5 Days Late for 08.08.08

Olympic Fever has been running high at our house.


Matt showing support for the Armos.

We headed up to the cabin for Opening Ceremony festivities; Matt cooked steaks, I knit like a maniac, and my brother-in-law got drunk. It was a great time.

We also had some deer that kept getting super close to our place. As my mom's man-friend put it, "That one is going to get shot. He's way too nice". That makes me really sad, actually.



Deer butt, anyone?

The girls came along too. Katy wore her new polo shirt for the occasion.

I can't help but laugh everytime I look at this photo. How freaking happy does that dog look???

The ride home was another story.

Dead. Tired.

Finally, I got so much done on this sweater while I was up there I surprised no one more than myself.



Started 08.08.08 at 7:25am while I was fighting off an oncoming migraine (no pain, no gain) and this was my progress when I got home Sunday night (why yes, I AM 3 days late posting this!!!). Since then, I've finished one front and am about 1/3 of the way through one sleeve which I have been bringing with me to work. I just might actually do this.

Ravelry Entry for this project here. For non-Ravelers and those too lazy to click, it's the Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits, on size 7 needles and Knit Picks Andrean Treasure. I'm loving it so far.

Let The Games Begin

Dog Days of Summer

Post in honor of the fact that I closed yesterday's post with an accidently reference to FIRDAY, instead of Friday.



Dean: Take that, Bi-otch


Katy: I KILL YOU!


Dean: Kegger!! WOOOO!!!

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

This is where I start this post with a half-assed comment about how I've been so busy and neglected the blog... blah blah blah. Well I'm glad I got that out of the way.

July was basically one big vacation for me; Yosemite, Chicago, Santa Cruz - I literally have no idea where it all went. So we were finally home and had a free weekend. What did we do? Throw a party, of course!


Shopping for masses-o-meat. A Little Drunk.

See, we had gone to help out my sister-in-law at a wine competition she was coordinating... and we drank a bunch of the reject wines (DUH!) aaaand got a little tipsy, which was only made worse when we decided to hit our favorite watering hole on the way home, aaaand then I decided to invite everyone over. Because trying to cook pilaf over a hot stove and chopping onions with a super-sharp knife seems like a phemonal thing for a chick who has had about 6 drinks to do.

One of our guests that night, Peter, had to suffer a little more than the others. About a year ago we started calling him Peter Rabbit for no other reason other than it was funny and it kind of pissed him off.



So we got a Peter Rabbit for the party.




You know where this is going, right?



And for those of you who prefer the live version:


Don't ask me why that was so funny. I BLAME THE WINE.

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On a completely un-related note, my Rav-Olympics Project is swatched and ready to go. More on that tomorrow or Firday.

Goodnight Sand Dollar!

2008 was a good year. Can't wait for 2009 (and to get home to my hubby)

Perfect Day

(That's a Sonoma Chardonnay in the oh-so-classy red cup)

Working Hard

Sorry for the silence. I've been.... busy....



At the beach since last week. Be back soon with something much more exciting.

ChiTown 002

Last night we went to La Scarola on the recommendation of some of Matt's friends who live here.

OH. MY. GAWD. It was so good. I wanted to wrap up the waiter (and the brushetta) in my pocket and take them both home.

If you can make out the photo right over my head, it's Johnny Depp with the owners. He was there last week while he was in town filming a movie. Le Sigh. If only we were here last week!

Oh well. The Pasta Lorenzo more than made up for it.

We then went and listened to some jazz because, well, you can't come to Chicago and NOT hear jazz.

Fabulous as well. My ONLY complaint is that, as Amanda pointed out, it's been pretty warm here and after 5 straight days of 105+ in Fresno, we were looking for relief. But no matter. At least we can walk everywhere!

Today we walked over to Sayat Nova on my lunch break and that was great as well. I was a little disappointed to hear that we wouldn't be able to make it out there while they had the DJ spinning hip-hop Armenian music, but I'll live ;).

I did a bit of knitting in the hotel lobby bar during happy hour this afternoon:


Got some funny looks but no matter. My conference is now officially over so I'm on vaction mode.

ChiTown 001

So far, so good!

Done!

Well folks, I did it:



Comment #1500 too, which is sort of cool. I'm jumping on board with Julie and will be attempting to knit the Gathered Pullover, using Knit Picks Andean Treasure (stash-busting! Woo!)

So now I'm daring the rest of you to do it. No pain, no gain!

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I'm off to Chicago this week for a conference/a couple days of play. There may or may not be movement on this blog.

To Be Or Not To Be

I'm thinking about doing the Ravely Olympics this year.

On the one hand, I freaking LOVE the Olympics - I always have a party for the Opening Ceremony, which includes the March of Nations drinking game (drink every time someone at the party's country of origin enters the arena! Try and pound your drink before the entire US Team makes the journey around the arena!) Also, as a retired gymnast I can't get enough of any of the acrobatic sports like DUH, gymnastics, but also diving and trampoline.





