Valentine getting some sort of nomination. We'll see. I heard mixed views on Black Swan and I know to expect that to be a psycho-trip, weird and kind of a downer. I think next week will have to be The Fighter...Amy Adams isn't playing a fluffy, sweet girl character. Should be interesting there.

I was hoping to have another stitchy finish to show you today. But I'll show what I am stitching on. Carol, Lois, Staci and I are doing a little informal ornament stitch-a-long. One ornie per month. Maybe this will inspire me to actually put up a tree this year! Here's the ornie I am stitching this month. I wanted an easy stitch considering all the busyness lately.

Little Angel in the Clouds
Heart in Hand
32ct. Dirty w/recommended threads

Poor angel is currently wingless! But I love this little design. I think I will have to stitch it up again soon and switch out the tan heart to a lilac heart. I think that will be cute. Maybe I can finish this up tonight? Eh, probably tomorrow. After this, I need to stitch up a quick gift and then I will sit down for a huge finishing and mending session. I'm gonna do it! I am! *sigh* I hate finishing and mending! But maybe these monthly ornies will help me get over my mental block about finishing. One can hope!

I do have to say that after only working on 40 count for the last couple of months, stitching on 32 count is HUGE! Wow...what a difference.

Thanks for all the sweet comments on Snow Garden. Those GAST dyelots are weird, huh? I've pulled my threads for Valentine Rose and I already have one color that I'm iffy about. We'll see what I decide. Hope nobody got upset about my "readers" comment! I have permanent readers...blind as a bat with a prescription in the 5.00+ range. I should get lasik but I'm too scared!

Well, I think it's time to peel off and stitch a bit. I worked my 8 hours, washed 2 loads of dishes, baked banana muffins, cooked dinner and did a preliminary draft of my taxes. I think I deserve a little stitching time. Hope you all had a great weekend. It's Monday...right? ;-)

Until next time...

The Snow Has Been Conquered!

2011-01-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

And by snow, I mean Snow Garden. Because...you know...there's no snow here. Despite the rough start, I'm really happy with how it turned out and am relieved it's finished! I decided I won't do the personalization until the end. I want to see how the last blocks turn out and assign blocks then. I know I will have extra blocks...more blocks than family to pay tribute to...so Snow Garden may be a generic but I'll figure that all out in a couple of months.
I ended up frogging the Lexington Green border because it was just a tad too green and stuck out just a little too much for my liking. Last week, when I stopped into my very close LNS, I found a skein of Parchment with green shading. Everything fell into place at that moment.

**Ok, put your readers on **

It's hard to tell the color difference in this photo but it's an example of how wacko dye lots are. (you can click on the photo to make it bigger)
These are the same color. On the left is the Parchment I started off with initially. Obviously a soft tan. The one on the right is the one I just picked up that has a very slight mint green hue to it. That's where the green in the model photo comes from.

It's 10pm so my photos are crap but I wanted to share.

So one down and uh, fourteen more to go! What did I get myself into?! Here's a little glimpse of how far I have yet to go.

wrinkles, wrinkles everywhere!

This week is so much better...and it's already Thursday! It will be a busy weekend since I have to spend my Saturday at traffic school. I don't really appreciate being gypped out of 8 hours of stitching time when I see people running red lights left and right because they are too busy yapping their heads off on their cellphones...which is a double violation in California but you do what you have to do.

On Monday, I decided to go see Country Strong. People kept telling me to not see it because of the bad reviews and then I stupidly read a couple of them and found out the ending. I decided to go anyways because I was curious. I like movies that have singing and/or dancing. And honestly, I've seen a lot of terrible movies in my life but this wasn't that bad. It was actually good. Not great or fantastic...I'm not even going to suggest that you go see it. From the trailers, you get the impression this is a feel good movie and that Gwyneth as the lead, overcomes. It is sad and tragic and painful...and amidst all that, there is good Country music. I know most people don't like Country Music and I usually have the radio dial set to Classic/Indie Rock but I grew up with a Nicaraguan dad who loved him some Country music. I have no idea why but that means I don't mind it as long as it's not obnoxious Country pop. I'd rather listen to the stuff about how the truck broke down and my lady ran out and took the dog and all I can do is drown my sorrows in this here bottle of Whiskey. But anyways, it even had an Original Song Golden Globe Nomination.

