Wonderful Mail Surprise!

Today I came home from a very hectic day at work to find a wonderful surprise in my mailbox. At first, I was trying to remember what I had ordered until I saw the return address and realized what it was. It was my pinkeep exchange from Carol S.! I absolutely love everything! Thank you so much Carol! She stitched Remember Me from Praiseworthy Stitches and I absolutely love that flower. Very cheerful and very appropriate for Spring. She did a great job picking out something I like not to mention extra goodies! She included a lovely piece of light blue linen, a fat quarter of red gingham fabric, a couple skeins of red floss (she picked up on me liking red...as you can tell by the pillow in the background of my picture), needles and some yummy lotion.
Carol is a wonderful stitcher and finisher. I hope to be as good as her one day. I kept examining how she finished the pinkeep so that I could get ideas for constructing the one I need to make for my exchange partner. Here is a close up of the front of the pinkeep. I love the colors in this piece!

And here is a snap of the back. More red fabby! I love red and I will find a special spot in my bookcase to display it!

It was a wonderful mail day indeed! Since I am already on the topic of pinkeeps and exchanges, I spent most of the evening trying to construct my pinkeep. I am 90% done. It seems to take me forever to do these things but this is only my first pinkeep so I am being very slow and careful to not screw things up. Not to mention I forgot there was sewing to do. Why did I think I didn't need to sew for this project?! At least I didn't prick myself this time! The only thing left for me to do is the embellishment. I had ribbon and I didn't really like how it looked and I have trim but it is the wrong color so I will have to shoot to Joann's tomorrow to get the right color trim so I can finish this and send it off to my exchange partner. And I was so hoping to be done and get this off to the post tomorrow. At least I will make it in the post a couple of days before the deadline so that's good.

Quick Weekend Post

It's late and I should be getting nice and cozy with my down comforter right now so I can catch up on my ZZzzzZZZzzz's and be refreshed in the morning but fact of the matter is that I'm usually a zombie first thing in the morning and coffee will be a necessity in the a.m.

I had a nice weekend which was all over the place. I did have two dates with the "new" new guy and I have to say, I am having a terrific time! Time completely flies and it just leaves me floored! Friday we headed into the city for a tapas dinner in the Mission. We started the night off with some crummy sangria. Sadly disappointing as I love me some sangria and I can make a pretty mean batch. Dinner was fairly good with the exception of the shrimp which was marinated in a good head of garlic. Gah! But as I keep saying, we can be left to our own devices and get along ok. After dinner, we walked in search of a lowkey bar to hang out in and continue our conversation. We found a Greek wine bar and managed to while away a couple more hours despite the weirdness of a Greek wine bar. They pretty much kicked us out as we didn't want to drink anymore and we headed to the car. I was shocked to find that it was already past midnight! We had managed to fill 5 hours with laughter, conversation, joking, wine and food. I had a great time and the company was steller. I had mentioned to him that I wanted to go to the Stanford to catch the last day of the Hitchcock Festival and he said that he would like to come along hence two dates in one weekend. Since he wanted to come along, I wasn't about to drag him to the double feature as that's a long time to sit in a theater. He picked The Birds and so he picked me up today and we headed to Palo Alto. We both needed a pick-me-up and we headed to a cozy coffee shop and sat outside to chat and catch up on the week. We headed over to the movie and let me tell you, those birds in the movie are scary! It was my first time watching The Birds...I don't know if I can look at birds the same way again! After the movie we enjoyed the brief organ music and then headed out in the cold to try and find a place we could tuck into and chat somemore. We accomplished that and whiled the hours away. NNG (new new guy) dropped me off back at home 7.5 hours later. Yep, it was a long date that didn't seem to last longer than the lenth of the movie! Me and NNG have a ton in common. Bay area upbringing, catholic schooling, immigrant parents, spanish, snarky, sarcastic humor, entertaining mannerisms and local residences. But we aren't so alike that it's boring. My mannerisms crack him up and his crack me up. We are both entertainers. I'm not sure if people understand what I mean by that. Usually, I'm the entertainer on dates, the one that talks the most...trying to get that other person to get out of their shell. I have no shell...not really...I go into dating with a "what you see, is what you get, take me as I am" type of an attitude because I know I will not change and I don't expect anyone to change for me either. I've dated so much that dates don't really faze me until real, true feelings start to mix in. I am the one who entertains...chatty, asks loads of questions, I have funny stories and I'm a good entertainer...but I am pretty tired of playing that role. This is a guy where the entertaining is 50-50 and I enjoy that. We click, we communicate amazingly well and we have fun. I am completely looking forward to seeing him again.

I did go to NiaH on Saturday to pick up the Bent Creek Love You Mom chart. I was hoping to grab the stuff and run but Mary noticed that the colors called for in the chart weren't really true to the picture image and I ended up spending 1.5 hours trying to pick out just the right browns for the project. I'm not even sure I'm really happy with my choices but I wasn't very awake at the shop because of my late night the day prior. I'll have to ransack my stash to see if I can find something better. I didn't really get stash...just the chart, fabric and three threads for the project plus one goodie for my exchange partner and some flossaway bags in the hopes to get organized so no good stash pics this time around. The rest of the day was spent running errands, tidying up and attempting to get through Lesson 1 of my work-related class. I managed to get through it all with just one missed question and minimal frustration.

It was a busy, hectic weekend which was enjoyable but did not provide any time for stitching or finishing. I am behind and must work on finishing my exchange project tomorrow as it needs to be posted by Friday. Oh and it has such a long way to go! I had hoped to have this all done last week. How did I get so behind?!

Stepping into the Whirlwind

I'm hesitantly taking that big step into the whirlwind of what will be the next two weeks. Work is CRAZY busy and I am starting to feel myself becoming a tense stress case because people expect me to do all my normally time-consuming things, plus extra projects plus meet big deadlines. The people who have to help me meet the big deadlines are big procrastinators! So a lot of my responses for help have been met with, "um, pretty busy, maybe I can look at that in a couple of weeks". It amazes me that I work with a bunch of people that want things now....like RIGHT NOW...this very minute!!...but when I need something...it can take forever! My big deadline is April 4th so I will be ecstatic when that date is past. I am hoping that my stitching time will not be affected by the stress but sometimes when I am stressed out, I can't concentrate on patterns and just need the time to stare blankly at the tv and decompress.

The week so far has been filled with the normal day-to-day things like cleaning up after myself, cooking and yoga. Tonight is another Symphony night. Normally, my symphony dates are not so close together. That should be nice...it's Mozart this time. The rest of the week will be more yoga and possibly a date.

Oh, I forgot to mention that part of the reason I am stressed...besides the big deadline...is that my work-related class started yesterday. The instructor wants us to read one chapter per week, watch powerpoint presentations and do homework and participate in online discussions. All this needs to be completed by the Sunday of each week. It doesn't sound like a lot but it is when you haven't had to do anything academic in years! I haven't even cracked open the book! So this will be interesting.

So yesterday, I got to thinking about how I've stitched for many people but I haven't really stitched for my mom. She's the one who taught me to cross stitch and I think she has a lot of my earlier stuff when I was trying things out and not really what I considered good. But like a good mom, she keeps everything...serious packrat here. My mom and I always butted heads for as long as I remember...but the last year or two, she has mellowed out and I think that despite our different opinions and ways of life, we've accepted that we're different and don't really have the time or energy to be shoving it in each others face anymore. So now she's the mellow one and my dad has become the needy one. They've switched places somehow. Now if only both of them would get hearing aids, I'd be happy. But anyways, mom is acting cooler and I think it's time I make her something so I thought this would make a nice Mother's Day present.I liked it because over the years I have called her all these names except mum or mere. They should have ma because that's usually what I scream through the house when I'm trying to find her (def. needs a hearing aid). I have 1.5 months to stitch it and finish it. I'm not sure if I should frame it or make it into a pillow. My mom has so much crap I don't know where she'll put it but we'll find a place!
So with this sudden vision of enlightenment, I emailed NiaH and asked them if they had the chart and they do! Yay! So I am off to Alameda this weekend to kit the project and start it right away. Looks like poor Fairy Moon is going to the back burner for a while longer. I also need to finish (already stitched) two exchange projects...one a flat-fold and the other a pinkeep...neither which I have ever done before so I am a little nervous. I also need to read a chapter and do schoolwork...yuk! And I most definitely need to go to the Stanford Theatre to catch the very last day of their Hitchcock Festival. I must...I don't care what gets in my way...I am so there. They will be showing The Birds and Psycho. OMG, those are two of his best movies!