On the other hand, I am a fairly uncommitted knitter and can't follow knit-alongs to save my life. Trust me, I've tried it a couple times and I'm not even going to link my lame-ass attempts because it's embarassing. I also have like 4 major WIPS and do I REALLY NEED TO START SOMETHING ELSE.

If I would choose to do this, I am leaning towards the Sweater Sprint (SHOCKING!), with these options: [Rosebud] [Gathered Pullover] [Three-Penny Pullover]. I'm not sure if I should go with the miles of St St for ease of knitting while watching 15-year-olds do backflips, or I go the more complex route with Three-Penny to keep my interest level up.

The other option is the Shawl Relay, and I could knit Melody's Shawl, which I would love to have done by our trip to Italy in February.

Ah decisions. Is anyone else thinking about doing this?

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On a somewhat related note, I've made it a personal goal to finish at least two of my current projects before moving on - Thermal has had new life breathed into her, and I am one sleeve away from finishing up. That sleeve is going with me to Chicago next week and will see some serious plane-knitting action. Next on the agenda is the Terracota Tank and Rustic Cardi, which are going to Santa Cruz the week after that.

I just might be crazy.

Weekend Wrap-Up, or I Can't Think Of A Witty Title

Fourth of July, as always, was spent up at our cabin in Fish Camp near Yosemite.

It was the usual shinanigans, which I won't talk about because I'm way too old to be doing this kind of stuff but like to prentend I'm not every once and awhile.

My sister brought her new dog, Dean the Manchester Terrier.



Dean was a show dog, so everyone was quite impressed with his show-dog prance. I didn't knit, because I was partaking in the activities I spoke of earlier.

Last night we had one last small celebration at our house, and I baked a cake.

While I LOVE to cook, I've never been a big baker so this was quite an occasion in our casa.

My husband and his friend were incredibly entertaining, however:



Seriously, don't ask me what was going on here. Just 30-year-old men doing what they do, I guess. But check out Katy in that last one:



Dude. My dog can smile!

Summer Retreat

My new favorite knitting spot. Those zero-gravity chairs are AWESOMELY comfortable. (My only complaint is I have to wait until about 7pm for it to be comfortable outside, even WITH the misters going full blast. )

Perfect with a glass of wine and Tom Petty on the radio.


AHHHHHHH......

PS - How the EFF is it July already????

6.27.08

What a few days it has been around here. Exhausting, yes, but it's weeks like this I just LOVE working at the University. It's hard to REALLY explain the culture around here when it comes to the U's athletics and the Valley's loyalities (Lisa knows what I'm talking about!) Being in the Central Valley without a lot of other 'teams' around, residents around here (whether your are an alumni are not) love, LOVE their bulldogs.

Anyhow, I know you didn't come here to read about baseball or listen to me brag about the school I work for - but this really is an amazing story. To give you an idea:

- First team to score more than 16 runs twice (19 vs. Georgia, 17 vs. Rice)
- Tied for most runs scored in the College World Series (62)
- Had a .309 team batting average (only fourth time since 1980 that champ has finished above .300)
- Hit 14 home runs as a team, the highest total since 1998 and third all-time (seven different players homered for Fresno State)
- 20 strikeouts by Justin Wilson, led this year's CWS
- Most losses (31) by a championship team
- Lowest-seeded team to win an NCAA championship in any sport. They've said if this were the NCAA basketball tourney, we would have been seeded 89th and came back to win the whole thing.

It is truely remarkable. I love it.

So as you can imagine, I have not done much knitting at all this week. On top of the Wonderdog mania, we FINALLY bought a new car. My old car, the Suzuki, was at that turning point in the road (as I discovered while on a recent road trip) - we either needed to pour some money into her (60,000 mile service, new keyless entry, new belts, etc). Instead, we were lured by a great financing rate and bought a new one: an Acura MDX.

I. LOVE. THIS. CAR.

It talks to me (Reynaldo, as I call him), has XM radio (SWOON!) and leather/sunroof/powerEVERYTHING, and it like 10,000 times nicer than any car I've ever owned. We bought used, so it's already appropriately worn in, and DID I MENTION I LOVE THIS CAR?!?

Anyhow, I've got 4 WIPS in constant rotation so I'm not making much progress on ANY of them. Rambling Rose, Terracota Tank, Watery Cardi, and Merlot Socks have all been knit on in the last 48 hours. Really? What the hell is wrong with me sometimes.


On a closing note: a few nights ago we gave Katy a bath and finally taught her "SHAKE". Here's a little tibbit of that:

[click to wineandneedles.blogspot.com to see video]

And they said it couldn't be done

No words. I am SO happy for our boys!

PS - Yes, cried again.