I wonder what movie to watch this coming weekend. I'm thinking Blue Valentine or Black Swan. Oscars are just around the corner.

Ok, time to start my Chrismas ornie before it's time for bed. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Until next time...

Rambles and Jumbles

2011-01-17T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hello blog friends...it's been a while, hasn't it?

Before I get into the going ons, I want to say thank you to all my readers and new followers! I can't believe I am up to 123 followers. I am so excited! Details for the surprise will be coming soon once I can get my hands on the items I want to give away. It will be a stash enhancement since I haven't the time to make anything and am still trying to make good on my stitched item for my blogiversary from last April. Oof!

The start to the new year has been rough. And not like anything bad has happened. It's just been so busy and I am braindead and so tired before the end of each work day. By the time I get home, I just stare at the tv, unable to concentrate on anything. So I am scatterbrained and my thoughts are a jumble and when I get this way, I crave quiet and personal space. This becomes difficult when you work in a cubicle environment and your coworkers like to joke around and make lots of noise. I had a little loss of temper last week and made one of my coworkers all mad. But you know what, it's been blessedly quiet at work now and I've been more productive for it. She'll get over it. I really need to figure out a way to work from home to have the peace and quiet I crave. I miss having my own office but don't miss managing. The scatterbrain and difficulty focusing is so frustrating...not to mention the feeling of being pulled in so many directions.

Since I've been so tired, I haven't started my gym routine yet this year. I need to...and start getting to those yoga classes. I think I'll feel better once I get my breathing and stretching in weekly not to mention it's a very good workout.

Stitching has been slow as usual. Snow Garden has been giving me fits and I had to throw it in the corner for a week. My Parchment is too tan, the Woodsmoke, Chamomile, Cidermill Brown are all too light, Portabella not as variegated and I'm not sure if I'm really happy subbing Lexington Green in my border. A dear friend sent me some super dark, variegated Woodsmoke. Another stitcher is sending me some Chamomile to see if it's dark enough for my liking. I stopped by the close-to-me LNS and picked up new Cidermill Brown and Parchment that has a faint green hue to it. My Snow Garden is now a collaborative effort in stitcherland! I'm stitching AoTH as a SAL with Sally...I wonder how she's managing. I'll be happy to be done with this block because it's truly one of my least favorite ones and the drab coloring, whereas suitable, for January...is not very happy. This is where It stands for now. Please ignore the wrinkles...didn't feel like getting the iron out.

When Snow Garden was in a timeout in the corner, I stitched on Mary Wigham. I finished Part 2! Yay!! And technically started Part 3. The motifs I recently stitched are the squirrel motif and the rosebud motif with the initials and tiny bits in between. I am so happy to be moving forward with Mary. I wonder if I can stitch one page/part per month. The motifs always take longer than I think they will so not sure how realistic I am being.

When I can't stitch, I surf the internet, read blogs and try to be inspired. You've all been keeping me busy and I've struggled to keep up with my Reader what with all the Crazy January Challengers out there. Lots of wonderful projects! I was surfing Chatelaine (like an idiot) the other day. There are very few Chats I can picture myself stitching. There is always an element that prevents a design from winning me over. I only have one in my stash (Taj Mahal) that I haven't even fully kitted (thank goodness because who knows when I will get to it). So in my surfing, I saw Evening in the Park and I fell in love. It must be my whole enthrallment with snow at the moment and disappointment that I can't have a snow day. I know all you folks in the Eastern belt think I'm nuts but having a snow day seems like a fun thing. Evening in the Park features swans, bare trees and snow. So I've been daydreaming about swans and snow and blue/grey/silvery fabric for days! I don't have time to stitch a Chat! What am I thinking?! Not to mention the expense. I feel my resolve faltering though. But it would be a nice addition to the "artwork" in the apartment and is more my style. Lots to think about.

