Adventures in Kicking People

Catching Up

2012-01-16T15:04:00.000-05:00

One of my goals this year is to blog more, but here it is, the 16th, and this is only my second post. I haven't even gone back and posted my holiday photos here yet, though I did manage to get them up on Flickr. So I'm here, trying to write something.

I had a conversation with DS today about time. Well, mostly I pontificated to him through instant messaging while he failed to respond because he was working at a real job. Anyway, we were talking about how it was taking me longer than I wanted to write out some new flute parts for some new material the band is making, and I was worried about getting it done before practice tonight so I'd have something to play. But also, there are like 15 other things I wanted/needed to do today, one of which was "spend several hours playing computer games." In case you're curious, those games are Skyrim and Sims Medieval*. Though I have to admit that it's mostly Sims Medieval, because I rock at that game (I think you have to be really bad not to), and I keep dying in stupid Morvunskar and it makes me mad so I quit.

Anyway, I was thinking about how whenever someone finds out I don't work, they look at me strange and almost always ask what I do all day. Except they don't ask it in a way that would suggest they're curious, but more like they can't comprehend what a fully functional adult with any self respect would do with themselves during those hours of the day most people dedicate to "work." As if not going to a job every day somehow means you are incapable of doing anything worthwhile. This question always bothers me. My snippy answer is, "All those things you wish you had more time to do but don't because you work all day." It's a subject that I struggle with on my own anyhow. There is a lot of importance put on what you do for a living in this world. Or maybe there isn't, but some congruence of my childhood and upbringing and education caused me to be overly sensitive to the matter. For a long time I felt like I should be working, even though I didn't really like the idea of working, because that is what an adult does. Even now, when I'm mostly okay with things, I will feel the urge to find a job. The idea of having to be up and dressed every morning and out the door by 8 or whatever shuts that urge down really fast.

I'm getting off topic. What I was trying to say is that I was thinking about all these things I wanted to do today. Not just things to do in general, but a long list of specific things that I wanted to accomplish on this one day. And I found myself wishing for more time in the day. Even though I have more time in the day for these things than most. Which, as you can see up there, brought me back to thinking about how people are always amazed that I'm not bored out of my mind. I wonder why it is that I'm not when so many people are sure they would be in my place? What is different about me? Do I just have that many hobbies? It really doesn't feel like it, especially since I know I could spent several days in a row, all day, doing the same thing and be perfectly content.

I did title this post Catching Up, didn't I? Well, DS and I have been spending a lot of quiet time at home. He's most of the way through The Eye of the World, and not hating it, which is a big source of happiness for me. I've been listening to audiobooks while chugging along on this cross stitch pattern I've had for 15 years. Band practice finally resumed after a 2 month hiatus, and this time we had my new Zoom H2 to record our shenanigans, so we happily caught the impromptu new song on tape. DS and I got a membership at the local climbing gym, and we've been twice already. Their climbs are graded harder than they were at Boulders in Wisconsin, which combined with my several years of not doing it meant that I was struggling up 5.4's the first day. This gym is quite a bit taller than my last one too, and I found myself afraid of doing moves at the top. Also, it took a session and a half to really start trusting the rope and my harness to catch me again, even for little things like lowering me off the climb. My muscles hurt in a good way, and I was up to 5.6's when we left yesterday. I also have new beads and some jewelry making tools, and plan to really get into my Etsy shop again soon. And I got a book for learning the violin, and hopefully I'll find the time and motivation to squeeze that into my schedule too.

So we've been busy, but also mostly by ourselves. A bit different from last year. I'm feeling very productive, and I like it.

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*It occurred to me the other day, in one of those thoughts that you think are excellent and profound but in truth probably only seem so as long as they stay within the confines of your own brain, an "it sounded better in my head" type of moment if you will, that any Sims game (not Sim City though, that's a whole other beast) mostly requires a strong dose of time management for excelling. Which is funny, because anyone good at those games probably struggles with that in their real life.

Goals for 2012

2012-01-03T16:46:00.001-05:00

Read 80 books

This is the same as last year's goal, but I barely made it, and I plan to have less time this year

Learn to code in a new language

Probably javascript

Finish the cross stitch I've been making for my mom for 15 years
Watch all Star Trek shows and episodes from start to finish
Make a clothing pattern
Make something from that pattern
Sell $500 worth of goods on Etsy

Look, this would be a big improvement for me over previous years... hush

Do some kind of exercise at least once a week

You have to start somewhere...

Weave something without using plain weave
Blog more, even if I'm back posting

In fact, expect Christmas and New Year's posts to show up later, back dated

Play one of my instruments, any one, at least 2 hrs a week, not counting any band practices
Re-vamp the Sleep Goblin website
Play more board games
Try to be happier and not worry so much about everything

Surprise Birthday Party

2011-12-19T15:00:00.000-05:00

Bri's boyfriend Dan decided to through her a surprise party this year. Her birthday is two days after Christmas, and is often the case with birthdays around major holidays, it's often overlooked. We threw it early, as it both proved it was not forgotten, and guaranteed the largest number of people could come.