So it looks like along with a busy and hectic week, I will have a busy and hectic weekend too.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope that everyone had a lovely Easter Sunday. Mine was very nice! I managed to drive into the city (yet again...third time this weekend) because I had to go pick up a St. Honore cake at Victoria's Pastry in North Beach for my aunt's birthday. It was her birthday on Friday but today was the first chance I had to stop by considering my hectic Saturday. This cake is my favorite cake ever and my mom loves it as well. I will make the trek into the city especially for this cake...it is that good! I love that Victoria's makes it in a smaller size that is good for 6-8 people. Usually, the cakes are garmongous and we are left eating cake for the entire week (which doesn't help my lose 10 pounds in '08 quest). With 5 people, only one generous slice was left as everyone wanted extras. Good thing I left that slice at my parents since I probably would have eaten that as well by now. North Beach was beautiful today. I drove in, found street parking right away (the Gods are truly with me today!), picked up the cake and went to my coffee version of Cheers...Caffe Greco. The guys who work here know me on sight and they are a funny bunch. They make my coffee just how I like and it's a primo spot to people watch all day if I want. I didn't have the time to people watch though. I read a bit while I drank my coffee and then it was time to head to my parents. I tried stopping off at Joann's and Beverleys to get fabric and goodies for my exchange but both places were closed! Looks like I will have to push the deadline. The Joann's near me is not that great and I really wanted to go to the one near my parents since it seems nicer and better organized. I don't know when I can get there now. Easter at my parents was nice and low key. We chatted, I arranged a ton of flowers, ate homemade chicken soup and ate really yummy cake. After that, I headed home to work on my exchange piece and relax. I chatted a bit with the new guy and I'll be seeing him at the end of the week. So overall it was a good day and a nice Easter. Above is a picture of daffodils that I bought at Trader Joes (so cheap!). Daffodils always remind me of the beginning of Spring and their bright yellow color makes me smile and feel cheerful. I thought I would share them with you as they sit on top of my tv so they are in my constant line of sight as I'm a tv junkie. Happy Easter!

A Beautiful Day

A couple of days ago, I asked Claire if she would check out a new place for brunch on Saturday. We always go to the same place and I just wanted to mix things up and I had gotten a Yelp email about comfort food places and it mentioned Slow Club. I like comfort food and I have heard good things about the restaurant in the past. Claire is a big walker so I have to trade going to brunch with taking a walk. Ok, I can do this but I should say that taking a walk with Claire is more like taking a three mile hike up and down hills or stairways within San Francisco so it really is a workout and I get very whiny which luckily, she can tune out. So we picked a walk in Potrero Hill and I know that Hill is part of the name but I never realized how hilly it actually is! I got a major glutes workout! At one point during the walk, we hiked up a moderately steep hill and this was the view I saw from downtown. Not the nicest view considering the freeway and new construction but it is a view that people don't usually see in postcards, etc.
We walked through a park called McKinley park which is dog-friendly so we made nice with the dogs. And as a native, I learned something new. Right off the park is the city's second most crookedest street. Everyone has head of Lombard Street but there is a section of Vermont Street that is as crooked if not more. The turns are 90 degree with about 4-5 curves in the street. It is not as scenic as Lombard but it was interesting all the same. We finally got back to the car after climbing the biggest hill ever and we made our way to Slow Club.

Slow Club was pretty cool. I wasn't fond of the interior...lots of silver, chrome and cement which made it seem too industrial. Potrero Hill is fairly industrial though. The food was good. I had the fried egg sandwich which was very yummy...and messy. Claire had the turkey sausage hash which wasn't like any hash I've ever seen but very tasty as well. I think next time, I'd like to sit outside if it was a nice day and there was a table free.

The rest of the day was busy. I had dinner and Symphony plans with another friend and we headed to Absinthe for a pre-dinner cocktail. Despite my curiousity about Absinthe, I couldn't bring myself to try an Absinthe cocktail. I opted for my usual sidecar and they make them perfectly here at Absinthe. It's a fun bar that has that whole feel of the "Belle Epoque" French period. I think next time, I'll have to ask the bartender to help me choose an Absinthe cocktail to say that I've tried it. We headed to dinner and to the Symphony. It was a great performance of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite that was conducted by an up and coming conductor from Venezuela who is only 27 years old. All I can say is Wow!

Saturday was a perfect city day!

Can't I Just Date in Peace?!

Before I go into it all, I know that the person I'm referring to in the story had good intentions but I really, REALLY wish I was more anonymous within the radial area that I hang out in.

On Wednesday, I had a date. It was a new guy, not the old "new guy". I was looking forward to the date and wasn't really nervous, things seemed on track and we had loads in common already. We'd proven to be very chatty in emails and on the phone, energy was good so it was time to meet. We picked a place and a time, we were both on time and jumped right into it fast. And frankly, it wasn't the typical first date conversation...at least not straight off the bat. The new guy has lived abroad for nine years and 5 of those years was in the country my entire family is from. We had plenty to talk about regarding that. Different towns, weekend destinations, the freaky encounters with bats, taratulas, cockroaches, monkeys...oh and mosquitos. And frankly, the mosquitos are the worst of the lot. It's a beautiful country but that's what you get when you go to a tropical destination that has heavy vegetation. We probably talked a good hour just about that commonality! And the new guy has more latin mannerisms than I do and I'm the latin one...go figure! About an hour or so into the date, I feel an arm on my back and hear a "Hey Valerie". I was right in the middle of talking about something and that arm really distracted me. I turn around and see that it's one of my co-workers! Geez! Last thing I want to do when I'm on a date is run into someone I know...let alone a co-worker. They are chatty guys and rival old ladies in the gossip department. This particular co-worker is also on Match and I was hoping to God that he would say something stupid like ask me "Oh hey, are you on a Match date" because for once, this was NOT a Match date and don't really feel like divulging that bit of information to the new guy. I did the introductions between the new guy and the co-worker and the co-worker moved on. Whew!

After that encounter, I was so distracted. Lots of thoughts were racing through my head. Is he here on a date? Has he been here the whole time? Where is he even sitting? How come I didn't see him? But to be honest, I have tunnel vision on dates and when I'm out with friends. I completely focus on who I'm with and the conversation at hand assuming I'm having a good time. If I'm having a crap time, I'm all about people watching to get through the experience.

I managed to get back into the flow and we're chatting, laughing and joking and we finally get the bartender to come around to refill our water glasses but the real reason he headed in our direction was because the co-worker wanted to buy us a round. Gah! Dude, I'm on a date...stop bugging me! I've already had 2 glasses of wine and so had the new guy so we passed on the offer. We kept talking and then it was time to visit the loo. I passed by the co-worker and gave him a tap as I walked by and on the way back, he stopped me. He's all chatty and introducing me to the girl he was with...couldn't tell if it was a date or a female friend. He makes some comment about how people can't believe we (he and I) are latin based on how we look. Co-worker looks WAY more latin than I do...he's nuts! I make my excuses and get back to my date. The next thing we know, co-worker is near us again and making comments about how the place is trying to shut down and how it was so unlike me to "close a place down". Frankly, co-worker only knows me at work and work Valerie is very different from free time Valerie and I made a comment as such. But I was completely surprised that we did in fact close the place down...2 glasses of wine, no food and 3.5 hours later. We were so into chatting that neither of us was really very hungry! So I had a good time.

I probably would have felt more relaxed if it hadn't been for my co-worker being there though.

Highlights from the Weekend

My weekend was fairly productive and unassuming. I didn't have any major plans other than chores and was actually pretty focused on getting them done...for a change. I would make the worst wife. I detest cleaning...dishes, vacumming, dusting, laundry, organizing. I dislike all those things yet, I like a clean house. Go figure!