So...it's just been busy. Trying to get out more to meet new people. The recliner was fixed...yay! I am on a kick to go and see the oscar nominated movies before the Oscars so I went to see The Kings Speech yesterday. It was wonderful! Very well done and Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush did a wonderful job in their acting roles. It had funny moments, heartwrenching moments and happy moments. Oh and in my search for the link, I see Colin Firth just won a Golden Globe for Best Actor! Seriously, go see it! I am trying to decide whether I go see The Fighter or Country Strong (not nominated) today.

Well, this has gotten long enough. Hopefully, the next time I post, I'll be done with Snow Garden and working on my January ornie.

Until next time...

ABC's of Me

2011-01-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Nicole posted this on her blog and it looks like fun so I thought I'd play along.

ABC's of me...

A - Age: 35
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: All!
D - Dog's name: don't have any...but one day a boxer puppy will come home with me.
E - Essential start of the day item: the alarm! I'd still be asleep without it.
F - Favorite color: Red
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 5'8"
I - Instruments you play: None. I can sing pretty good though.
J - Job: Administrator
K - Kids: No way!
L - Living arrangements: Solo
M - Music you love: Just about everything but R&B, HipHop or Rap.
N - Nicknames: Val...which I don't like.
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: Surgery at 1 month (pyloric stenosis). I'm fragile...be nice! :)
P - Pet Peeve: Not doing what a person says they will do.
Q - Quote from a movie: "Anything less than mad passionate extraordinary love is a complete waste of time." ~ Dream for an Insomiac
R - Right handed or left: Right
S - Siblings: Two, 1 brother and 1 sister
T - Time you wake up: 6:15 is when the alarm goes off ~ when I get out of the bed can be another matter entirely! The snooze button gets a workout.
U - Underwear: clean
V - Vegetable you dislike: Kale and Chard...what is that stuff?!
W - Workout Style: The stairs to/from my apartment? Ummm, uh...next question?
X - X-rays you've had: dental, ankle...nothing major.
Y - Yummy food you make: Baking...yes! Cooking...nooooo.
Z - The best place to visit: For you? San Francisco, of course! For me? Seattle, Chicago, New York.

...and now you know my ABC's, won't you play along with me? If you do, leave me a comment so I can come and learn a little bit more about you too :)

Until next time...

Calgon...

2011-01-06T20:54:00.001-08:00

Take me away! Seriously...

Brain-dead and so tired! Too tired to even look at a needle...let alone hold it. The one week of furlough means that you work doubly as hard when you get back to work. The days have flown by and I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already. Stitching has been slow but at least I try to put in a length per evening. Tuesday and today are the exceptions so far.

I've been doing lots of thinking about this year. What I hope to achieve and what I hope it brings. The bottom line is simple. I just want it to bring happiness. That's a long term goal.

So what will make me happy right now? Followers. There...I said it. I was quietly waiting and waiting for my followers to hit 100 and look ------------>

I am so close! I have 96 followers. Can I just have 4 more?

Because, you know what happens at 100 followers right? A fun surprise. The G word. I don't like saying the g-word though...probably because I'm weird but you all know what I'm getting at.

Not to mention it's the Year of the Rabbit and we have to ring it in with style...and bunnies. Lots and lots of bunnies. Hope you all like bunnies....

But that's only going to happen if I hit the big 1-0-0! Uh, not years (at least not yet)...I'm talking about followers here.

I guess I'll see what happens.

I'm off to rest my head. Why's it feel so heavy?! *sigh*

Until next time...

The Snow in Snowless SF

2011-01-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

Hey there ladies and gents...Happy New Year! Four days in and you wouldn't believe how busy it is. End of year, beginning of year, payroll corrections, FLSAing, Workers' Comp, all day meetings, new years' resolutions, social calendaring. It is busy! Did I just have a week off because it certainly doesn't feel like it. Mind you, I played tourist for most of my week off and whereas, I had a lot of fun and I hope my sister and her family did too, it's tiring! New Year's weekend, I spent mainly planted in the recliner flitting from this program and that program and wasting way too much time on the computer. So even though I had huge stitching plans...the stitching didn't really materialize. It did...just not to the proportions or progress that I had hoped.

Mary Wigham is put away for a couple of weeks and I am still working on that squirrel motif. Lots of starts and stops with leaves to stitch and color changes. I'm hoping to finish part 2 and move onto part 3 by the end of the month.