She showed up at the bar where we were waiting, looking ready to hurt someone. The story to get her there was apparently panic inducing. We pretty much forgot to yell surprise when she walked in. And then she started crying. Then I panicked. Thankfully, it turned out to be a happy and relieved cry that it was a happy occasion. She'd never had a surprise party before.

After some food and a few drinks, we walked over to the local bowling alley. I'm a horrible bowler. I think my score from the first game was a 29. Even with bumpers on the second game, I had a whopping 112. I had a shot called a pickleback, which was some kind of whiskey shot with a pickle juice chaser. I love pickle juice, but even I was surprised by how well the two went together.

Victory dance

We ordered a funnel cake a la mode, and had them put candles on it. Bri wanted to show it off, but as I was taking pictures, one of the funnel cakes, complete with flame, fell off the plate and into her lap. We had all had too many drinks to be properly horrified that an open flame was in her lap, and instead we all collapsed into laughter. Thankfully, no one caught on fire, and the damage was limited to a plate full of ice cream. On the plus side, I got one hilarious action shot.

Bri's Birthday Funnel Cake

It was a fun night.

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Christmas #1

2011-12-18T23:02:00.000-05:00

DS and I decided to do Christmas with each other and the cats today. It was the last full day we had to ourselves at home, without work or other obligations. Also, I was in the mood for a pick me up.

Most of our gifts for each other were mostly things that we needed and wanted, but for whatever reason, had not gotten around to getting for ourselves. The gifts for the cats were more whimsical, and honestly, bought more for Felix than Winston. Winston likes two things in life: rabbit fur covered mice, and edibles. Felix is much more well-rounded. We got them a play tube, a toy that rolls and has feathers and burlap, and a packaged set of interchangeable sushi toys filled with catnip and with velcro pieces to attach to a stick and string. So far, neither cat has been very interested in the tube, though I was thoroughly surprised to see Winston immediately get in it. It was a short-lived excitement. He hasn't cared about it since. I'm more surprised that Felix doesn't care about it. In fact, she seems afraid of it. She's always seemed very fond of small, enclosed places, so I had thought she would love this thing. I figured she'd love the rolling toy, because she can sink her claws in the burlap, and chew on the feathers, and roll it around the floor. All of which have been true. They both love the sushi toys. I wasn't sure if the catnip would win over Winston, but he's been attacking them with gusto, so long as we pick them up. Felix, in typical fashion, is quite happy to drag them around the house without our intervention.

Here are some photos of our decorations and Winston attacking some sushi.

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Engineering Christmas Party at WHYY

2011-12-14T23:40:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the annual holiday party for the Engineering School. It's held somewhere different every year. Last year it was at the Academy of Music, which is the same place the ballet is held. This year it was at the studios of WHYY, which is essentially Philadelphia's PBS station. It was really cool to see the studios, and even though they weren't filming tonight, the control rooms were still functioning since they were still showing taped things on air.

As seems usual at this point, the evening started with cocktails and appetizers. The empanadas were amazing. Elmo was running around, which was interesting. Then there's the big sit down dinner. This year we had three different buffets with different kinds of food. DS and I felt it was important to try all of them. The kimchi pancake things with the aioli sauce... wow. So good.

After dinner there's always some entertainment. This year, it was a live performance of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! It was hosted by Carl Kasell and Patrick Stoner. They used two professors as the contestants, and it was pretty funny. Afterwards, they were both kind enough to hang around and talk to people and have their photos taken.

Carl Kasell enjoying dessert

Mr. Kasell has been doing radio for 62 years. Just let that sink in for a bit.

Dessert was so delicious. We had spiced apples, gingerbread, chocolate mousse tarts, hibiscus cheesecake, and some kind of pistachio brittle. I had all of it. Some of it more than once.

One of my favorite things about these parties is that I get to dress up. I don't get to do that a lot often. This year I felt like doing something different with my hair, and this is what I came up with:

Up-do for the Engineering Christmas party

I got a lot of compliments on these earrings, which I made just before the party to match my dress. I'm afraid people think I wove the pearls together, but alas, I bought them that way. One person even asked how to find my shop, so fingers crossed!

Visiting Family

2011-12-13T01:23:00.000-05:00

This weekend, DS's mom, sister, and niece all came up for their annual viewing of The Nutcracker. The latter two had seen it three years in a row by three different ballets. It's sort of their thing. So we talked them into seeing ours, which had the added benefit of finally getting them up here to see us.

Our niece is 9 and really wanted to see things like the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross house. That was easy for us to do, since we live within a few blocks of all that stuff. Saturday morning we walked around looking at some of the close stuff. One of my favorite things to show people is Elfreth's Alley, which is the oldest continuously inhabited street in the United States. As a nice bonus, the residents had decorated for Christmas. We also toured the Betsy Ross house, where the Betsy impersonator talked to us for a long time, and made our niece a paper star using the same techniques used to make the first flag. We checked out the Liberty Bell, where we learned that the name came much later in its life when abolitionists adopted it as their sign of freedom. Then his sister wanted to see the Love statue, so we went across town to see that. On the way back, we checked out the plaza where all the giant game pieces are, which was a lot of fun.