But it was a good weekend. I treated myself to a manicure/pedicure...and already managed to chip a nail. Ack! How does that happen?! I ordered take-out which I am still eating. I only do this once in a while because then I remember why I don't order take-out after eating the same thing for four days. It was yummy chinese food though so I'm not totally complaining but I probably will not be eating chinese again for a while now. I took the car in for it's oil change and headed to my parents for a visit and the opportunity to wash my four garmongous loads of laundry. Yes, I'm 32 and still wash my laundry at the folks. I got some decent stitching time in which is proven by my recent Sweet Dreams post and I managed to get a trip into the city in. I drove in yesterday to visit with my friend Kevin who I only get to see on Sundays, once in a while, because we have completely opposite schedules. We went to eat at the Bell Tower in Russian Hill where I had a huge, yummy bacon cheeseburger with fries and Newcastle beer. The waitress made some comment about how I was eating a "guy's meal". Yep, that's right. Every once in a while, a girl will gorge herself and eat a huge burger with beer and we're okay with it. We don't have to eat salad all the time! She was probably all freaked out that I'd eat like that in front of a guy but I have no shame. After lunch we headed to the theater to see The Bank Job. It was a beautiful day so we walked from Russian Hill to the AMC and managed to get in before the movie got crowded. It was a great movie with good actors although the only one I really recognized was Jason Statham, who I think is a cutie. It had suspense, excitement, sadness and humor. All around, all the things you look for in a good film. I do have to mention that while Kevin was checking out Saffron Burrows on the screen, the lady who chose to sit next to me was driving me berserk. I always get the weird ones when I go to the movies...the talkers, the cringers, the invading my space-ers. I always get to a movie early to scope out my spot and get comfy but people who make me move at the last minute because they are late annoy me. As do the people who check their cellphones repeatedly during the movie and the super bright glare in a super dark theater distracts me. And don't even get me started on people who think it's okay to have a phone conversation during a movie. Those people...get yelled at. Like I said, I have no shame. If I'm going to a movie, I sit down, shut up, turn off my phone and pay attention to the movie. I would hope that others do the same. Uh-oh...looks like I went on a mini-rant there. Anyways, this lady next to me kept putting her large bag in my legroom area and I kept knocking into it. Anyone who knows me in person knows I need my legroom as I'm more legs than anything else! As if having her huge bag in my way wasn't enough, she kept grabbing it and rooting around in it for who knows what and anytime anything potentially violent came up on the screen, I heard "oh god, oh no, I don't think I can watch" commentary and she cringed and covered her eyes. She did this through the previews and throughout the movie! Sorry lady, but if the movie is too violent for you, you should have gone to see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day or Horton Hears a Who. I'm sure those are just as enjoyable but considerably tamer movies for someone so scared of violence. The movie was called The Bank Job...no bank robbery ever goes smoothly in any movie...you know there will be guns involved and people may potentially be hurt. It's the standard "recipe" for that type of movie. Despite the distractions, I was still able to pay attention, follow along and enjoy the movie though.

After the movie, we walked back to Russian Hill to collect the car and I was amazed that for 630pm, the sun was out, the sky was blue and despite the coolness in the air, the evening was perfect. It was such a beautiful day and I was just happy to be out in it. And that was the end of the weekend.

The Infamous Wine Cabinet!

Ah, the infamous wine cabinet...in all it's wino gloriousness! AM has been asking me to write more about the wine cabinet...mainly she wanted to see a picture because she's been eyeing the same cabinet for her abode. I'm hoping that if she decided to purchase it, it is with much less hassle and anxiety than I experienced with mine. But all in all, I love it. It's small and compact which is a good thing for apartment living. It fits my jumbo wine glasses and champagne glasses. And look...even with all my wine, champagne and whiskey, it's still not full! I have four empty slats. I highly object to all those folks joking that I was a wino! Now I got to go buy more wine though...empty slats is no good. Ruins the whole flow...dontcha think? I am very happy that Crate and Barrel stepped up to the plate on customer service and leaving a happy customer behind. Now I can try to plan when I am going to go back to pick up the dinnerware I've been eyeing since last October. I guess I better get to packing up and donating my old dinnerware before buying new stuff though. It would make the transition much, much easier. If anyone has good wine recommendations to help fill my four slats, let me know. I like to be in the know.

Santa Baby...

I spent a good amount of time working on Sweet Dreams the last couple of days. In fact, I can't seem to put it down even though there are loads of other things I should be doing. I think I just have to admit that I am a one project type of girl. Although I need to try and change it up. The last week had been productive in the stitching department. I've finished all the stitching in Santa and am about half way through his goodie bag...just three presents and the drums with drumsticks and I can move up the side to the top border. I am hoping that once I reach that halfway mark, I can bear to tear myself away enough to make a decent start in Fairy Moon. For all my talking about how I was so eager to start her, I haven't even made one single stitch. This project has me pretty engaged and distracted enough as it is. I think part of my hangup is the dark fabric. It's beautiful fabric but my eyesight isn't what it used to be (ok, let's just admit here that my eyesight was never what it could have been considering I've been wearing glasses for the past 22 years!). Since most of my stitching is done at night and my eyes are tired from staring at a computer all day, the lighter fabrics seem more appealing at the end of the long day. I just haven't had any daylight time to attempt the start of Fairy Moon...soon though...very, very soon.
Say hi to Santa! Hope you've been good so far this year. You don't want to make the naughty list! I'll have to put Santa aside this week. I really need to work on my exchange piece as it has quite a distance to travel. I already know that I will have to devote part of next weekend to goodie and notions purchasing, construction and mailing. Should be interesting as this will be another "first".

Floss Stash!

Finally! After one month of waiting, I received the floss I ordered from Stitching Bits and Bobs. Even though, I anticipated a wait, I still didn't think it would take over 4 weeks to get my 28 skeins of floss. Most of this is for Quaker Christmas which now means that this project is fully kitted! Woohoo! The other floss was for my exchange piece but since Bobbie was taking forever to get this to me, I had to do an emergency purchase at NiaH as I didn't want to be further delayed. I called NiaH on a Tuesday and received them in the mail on Saturday of the same week. Why do I stray from them!?! I know why...that beautiful 4-letter word...SALE. Stitching Bits and Bobs always is having a sale and I like to save money. Crescent Colors and GAST does NOT come cheap! But I am wary of purchasing from them in the future. I had emailed saying that I was worried it was taking so long and if she could at least send me the GAST ahead of schedule so I could start the exchange project and she told me she would receive shipment in a couple of days however it wasn't until another week and a half that I received the email saying my shipment had been posted. I also had put in an order in the beginning of December and that order took six weeks to be posted yet they charged my credit card at time of order instead of time of shipment. I don't really like it when people have my money long before I have my things. If anyone has any leads on a friendly and service oriented online needlework store that has sales, let me know. Otherwise, I should just support my local needlework store which is NiaH. They are a great little shop!

Shades of Grey

Last night was a good one. My wine cabinet saga was over and I was happy to finally see it all brand spanking new and assembled in my dining room. After work, I stopped by Costco to buy a new dvd player and I managed to find the Sony one I was eyeing for $45. Total deal! So I drove home on a positive note, installed the dvd player and was able to finish the rest of Moulin Rouge. Yay! Now I am all ready for my Netflix arrival this afternoon. Can't wait! I can catch up on The Sopranos. I am so curious and hooked on that show despite it's violent pretense.

Most of last night, I worked on Sweet Dreams. I was really hoping to finish all the grey in Santa and his goodie bag but I couldn't. Almost done though and I will probably finish tonight...the grey that is...not Santa. So I finished the tree already and I want to finish Santa and his goodie bag and do the top border and name before I tackle all the backstitching. I figure I'll do half the project, backstitch that, then stitch the bottom half and then backstitch that. I usually backstitch everything at the very end but this is kind of big and there is a lot of different backstitching. The pattern even calls for something called "couching". Does anyone know what that is?! Looks like I will have to do a google search on that one. Sorry the picture is all wrinkly and jacked-looking. The camera wasn't picking up any of the white or grey which is what I've been working on for the past week so I had to shove it in the scanner and the scanner wasn't being very cooperative. If you look really hard, you can kind of see the white/grey shading on Santa's jacket cuff, hair and beard. I think I'll have santa done by this weekend...