My New Year's Day start was on BBD Snow Garden. Here are the supplies
Um, ignore the creases. I don't think to iron until *after* I take a photo. I'll be stitching the entire series on 40 count R&R Olde Town Blend with the recommended fibers.

Progress has been slow due to my flitting about. Why am I so restless and distracted?! Anywho, here's my start...with lots of little snowflakes.
I am trying to follow the model photo more than the pattern. I liked that in the photo, the border vine looked like I very light green-blue color and so I replaced the Parchment with Lexington Green in that area. We'll see what else happens...maybe it will stay, maybe not.

Today is also the new moon so you all know what that means...TUSAL time. Daffycat took up the reins on the TUSAL for this year so we can all continue the fun! Thanks Sharon! Here is my jar up to last night.
But it's a new year so that means I am going to start from scratch. Need to get rid of all of last year's bad mojo anyway.
Now here is my jar without one single ort in it because there's no stitching going on tonight. I bagged last year's orts and will try to figure out if I just toss them, spread them out for nests or get a glass ornie. Do I really want to keep bad mojo orts though?! I dunno...

Well folks, I have an all day meeting to cover tomorrow. This girl needs her beauty sleep so that she's not a crabby crab tomorrow. Stitching must wait til tomorrow.

Hope you all have had a good start to the new year.

Until next time...

Goals for a New Year

2010-12-31T17:15:00.000-08:00

I am so happy to see 2010 end. In 6 hours and 45 minutes, it will be 2011. And in reading Berit's blog yesterday, I realized it is the Year of the Rabbit. Yes! As a rabbit, it just has to be a good year, right? I'm just going to keep thinking that. Not to mention it's a prime year...

Ok, let's have a little recap, shall we?
2010 Personal Goals
~Be more positive and happy. This is my number 1 goal. The rest will be icing on the cake. - Um, no...another terrible year.
~Lose those 10 pounds and exercise regularly. - Lost 5 pounds mainly by cutting out pasta and less breads.
~Save money towards big purchases - Bought the recliner and saved...yay!

2010 Stitching Goals

~Stitch from stash...I can do it...I know I can! - Um, no. I bought more than any other year!
~Continue to limit exchanges (2-4) - Completed 2 exchanges
~BAPS for me: Mary Wigham, Fairy Moon and L*K Boo Club - Mary Wigham = WIP, Fairy Moon = not started, L*K Boo Club = completed.
~Gifts: Newton, Bless This House, Letter C - Newton = UFO, Bless This House = Completed, Letter C = Completed.
~Stitch 12 Christmas ornaments - Ha!

2011 Personal Goals

~Be more positive and happy.
~Lose 10 pounds and exercise regularly.
~Continue to save money
2011 Stitching Goals

~Finish Mary Wigham
~Finish BBD Where My Heart Blooms
~Stitch one design per month on the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart Series
~Start two Mirabilias
~Stitch 12 Christmas Ornaments
~L*K Christmas Rules

2010 allowed me 18 finishes...9 less than last year. I didn't like that very much. I had hoped to have a productive year that allowed more *me* finishes. So that's my focus in 2011. Me. Stitching for me. Becoming a happier me. Doing things that make me healthier and more positive. I know it will be difficult as I have much negative around me but I have to take the steps away from that to really allow myself to shine. I've felt lost for a while now...floundering...always trying to make those around me happy while sacrificing my own time and happiness. No more!

Goodbye 2010...and good riddance! And ecstatic greetings to a brand spanking and shiny New Year. Hello 2011!

Hey, froggie...pass the champagne but stay away from my stitching!

Thanks to everyone for sticking with me through my roller coaster happenings over the last couple of years. I wish you all the very best in 2011. Happy New Year!

Two More Days...

2010-12-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

Until the New Year! Do you all have any special plans? I just plan on staying home in my pajamas all day, having a movie marathon and stitching as much as I can on Mary before going into a rotation with projects. Or shall I say *try* to go into a rotation with projects.

Stitching this week has been slow. With family in town, I've been playing tourist and coming home late and tired. It definitely hasn't been the lazy, stitchy week I imagined so far! Oh well, that's ok.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I've never been very good with holidays. It's the most difficult time of the year for me. I am just eager for the year to be over so I can feel like I have a clean slate. Once that happens, I should perk up some.