Wine Cabinet Solution

So, I got a call from the same Crate and Barrel manager this morning that I talked to on Saturday and the solution is one that I really appreciate. We'll see how the transaction actually happens though. They assembled a wine cabinet for me and will deliver it to my apartment this afternoon and will take the old one with the disassembled parts away. Wonderful! I don't have to inconvenience friends again, borrow someone else's vehicle or haul this up 50 stairs. I'm just hoping that it doesn't get scratched between the store and my apartment. So happy! Now I've got to run home and get things together for when the delivery folks get there.

UPDATED: I went home for lunch today and right when I was leaving to come back to work, the delivery truck came. I wouldn't have even given the truck a second look as it wasn't a huge truck like I expected. Crate and Barrel didn't tell the courier service that I live in a third floor walk-up so it was just the guy and the cabinet. It's pretty hard to get a piece of furniture up all those stairs by yourself so I helped him and we got it upstairs ok. Thank goodness they had the foresight to cover it up and wrap it in plastic! It looks great. I got my landlord roped in to help the guy get the old stuff down as I felt downright bad for him. Yay!! Nice new ASSEMBLED wine cabinet. Of course, now everyone is teasing me about being a wino and needing a cabinet for all my wine but it will be more of a liquor cabinet and a much safer set-up than what I currently have right now. I'm really happy that Crate and Barrel came through on customer service.

And the Wine Cabinet Saga Continues!

OMG...so frustrated! And sadly, when I'm frustrated and/or stressed, I cannot stitch whatsoever. I think that despite it being enjoyable and relaxing on a regular basis, I fear completely screwing something up and that would, of course, frustrate and stress me out even more.

I did have an enjoyable weekend despite the issues of the wine cabinet and other annoying little things. Friday, I watched La Vie en Rose on video which won Marion Coittard the Oscar for Best Actress this year. The movie was superb! I love Edith Piaf's songs and I can have "La Vie en Rose" stuck in my head for days on end. I never realized that she led such a tragically sad life though so that was very eye opening. They also did a good job with makeup as Marion Coittard doesn't really look all that much like Edith and the scenes range from when she is a 20 year old to her death at 47 years of age. It was a fantastic film! Since I had to concentrate on the subtitles, there was no stitching for me that evening.

Saturday was a super day in the city. I drove in for an appointment and some errands, one which included going to Britex, which is the super duper 4-story fabric store downtown but as always, I couldn't find any fabric to fall in love with although there were great notions and trim. I'll have to go back with the projects to pick that part though. Perhaps next weekend. I decided to cancel my evening plans to tackle the problem of the wine cabinet. I drove to Crate and Barrel to switch out what I thought was the defective piece. In my original piece, only three of the four screws would tighten. On the second piece I got, only ONE of the four screws would tighten! What a fricken nightmare!! Of course, I've had it! I went back to the store to talk to a manager and did my spiel about how I don't expect to pay $300 for something that I still need to assemble and it still be crap. This isn't Ikea and as much as I love Crate and Barrel, I'm having second thoughts about the quality in the store. Blah blah...you get the drift. Then the manager suggests that they can give me a discount if I want to jerry-rig the cabinet. Excuse me?!?! So there went another little tangent about how that wasn't acceptable and how inconvenient this was since I had to ask friends to help me plus borrow a truck as I can't do this by myself up to my THIRD floor apartment in my little compact car. So the manager said he'd talk to the STORE manager today and get back to me. Okay, fine...all I want is a solution that will make BOTH of us happy. Happy customer = happy store with more purchases from said customer. The rest of Saturday had me cheering myself up by watching Moulin Rouge. And in the middle of me singing and dancing (yes, I am a dork!) along to the tango scene, my dvd player decided to conk out...literally. Gah!!! Multiple poundings has not fixed the problem! How am I going to watch my movies?! Looks like it's time for me to head out and buy a replacement. I did start my HoE Pinkeep exchange project and continued to work on Santa's hair and beard. Slow boring progress but I'll take a picture tonight to share.

Sunday, I headed to this little spot in the Mission for brunch called Maverick. It was tiny but oh, so yummy! I had the cornmeal pancakes with pork sausage and about 10 cups of coffee. You could have rolled me out of the joint. I was going to get the chorizo and eggs...mmmmmmm....memories from my childhood. But the ones at Maverick came with grits and I don't know about grits. What the heck is that? I had a try from my tablemate and they kind of reminded me of salty cream of wheat in a way. Overall....great experience. Oh, and their cinnamon encrusted donut holes are tha' bomb (as the kiddies say). I could have hoovered the whole plate of them! The rest of the day was boring stuff like errands and then I visited the folks. My brother stopped by with his little chihuahua, Mondo, who is a total trip. It's like he thinks he's a bunny. He goes around doing this little hoppy-run all over the house. I never considered myself a small dog type considering I am waiting for the day I can get a place with a yard so I can adopt a boxer but Mondo is a lot of fun. I pick him up and he calms down and then I put him down and he does the hop-run all over the place again. Strange little dog.

So not much stitching but I'll report later with my progress on Sweet Dreams.

Nesting

I've been in a nesting phase since the beginning of the year and I have to say that it's been nice. Slow...but nice. I managed to clean out a couple of closets and have three trash bags filled with junk ready for Goodwill. I need to still box up my old dishware and flatware and donate those too. And I still have a lot of work left to do...but I see progress and that makes me happy.

The last two or three weeks, I've been in a decorating phase. I got a new bookcase that matches my big bookcase and I'll probably spend some time this weekend actually organizing my books and some knick knacks on the bookcase so it looks nice and homey instead of all barren and desolate like it looks now.

Monday night, Claire came over and helped me with my new wine cabinet and futon cover. First the good...the futon cover is really nice! It's very simple and it's a light tan with gold threads weaved into a type of tweed fabric. I liked that it was darker that my current ivory one and that there was some sort of texture. Plus, my red pillows still go with it and it matches with the rug and the furniture in my living room. I only had to go to four futon shops to find it!! Once I did find it, I found out that it came with matching tan pillows that were nice but I really like my red ones and I pondered skipping it all together but the cover was the one I liked the most. I figure that when I get tired of the red pillows, I have an alternate look with these tan ones the cover came with.

Now the bad...the wine cabinet. It's a very nice wine cabinet and I'd be ecstatic with it if there wasn't some sort of defect in the one I received! I bought it at Crate and Barrel and for $300 and something that they are forcing me to put together, I would hope that they would at least inspect things before they box them out and send them off to the stores. So on Monday, we picked up the cabinet from the loading dock at the store, drove to the apartment and dragged all the pieces up to my 3rd floor walk-up apartment. That's right...three floors...no elevator...50 steps. Living on the third floor doesn't bother me at all...only when I got to get furniture up there. So we're upstairs with everything...my arms are screaming and that reminds me I should work out more and do weights but whatever. Claire and I get to putting the sucker together. We do the sides, then the shelves, than the back, then the bottom and attach the legs. We are almost done. Only the top, tray and drawer left to go. We get the top situated and Claire is screwing the blots in and then she says there's a problem. The very last bolt to go in won't. She tries...I try. The sucker is not going in. So we take the top off and measure and that side is .25 inches off from all the others. Great. So close and yet so far. I called Crate and Barrell and told them that I was having a problem with the assembly and that I believed their was a defect on the top (it can actually be the side so I have to research my theory a little bit more). The guy on the phone was very nice and amiable and at that point...I was more tired than annoyed. Apparently, I bought the last wine cabinet in that model and they are waiting for a new shipment. When the new shipment comes in, I will have to swap out pieces. It was a relief that they wouldn't expect me to take the whole thing back. It took me two weeks to arrange with Claire a day that would work for both of us. It would probably take me another two weeks to figure out when we could schedule a full cabinet swap. But just one piece, I can handle that easily. So hopefully, I can get this all done and figured out by the end of the weekend.

Because of the wine cabinet debaucle, I now have wooden wine cabinet pieces and box remnants all over my apartment. It looks like I went two steps back in the organization front instead of one step forward. But once the wine cabinet snafu gets taken care of, things will be loads better.

Maybe over the weekend I'll take pictures of the new "improvements" in the apartment. The bookcase and wine cabinet are dark wood so it won't show up well in evening pictures. I'll try to devote some daylight time to take some pictures of that and my progress on Sweet Dreams then. The tree is now all stitched on that. Yay!!

Prime Rib, Date #4 and The Sopranos

Weekend Recap...gosh, the weekend seemed like a Whirlwind!

Friday was nice. I got off work a little early and headed into the city to pick up my new futon cover. I still need to put it on the futon though but that will happen tonight. After that errand, I headed to meet some friends for a much awaited dinner at House of Prime Rib. Mmmmm, yummy! I'm not much of a meat eater but when I do, I do it in style! I love this place...rich color tones, old-school vibe and great service. Dinner was fabulous. The only disappointment I had was that they couldn't make a decent sidecar. It was actually pretty bad and I had to send the drink back. I figured for an "old school" establishment, thay'd have the sidecar down pat but they didn't. So I opted for a nice glass of pinot noir instead. And the wine was probably a better compliment to the meal in the end. After dinner, we caught up over coffee. Seeing old friends is always great fun!

Saturday was Date #4 with the new guy and my hesitations and concerns really rang true throughout the date. I haven't had butterflies from the very beginning and butterflies are really important to me. Not to mention I planned EVERY date. I wasn't feeling very comfortable with some things he had shared with me and I feel it best to keep this as the last date. I'm not dating to be the planner and the entertainer for yet another person and frankly, telling a guy where to take me makes me feel like a golddigger girl...which I am not. I tend to get a long better with assertive guys who know what they want. I tend to be the bossy planner in all other realms in my life but when it comes to dating and a potential romantic relationship, I want to feel like I'm the girl...not the assertive bossy planner bossing my guy around. So the new guy goes bu-bye and I'm back to square one. May not be so bad as the next month will be crazy busy at work and as if I didn't already have my hands pretty full, I have a work-related class starting up at the end of the month. I'll be lucky to make any huge progress in any of my bigger projects! After the date, I headed home and had myself another Sopranos mini-marathon. It was quite fun to just sit back and watch the drama unfold as I stitched more on my stocking. I'm almost down with all the stitching in the tree. That tree has seemed to take me forever. Once I truly finish the stitching, I'll share a picture.

The rest of the weekend was spent running errands and visiting with my folks. Pretty tame stuff.

Peanuts on Dating

I'm a HUGE Peanuts fan and becoming quite annoyed with dating (like you guys can't tell!). I came across this photo and just had to share! That Lucy is a tough one! =)

O' Christmas Tree

Ok, like I said, I was able to sit down and stitch last night and made decent progress on the tree in Sweet Dreams. What kills me is that I could have moved onto the ornaments and the gifts in the tree is I 1.) stayed off the computer and 2.) did not get sucked into the trash on tv such as "Moment of Truth" or "Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious. Both shows are, by the way, utter garbage!! I can't believe I actually watched them and admitted it here but hey, we all have faults. I was actually horrified watching Moment of Truth....and I think the host was horrified too. The lengths that people go to for money is amazing! This woman admitted to her parents and husband that she cheated in the marriage, that they had bad conversation skills and that she still had feelings for an ex-boyfriend. The $100,000 questions was asked by her ex-boyfriend and it was "would you leave your husband if I told you I wanted to get back together" and she said YES! Can you believe it? And then she promptly lost ALL the money when she was asked if she thought she was a good person. She answered "yes" and I guess deep down, it's a no. So to go through all that and wreck her marriage and then she promptly lost it all. Amazing. And the Pussycat Dolls show is a complete fiasco with all sorts of teenage catfights. It's nuts! So shame on me...definitely should have gotten farther in Sweet Dreams. This project is feeling like a chore though. I just wish I was farther along in it. That just means I will have to start Fairy Moon and hopefully that will become my "fun" project. Not too much stitching time in store for me this week as yoga and gym will eat up a lot of my evening time. I'll have to sneak it in here and there.

Melancholy Weekend

I was set for my weekend of stitching and watching loads of tv until my mom called me at work on Friday close to quitting time. She called to tell me that a close friend of the family had passed away and funeral services were this weekend. I would, of course, accompany my dad and aunt to services because that's just what I do. As the years pass, memorial services become more difficult to bear. At my ripe old age of 32, I've been to more rosaries, wakes and funerals than I can count and definitely more than anyone I know. I've probably been to as many as one would go to in a lifetime and I'm not really exaggerating all that much. I've been the young girl at the funeral parlor accompanying my parents as babysitters in the evening were out of the question when I was a girl. My parents dragged me everywhere. Through my late teens and 20's, I'd go by myself to represent the family (sounds so mob-like, huh) and pay my respects. I didn't really mind it then. I was able to hold it together and be stoic; offer calming words to those who needed comfort and let them know that their loved one had gone to a better place. But as I enter my 30's, I need time to prepare for these types of events. Eulogies and memories hit my heart and I'll start tearing up. It just isn't as easy for me to be the stoic calming person I guess I expect myself to be...that girl from the past who would get comments from ladies older than myself who would say that I was a calming effect amidst the sorrow. It's just not in me anymore.

So knowing I would have to attend this rosary, I spent most of Friday and Saturday zoning in front of the tv and sleeping. I managed to watch my Sopranos dvd, The Godfather 1 and The Jungle Book along with some miscellaneous tivo'd shows before completely passing out at the extremely late hour of 6pm! So I didn't get very much stitching done. I worked on Sweet Dreams and managed to finish the right side curtain, fill in the rest of the red in Santa's hat and jacket and moved in trying to fill in the tree. Not nearly as much as I would have liked so I am hoping to make some decent progress on that tree tonight. I doubt I'll be able to finish though.

Yesterday was the rosary and dear Chavela would have been happy with how lovely it was. She was a dear old lady and it was time. She made it to 102! But I spent a lot of the weekend thinking about all the times she came to visit with her daughter and just how cheerful and lively she was for someone so much older. She always had a smile on her face and was the type of person to put kisses all over your face if you would let her. She had such a warm spirit and a kind heart that it put a smile on my face just thinking of her.

Stitchy Withdrawals!

It's amazing how fast time flies sometimes! How does that happen? When I posted my Fairy Moon entry, I had grand illusions of starting and have a pretty decent start and picture by the middle of next week. It's been a week and a half and I haven't put one single stitch on her! Actually, I haven't had much time to stitch at all and I am going slightly berserk. Last weekend was very busy (but amazingly fun) and the weeknights can at times be pretty crammed between class and errands. I cannot wait until tonight!

This weekend, the original plan was for me to head up to Lake Tahoe with a friend and her mom for a couple of nights. But her mom invited some of her friends and the car and cabin would have ended up too crowded and cramped so those plans are off. I was hoping to have some quality time hanging out with her and stitching in front of the fire...far away from all the things that end up distracting me...dating, tv, phone, apartment cleaning and all those other pesky responsibilities. So I am going to pretend like I am still out of town. I'm going to go home, make a nice dinner for myself and pick up some stitching and stitch to my little heart's desire. It will be nice to tuck in for the night with Santa and have myself a mobster fix. I've got my netflix waiting for me on my coffee table...The Sopranos, Season 3, Disc 2 and Godfather 1. Not to mention The Jungle Book 40th Anniversary Edition my landlord loaned to me and Ratatouille. Oh and I've got enough Project Runway on my Tivo to have a mini-marathon! Lots of tv watching this weekend! Oh, and it's the Oscars on Sunday! I don't think I'll be able to watch everything I even mentioned! But with the exception of a social event in the city tomorrow and a pampering massage on Sunday, I've got the whole weekend to zone into the tv and stitch. Can't wait!

Home is Where the Heart Is!

And my heart belongs to San Francisco. I tend to talk a lot about work and dating and crafting that I don't really talk too much about the city that I love. I don't live in SF proper anymore and I've been missing it a lot lately but I live close enough to make multiple trips in a week if I'd like. Just this weekend, I made two trips to run errands and visit with friends. Today was a federal holiday so I had the day off from work. Woohoo! Gotta love 3-day weekends! So I decided to take advantage of the easy parking and head to North Beach with a friend. North Beach is the "Little Italy" of San Francisco and it's my favorite neighborhood. It's lively and fun; has great coffee shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment and makes for great people watching. But besides the gastro-delights of the neighborhood, there are amazing views. One of my favorite things to do here is to drag my lazy tush up to Coit Tower and go down the Filbert Steps. So today I decided to take my camera along so I could share this walk through my eyes!

Filbert Street...walking up the steep grade to get up to Coit Tower. The street gets so steep towards the top that there are little stairs etched into the cement so you aren't so angled trying to get up there.