Before Christmas, I received a lovely package from Lisa. I'm a little late in posting my thanks here. She sent me this beautifully stitched ornie by La D Da found in the 2010 JCS Ornie Issue in a fun green with a beaded tassel. I love it!
She also included a journal and some tissues. Thanks so much Lisa! =)

Speaking of fun mail, I recently won one of the giveaways Blackbird Designs was hosting.
And received four great little packs of fabric. These will come in handy for pinkeeps, ornies, etc. They are small cuts so it would be my first plunge into piecing when I use them.

Now for stitching...as I said, stitching has been slow. I decided to take Mary off the scroll frame since I was tension issues with the fabric. My scroll bars are a little short for the fabric. And with family in town, I wanted to have my project portable so I can stitch at my parents. But there really hasn't been any time to stitch. What I have stitched has been in hand and I am starting to think I stitch faster this way even though I am a stabber and not a sewer. I haven't made that jump yet.

Here's my update on Mary...photo is clickable.
Since the last update, I've stitched the smaller pink-red motif, the large blue motif, the smaller yellow one with the yellow blob that I am still trying to identify, the quarter white motif and the initials. I am almost done with part 2. Just need to stitch up the squirrel in tree motif and I can move onto part 3.

NYE will be Mary stitching and on NYD, I hope to start on Snow Garden of the Anniversaries of the Heart series. Will have to try my hand at a weekly rotation. There is no way I can do a day of the week rotation as many evenings, I just can't get to it with work and gym and errands. So I am thinking first week, AoTH, second week, Christmas stitching, third week, Mary Wigham and fourth week, Where My Heart Blooms. When I finish one project, I can insert a new project into the rotation. I'm not very good with rotations but I will see how this works.

Are any of you starting a new project on New Years' Day? I think this is the first year I am actually committing to it!

I'm not sure if this will be my last post of 2010...but just in case...I wish you all a happy, safe and joyful new year!

Until next time...

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T18:37:00.001-08:00

I've tried to stop by and wish everyone a personalized Merry Christmas on their blogs but I know I missed many and am behind on emails. So please accept my sincere wish that you and yours have a wonderful Holiday. May your day be merry and bright!

Until next time...

FogCity Dweller

IHSW, TUSAL and a Winner!

I'm Pleased To Meet You

Busy Weekend and a Surprise

Owwww!

Busy, Busy!

And We Say Hello to Another Year!

Quick Fly By

Last TUSAL of 2011

A Special Christmas Message

IHSW Update

Bringing Home the Tree

Fun-Filled Saturday!

TUSAL and Hallow Eden

Randomness & IHSW

I'm Back!

A Finish, a Start and Fun Mail

I Thee Covet...

Urban Hike - Coit Tower (lots of photos)

Randomness and TUSAL

Randomess!

IHSW October Weekend Update

And the Masses Said...

Help Me Pick Quick!

The Birthday Getaway...(photos galore)

Come Dance With Me

They Say It's My Birthday!

IHSW Update!

Dating and Stitching

The Dating Game

No Pouting!

August TUSAL

IHSW Update

Weekend Recap and More!

Lots and Lots of Stitching Stuff!

Randomness

Super Exhausted

Randomness

Ow?

This and That; Here and There

Restless

Love After Love

Don't You Hate It...

You Will Be Single Forever...

Where Does Your Heart Bloom?

Unblock My Chi Please...

Randomness #...I Lost Count (Edited)

Randomness, WMHB & TUSAL

Bummed Out

Randomness Con't...

Randomness

Scattershot

A Little Catch Up

*Meh*

Coming to You...

Goodbye March...

Bit of a Break

Finishes and More Finishes

Let Your Life Speak

Finishing ADD

Building is Complete!

Building Houses & Surprises

Ups and Downs

Happy Bunny Year!

Out of Sorts

Did Someone Say Bunny?

What Day Is It?

The Snow Has Been Conquered!

Rambles and Jumbles

ABC's of Me

Calgon...

The Snow in Snowless SF

Goals for a New Year

Two More Days...

Merry Christmas

Meh