Coit Tower (not the Leaning Tower of Pisa...I suck at pictures)

Whew...made it up to the top of Filbert Street. I turned around and wow...look at the view! Far in the distance you can see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Along the walkway near Coit Tower, you see an amazing Financial District shot that includes the Transamerica Building. This was a daytime shot but with the lighting, it looks like dusk.

Filbert Street and Telegraph Hill. This is the juncture to head down the infamous Filbert Steps.

As I go down the steps, I turn around to show how the steps are engulfed by gardens, trees and lots of greenery. It always seems so cut off from the rest of the city.

And along the stairway path, there are cottages and bungalows that look like this one. Isn't it cute?! How do people get their groceries up or down all the stairs? I still don't understand. I don't think you could pay movers enough to get furniture to one of these little homes. And my friends complain about my third floor walk-up! But it sure is a lovely setting.

And we get to the very bottom of the Filbert steps across from Levi Plaza. I turned around and here is a shot of the scary part of the Filbert Steps. The stairs are so steep here that I always fear I'll trip and slide all the way down. Yep, this is me living on the edge! We feel good but I'm not crazy enough to turn around and head back up as my friend suggests so we go out to the Embarcadero with the intention of walking to Broadway. As we walk, we come across this plaque imbedded into the cement.

Apparently, way back in the Gold Rush days, shops were on floating ships out in the Embarcadero. As that era passed, the ships were buried under landfill and built upon and that area is now the Embarcadero. I was born and raised in San Francisco and never knew that! So I learned something new today. We kept walking and my friend dragged me up another steep stairway and I saw this abandoned on the sidewalk. In the city, people will dump their junk on the sidewalk because one person's junk is almost always someone else's treasure. This hadn't found a home yet though but it was well worth a picture.

"Don't watch me watch tv" What?!?!

We finally made it to my favorite coffee shop in North Beach, Cafe Greco and just sat, talked and people watched. This is always a challenge because right across the street is Stella Pastry.

See! Stella Pastry and I always have to test my willpower. I have no willpower when it comes to pastry. OMG and their stuff is soooooo good. My favorite is their Sicilian Cannoli. If you live in SF and have never had a sicilian cannoli from Stella Pastry...what are you waiting for?! It is sinful and decadent and omg, so good. Obviously, I went to Stella and got my cannoli and it made me very happy but then I feel bad because I may as well just slather the filling onto my hips as that is where it will stay until I can workout enough for it to melt away. But you know what, I don't care because if there's anything worth extra time at the gym, it's anything at this little italian bakery. YUM!

And that was my fun-filled day in the city. I so love 3-day weekends. I wish they came around all the time!

Bookcase, Stash and Date #3

So far, it's been a busy weekend. Friday was a god-awful day and everyone was asking me if Iwas pms-ing. Geez, like a girl can't have a bad day without it being contributed to hormones. No, it wasn't that lovely time of the month. I ended up being the only one in the office on Friday as all kinds of stuff was hitting the fan. I had to deal with people who didn't follow procedures, people who didn't follow instructions, things falling on my desk with a deadline of "five minutes" and dealing with my own self-imposed deadlines that I was trying to accomplish. I was a stress case. But I was ecstatic once 5pm rolled around. My friend Claire came over to help me drag a new bookcase up to my walk up apartment and assemble it. Yay! I have a new bookcase IN my apartment. New project is to sort my books and make that bookcase look all nice in my apartment. After assembling the bookcase, we grabbed dinner at the corner thai place and went to see 27 Dresses. After such a crazy day, I just wanted to see something funny that didn't require too much thinking. I thought it was a cute film and James Marsden...OMG...such a hottie! I would watch that movie over and over just for him!

On Saturday, I decided to go across the bridge to my almost local needlework shop, Needle in a Haystack. There is actually a needlework shop three blocks from my apartment but they never have what I'm looking for and they are more geared towards needlepoint than anything else there. Plus, NiaH is huge and they have so much selection and so many options that I can spend an entire afternoon there getting lost in the possibilities. Really...I do this all the time and end up leaving the shop 4 hours later! So I will drive across the bay and pay my $4 bridge toll to go to Needle in a Haystack so I can fawn over everything. Plus, most important of all is that I get to see Mary. I love seeing Mary...she always helps me with a smile and she will always give me her opinion on things and anyone who knows me knows that I like a second opinion! I can spend hours paining over a decision and Mary knows how to pull just the right chart or fabric that will win me over! I had gone with the intention of picking up the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow chart that I had put on hold but once I saw it, I wasn't loving it as much. I was loving parts of it...but not the whole thing. And I definitely wasn't loving the Lakeside Linens Vintage Gold fabric that it called for. I was hemming and hawing and I decided to put it back. I still got stash though...no doubt! Here's a picture of all my stash. I got two pieces of fabric. I was going to get the called for cut of Wichelt French Cashmere but in 32 count for Quaker Christmas but they only had 28 count. I liked the French Cashmere until Mary started pulling out all sorts of fabric and I really LOVED the French Latte that she suggested. So I got a good half a yard of that for Quaker Christmas and smaller projects down the line. I also got a small cut of 25 count Jobelan for secret stitching. I got a handful of Week Dye Works floss for a birthday present in July and some stitchers lotion that NiaH has been promoting for months. With the weather, my skin is so dry and the lotion says it is non-oily and will not stain so I'll give it a shot. I can't even imagine what my skin would be like in the Northeast with the constant snow and wind!


And the charts:

The Workbasket: Quaker Pig and Rooster and Lavender Wings: Moonlight in Vermont

OMG...don't you just love the rooster! He's my favorite!

Saturday was also date #3 with the new guy. I still feel mixed. I get frustrated when guys constantly cannot plan a date. I'm pretty old-fashioned when it comes to dating. I like being asked and planned for initially. At least the first handful and I'll put in my ideas and options and plan dates after. It's just that I plan for everyone else on a constant basis that when it comes to a guy taking me out, I kind of like it when the guy is in charge of the plans. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the dinner pick especially as I told him I had been there the day before and he really came up with that at the last minute. I like guys to have plans and be assertive and to be secure within themselves and fun and exciting and culturally aware. I just don't understand why... in a huge city that is amazingly cultural and diverse...I can't seem to find the guy who fits all those attributes.

Fairy Moon - Challenge of '08

Lookie here...Mirabilia Fairy Moon by Nora Corbett!

This is my huge challenge of '08. I can do it...there's no question about me being able to do this piece. The challenge lies in whether or not I can actually finish it in 2008. Another challenge may be whether or not I will go berserk by the sheer size and monstrosity of the piece, by the amount of white I will have to stitch because of her dress or by the amount of beading I will have to do. What whole moon is stitched out of beads! But I love her...she is beautiful and I already know I will have to go get her professionally framed and she will have a prime spot in my bedroom over my dresser. I have been drooling over this piece for at least 5 years. Wow, I can't believe the chart has been in my stash that long. I finally became active about trying to work on this piece last year. Fairy Moon is a great example of how my stash grew. I bought the fabric and threads as indicated on the chart and then I realized that stitching a fairy that is looking at a moon on brown fabric is ridiculous! Since when has the sky ever been brown when the moon's been out?! Nora? What were you thinking suggesting that? So, I began a search for appropriate fabric and I chose Tumult by Sugar Maple Fabrics. Beautiful fabric...Mindy knows how to hand dye some fab fabric but Tumult wasn't quite right. It came out lighter than the picture on the website and the lighter blue-gray threads and beading would have gotten lost in the fabric which was a mottled blue and white like blue sky with white clouds. Very pretty...but not quite right.

Third try is always the charm. In the picture is my final color choice. Fairy Moon will be stitched on Dragon Moon by Sugar Maple Fabrics. Its a beautiful navy blue color with white and purply-gray splotches. It kind of looks like a stormy blue sky. Perfect! May the moon in the sky guide the fairy to her dreamy destination.

I'm hoping to have a start on Fairy Moon this holiday weekend but probably won't post a progress picture for a couple of weeks as I'm sure I won't have anything decent to share before then!

Fat Santa Hibernates!

It's February and I finally managed to put away all the Halloween and Christmas decorations that were scattered around the apartment. Yes, I know that those Holidays were ages ago! I was a major scrooge-ette over the holiday season and was lucky I even got decorations out. Once they were out, I liked looking at them and was too lazy to put them away. I had made an attempt a week ago to put the things away and did box up most of the decorations but there were some I forgot about. One was "Fat Santa". I love Fat Santa! He is the project I'm most proud of. Maybe because I actually made him for myself instead of someone else. My sister has a christmas sampler type pillow I made so she can decorate too but Fat Santa is mine! Isn't he cute?! Well, Fat Santa isn't really the name of the chart...I just call him that because he's kind of a fat santa...obviously. This is truly called Two Star Santa by The Design Connection. It's time for him to go into the storage closet until next holiday season.

Bye Fat Santa! I hope you have a good sleep and I'll see you in December!

Stash-Mania

I'm not really into football but one good thing came from the Superbowl...superbowl sales! I love sales and I love building up my stash. Now, instead of having plenty to work on until I'm 50, I have more than enough to keep me occupied until I'm at least 65! I don't know what I'm thinking about buying all this stuff when I barely have time to work on the things I already have. So here's some of what I've bought.

Quaker Christmas by ByGone Stitches - I've seen quite a few people working on this and it comes along beautifully. I love christmas stuff and this quaker stuff is kinda growing on me. So I've got the chart and also ordered the 24 skeins of Crescent Colors floss that's required. I love Crescent Colors and that's a pretty hefty haul right there.

Pumpkin by JBW Designs

Lots of Week Dye Works and Gentle Sampler threads for a couple of secret projects I'm currently working on.

Hmmm, after I list it out...it doesn't seem so much. BUT, I'll be heading to my almost local needlework shop this weekend to pick up Shores of Hawk Run Hollow and fabric for Quaker Christmas and one of the small secret projects I'm working on. Why does Shores of Hawk Run Hollow have to look so awesome and why does it have to be so bloody expensive?! It's just the chart for me right now. The threads are too expensive and if I'm going to invest the time and the linen, I may as well use pretty threads. I have too many other projects I want to do but better to buy the chart now since you never know if they'll sell out and then go out of print.

I also bought 5 skeins of yarn for my afghan and am having second thoughts about the color scheme. Maybe I should use the color I started on and make it monochromatic in that color and each square be a different pattern/stitch. Ugh, the dilemna. So indecisive...cursed libra trait! I am the worst at making decisions. This is how I end up with so much stash! I buy things and then change my mind and end up buying and using different things.

Must stop the stash buying...but all those charts and fibers look so pretty!

A Date, Imagiknit, Janeane Garafolo, New Starts and Cleaning

Wow, when I look at my title, it sounds like I had a busy weekend and I did in a way.

Friday was date night with the new guy and I had a really fun time. I'm still having feelings of "nice guy but not exciting" but that's just how I've been feeling about a lot of people lately. They're all nice but I'm not wow'd...yet...I can spend six hours in their company. Because that's just the sort of person I am provided the person I'm with isn't exuding stalker-like psycho tendancies. We had a nice dinner at Nob Hill Cafe and we had a sighting of the "doublemint twins" aka the Brown twins. I had read that Nob Hill Cafe was one of their favorite places and they have a standing reservation there on Friday nights. I was wondering how true that factoid was but low and behold, it was true. They walked in and waved as they made their way to their wndow table. They are such a San Francisco "institution" and I always get a kick when I see them cheesing it up for the tourists and the passer-bys. After dinner, we headed to Vesuvio for a cocktail and a mini-chatfest. Then I felt like walking to see how crazy North Beach was that evening before heading back to the car and the drive home. I should probably go ahead and set up date number three but I'm hesitant because I'm not feeling the crazy butterflies I so desire. I'm going to think about it for a day or so.

On Saturday, I headed to Imagiknit where I stood for an hour in a state of indecision! I think the staff was laughing at me and my hanks of yarn as I stood there trying out different color combinations and different sequences. I finally took the three colors I was trying to decide between to the counter to ask for a different opinion and they were no help! I just couldn't make up my mind. And I finally came to my decision which was the color I had discovered on my initial visit to Imaginknit a couple of weeks ago. The winner is:

Shocking Pink!

This means that my afghan will be more pink than red and I've never been a "pink" type of a girl but I think that the colors will be very nice together and will go well with the reds, roses and pinks of my throw pillows and living room area rug. I had really hoped for more red but a lot of the reds out there were orangy and just didn't look well with the yarn colors I had already purchased.

Later Saturday, I headed back to North Beach for a nice dinner at Ristorante Contadina and caught the Janeane Garafolo comedy peformance at Cobb's. I so love Janeane. She was really fun and I can't believe how tiny and tatooed she is. Plus, I love that she is a total advocate for eyewear. In a day and age where everyone asks why I don't wear contacts, it's nice to see a big name acress/comedian who is pro-glasses. Plus, they add so much character to her look. I had a great time at the show although the company I was with left a lot to be desired.

Today was a cleaning, stitching and laundry day. I didn't really clean so much as organize. My bedroom got another good dusting and I found another half a hefty bag worth of crap to donate to Goodwill. I can finally see the surface of my dining table and did a good three loads of laundry. I still need to organize my living room which presently looks like some tornado went through a craft shop and landed into my living room. There's fabric, floss, scissors and tape blended in with netflix, cds and magazines. This room will get some attention tomorrow and then I can start on the heavy duty dusting, mopping and vacuuming of all the rooms. I hate cleaning! I always ponder hiring a cleaning lady but then I feel guilty because I should be able to keep up after myself. It's only me...how do I make it all so messy?!

I did manage two new starts. I started Halloween House which is a very small Lilybet design but with my limited stitching time and needing small projects to work on before yoga, this was perfect. I've only stitched the windows so far and it's not worth a picture yet since the windows are yellow. My other start is secret stitching so no details but that start got more attention than Halloween House today. It's a quickie so I'm already a third of the way done.

A Pat on my Back...

I'm a little proud of myself. I think back to how my blog looked 2 short months ago and there weren't any pictures of my stitchy progress. There was no cute girl blog photo. There was no blogroll and hell if I could figure out how you could do a hyperlink. It was BORING! Well, it looked boring...

Now I have a cute blog photo, a blogroll, I can link to other people's blogs and I can post pictures of my crafy projects...albiet not the best pictures but people can tell what I'm talking about and referring to in my ramblings.

I was playing a bit more with it today and I've got the book I'm currently reading up in my sidebar and a stitchy rotation gridded out. Other stitchy bloggers have theirs up so I'm wondering if it will help me keep things organized and accomplish more. It's worth a shot...right? Instead of Sunday being my "day of rest", I set aside Friday for mine. I'm usually too burnt out on Fridays to do anything other than lie on the futon and catch up on Tivo. I guess tonight will be an exception as it's a "date night". I've decided that if I have Fairy Moon, which is a HUGE project, and Halloween House, which can be my small travel project, already kitted up and ready to go, I can at least work on them once a week and stick them into a rotation. So those will be new starts this coming week. I'll definitely start Halloween House this weekend so it can travel around with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Can't wait!

But the blog is looking better...didn't think I could master the coolness effect with it. Although I know others have blogstats and visitor mapping. That's kinda cool but a little beyond my techie ability. Now, if only I could figure out this iPod thing.

A Random Realization...

I don't think anyone would ever hear me say something like "when I was your age, a loaf of bread cost .35 cents and gasoline was .75 cents a gallon". Nope, because that's never ever been true...but I've heard stuff like that all the time...from my parents. Nowadays, bread costs $4 a loaf, milk is $5 a gallon and let's not even talk about the cost of gasoline or a movie ticket.

Last night I was talking to the new guy and trying to finalize plans for our second date. As usual, you do the normal chit chat and asking questions about each other's family and upbringing. He asked me what my parents did for a living and I told him that my parents are blue-collar immigrants. They are both retired and have been for years but they worked a hard life of being a steel metal factory worker and a seamstress. They are jobs that are taken for granted and fairly underappreciated. When my mom first came to the States, she worked for Levi's and helped sew together countless number of jeans. I wonder how many people out there ended up owning a pair she had handled, sewn the seam on, shaped the pockets. To think that those jeans may be surviving somewhere out there when the factory's been closed now for years. As I was telling this guy about their work history, it occured to me that my parents worked hard jobs that they were thankful for but that didn't really pay a lot of money yet they were able to buy a home in San Francisco and raise three children in private schooling. Everyone knows private schooling doesn't come cheap and neither does property in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, it's ridiculously expensive...now. It wasn't so bad way back when but still. They probably brought in the same salary (give or take a few thousand dollars) combined as I do by myself now. Now that same salary can barely support me in a one-bedroom rented apartment with my 10-year old car! Forget being able to buy and own a condo, let alone a house and let's not even get on the topic of kids.

I guess thoughts like these make me realize that even though I have my complaints about growing up and having overly strict parents, they really did a decent job bringing up three kids on a limited income, limited command of the english language and no extended family. It's a little inspiring...that and they've been married for 52 years and haven't killed each other.

But since date planning with the new guy brought this realization about, I'll probably post a post-date entry later. Date #2 is tonight!

Picture Share

I've got pictures to share! I've been meaning to share for a while but my pictures always come out so screwy looking when I take them at night. I decided to skip yoga tonight since I wasn't feeling all that well and didn't forsee me holding a downward dog position for 2+ minutes being a very good thing. I may fall on my head or something because my arms gave out! Did you laugh?! Yea, that would be a funny image! As I was driving home, I noticed it was still light out so I raced home and grabbed the camera but the light was pretty dim in my apartment. I'm still sharing anyways. I haven't worked on Sweet Dreams much since my Vancouver trip. That was almost a month ago! I had gotten a lot of Santa's jacket done and that had been my goal. I started knitting my afghan block after that trip and only pulled this out recently when I needed a mini break from knitting. I felt like I needed a break from red as my last few projects have had lots of red. Red is my favorite color but I needed to look at something else so I threaded the needle with a pale blue and am working on the curtain on the right side of the window there. It doesn't stand out so much as the color is pale. I was really hoping to be farther along in this as I want to start Fairy Moon but I will hold off a little more on that and probably start a couple of small projects to make into a pinkeep and a flatfold. Both firsts but I'm curious how it will come along. Plus I need something small to work on when I am waiting for my yoga class to start. Sweet Dreams is too big and uncomfortable to work on on the go so I've been carting Block #1 around everywhere lately. Just waiting for supplies to come in to get the two small projects started.

Since I mentioned Block #1, here is my progress so far. I've knit about 62 rows which measures about 8 inches. I only have 4 more inches to go before I start Block #2. I have to make a decision as to what my fourth color will be before I start Block #2 though. I forsee a trip to Imagiknit in the near future to help me make that decision. The lighter flecks you see in the picture is the variation in color...it's mainly a pinky red with some lighter pink variation in color. Very pretty!

That's it for pictures. I'm hoping to have progress on both this weekend but with a busy Friday and Saturday, I may be forced to clean (ick!) on Sunday instead of stitch and knit. We'll see.

Ruining my Safeway Experience

I hate running errands after work and on the weekends. It seems to eat a lot of time when I'd rather be doing something else. A lot of the time, I'll use my lunch break to run errands at Safeway or Trader Joe's and just put my refrigerated groceries in the fridge at work. It's not ideal but I like getting it out of the way early and then I get to head straight home instead of getting all frazzled trying to squeeze my way through the produce section after work with everyone else trying to get dinner fixings.

The other day, I headed to Safeway to get the fixings for a veggie soup I wanted to try and make. While roaming through the aisles, I ran into one of the guys from work. The engine crews will stop at Safeway to get their lunch and dinner fixings everyday. I usually like running into them since I get to say hi and see how they are doing as I don't usually get to see them on a regular basis. I finish up my shopping and decide to get into a different checkout line than the guys and boy, was that a big mistake. The checker for my line and the lady she was helping was going all goo-goo ga-ga about having firemen in the store and talking about it. Obviously not very discreetly as I heard most of what they were saying and them being chatty cathys was totally holding me up. If I know that it would take so long to help ONE person, I'd have gotten in another line before unloading all my stuff on the belt. I just couldn't believe how blatant this checker was in getting all hot and bothered and holding the line up to chat about the firemen with her lady customer. If it hadn't been such an inconvenience to me to move all my stuff, I would have.

So thanks guys, for ruining my Safeway experience. I wish that people would realize that if it wasn't for that uniform, most people wouldn't even give these guys another look. They are just like everyone else. They have to eat and sleep and tend to their families and yes, their job is incredibly difficult and challenging and we appreciate them everyday for it but the fawning. The fawning has got to stop because not only is it embarassing to them, it's incredibly irritating and frustrating to me when I just want to pay for my groceries already and get on with the rest of my day!

To Biscornu or Not to Biscornu...

that is the question...

The next sign up for my exchange group is for a biscornu exchange. I've never made a biscornu ever! I don't know if I feel up to the challenge. On the one hand, it would be good to learn how to make and finish one. Learning something new is always good. But I also don't have much use for a biscornu. Isn't it for pins? I don't even sew or use pins for anything. Biscornus are quite interesting looking though. Oh boy, I just can't decide. Decisions, decisions. If I had the time, I'd make a practice one and then depending on how the practice one turned out, decide on the exchange. But I don't have the time. Although I am highly intrigued at the mention of the pinkeep. I've never made one of those either but they ones I've seen are very cute. I may have to hold out for the pinkeep on the next go-round.

First Date of '08

I've mentioned it before. I'm not in much of a dating mood right now but I still want to be social once in a while or I may become a single crafting hermit who never leaves the house unless it's to get more yarn, linen or floss. Nobody wants that. I'm already talking way too much crafty-talk to my friends who don't understand what I'm even talking about since they aren't crafters.

I'm trying to be more selective about who I go out with after coming across someone's vent on a website late last month. The guy was complaining that he had just been on a first date with a woman who told him that he was her 47th date that year. 47 dates in a year?!? OMG, I don't think I could be that cute and witty on such a continuous basis. That's practically one new date a week! I've labeled myself a serial dater and picky. I have been a serial dater and am picky but I don't think I'm overly so. There are a lot of wack jobs out there. But I don't want to be the girl who has 47 first dates in a year. That's just ridiculous.

So I hesitantly accepted the offer of a coffee date over the weekend; half wondering if I really wanted to do this as beautiful yarn was calling my name at home. But I went ahead and did the first date meet-up at a local coffee shop. It was a nice date. We met for three hours and talked about loads of things. Talks of a second date are in the motion but no real sparks flying...yet. He's a "safe" guy which I should be looking for. Stable job, good family values, local, similar interests, a tad shy and seems pretty accepting of his 30's. That's all good stuff when you're looking for something long-lasting. I don't need the bad guy. I fall for it everytime. The bad boy with his motorcycle or his tattoos or his crazy and exciting job. It's all very interesting and fun but always frustrating and short-lived too. I don't need that in my life. Plus, I think I've come to accept that I may be too much of a "good girl" to put up with the "bad boy.

As a sidenote: I think it's odd when someone emails you out of the blue to say that they are in your town for a few days and asks if you'd like to meet up for coffee. It's one thing if it's someone you know but it's another if it's a complete stranger. I don't know what this guy was thinking emailing me! I know he'd looked at my profile in the past but considering I didn't even know his name, I wasn't about to make time out of my schedule to meet him. I may be adventurous with online dating...but not that adventurous!

Baby Hats!!

After my discovery of the doomed demise of Block #1 of my afghan, I decided to turn my attention to the baby hat I had wanted to make for a co-worker expecting a baby boy any day now. So I pulled out my little ball of pale blue yarn and cast on to make my little hat. Well, starting the baby hat didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. I REALLY am rusty with these needles! The first time I tried, I only cast on 70 stitches instead of the required 72 so that was all wrong and I had to frog the little bit I started. So I tried again and cast on the right amount but when I tried to join the yarn, the stitches got all twisted and would have made for a screwed up edge/rim to the hat so I had to frog again! Grrr!! First the afghan, now the hat...I was getting very frustrated! But I prevailed and cast on again and things went smoothly for the most part. So I've got a pale blue hat to show plus a lavendar one that I had on my double points that I had to weave the loose threads on so I could use the double points for the blue hat. Here are the baby hats!
I realize I've been posting a lot about crafts so I'll have to find the time to talk about my first date of '08 tomorrow...hopefully.