We had some time before we had to get ready for the ballet, so our niece and I made some jewelry, and I taught her how to play The First Noel on the piano. It was a lot of fun to see her trying so hard to get it right, and I was super proud when she could finally play it through without messing up and with correct fingering.

The ballet was magnificent. There was a full orchestra and a choir there for the music. The sets were really cool, and some of the costuming was just gorgeous. This was my third ballet company viewing of The Nutcracker, and it's always interesting seeing all the little ways companies do things the same and differently. The pas de deux at the end was just so great. Our niece thought that part was boring, but it was the more technical part that probably doesn't look as impressive when you're small and don't understand how hard standing on en pointe and being pulled across the stage with one leg up in the air really is.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. I hope they get to come back soon, because we barely even scratched the surface of things to do in the city. Plus I just love hanging out with them. Maybe next time they'll bring the boys too!

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Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T00:36:00.000-05:00

Just like last year, DS and I took a trip up to Bloomsburg to spend Thanksgiving with our friends David and Juliana and their family. A lot of the foods were the same, but there were a few new things, including my brandied cranberries. All foods were delicious. They even made Alton Brown's mac and cheese in both the onion and no onion varieties, just for me. The drive up was not as pleasant this year. We left too close to rush hour, and I think perhaps we ran afoul of a wreck. The normally ~2.5 hr trip was five hours. There was one particularly bad section where DS took a nap, and 45 min later he woke up and we'd moved about 1 mile.

As a bonus, we got to see The Muppets. I laughed. I cried. I had the joy of knowing that we helped introduce David's sister to the joy of the Muppets. Apparently they did not watch any of that goodness growing up. I know... It's mind boggling.

We got back on Friday this year, and after a quick clean of the house, we popped in Christmas Vacation and put up the decorations. It's my favorite tradition with DS. I'll put up photos of some of that soon.

BTW, left over turkey and ham on a homemade pizza is amazing.

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Busy Day

2011-11-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

This morning I was awoken by a screaming neighbor. I don't think that quite gets across what I experienced. It was a S C R E A M I N G neighbor. Well, the neighbor part might be a lie. It was either the neighbor's babysitter (which would be really weird), or the person who lives under them. At any rate, apparently this young lady was very irate with her (now) ex-boyfriend for waking her up during her very limited sleeping time. Also, he was a selfish in the way he loved her. And he didn't get rid of his cat. Mark, how many times does she have to tell you, this is all your fault?*

So there was that. At least I woke up in a decent mood and found it more amusing than annoying. It was early for me, so I read Shades of Grey until I fell back asleep and had a little nap.

On to the busy part. After waking for real, I made my way to the post office to mail an SGC order to the Netherlands. I did a lot of laundry. Okay, that's not very exciting. I made brandied cranberries, which are delicious and made from our CSA cranberry batch. Then I made butternut squash soup**, also from our CSA stuff. I've really been into making soups lately. I worked out, including 4.5 for real pull ups.*** Currently, the dining room table is set up as a mini photo studio, and I'm wading through 144 new product photos. (Not 144 new products...)

Copper and Crystal Hoop Earrings by Sleep Goblin Crafts

I'm trying to spice up my product photos. My stuff never gets picked to be in Treasuries or the Etsy Finds e-mails, and I just don't see where the items themselves aren't good enough. That leaves the photography. I'm happier with this new set, but it's still not amazing. I have photo lights on my wish list, and that should help. What do you think? Give me some feedback!

Button Pearl and Garnet Earrings by Sleep Goblin Crafts

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*I lost count around 15.

**I just realized I forgot the butter in that soup. Eh, I added a bunch of spices, and I really like how it turned out anyway.

***Not all at once. Though the first round was two, which is a new record for me!

New Painting and Table Runner

2011-11-20T16:32:00.001-05:00

Little Nova, by Kaitlin Deering - 2009

This is mine and DS's first real art purchase. The painting is titled Little Nova, and is by our friend Kaitlin Deering. I adore it. The rainbow colors, the little flecks of white in the black background. It's magical and wondrous and makes me feel like I'm witnessing some miracle of space or the northern lights or something.

Felt Leaf Table Runner by Sleep Goblin Crafts - 2011

Also new, this table runner. I finished it last night. It's just felt cut in leaf shapes with some running stitches for veins, all connected together. I wanted something that was very fall, and cheap and easy to make.

Felt Leaf Table Runner by Sleep Goblin Crafts - 2011

Now we just need a few more chairs, and this table will be ready for a dinner party.

Just a few things

2011-11-20T01:18:00.001-05:00

30 hours in, skyrim is still amazing, and i've only scratched the service
in the last month i've had visitors from 14 different countries to my etsy shop
most must of have been accidents, because they counted towards my bounce rate
looking at the keywords that bring people to my shop makes me scratch my head. like, why did you get to me by searching for "rohan horse banner" when i'm fairly certain none of those words appear in my shop anywhere? and you stuck around, so... i guess you found something that satisfied you.
there are a lot of things floating around my craft room that belong on etsy but aren't there.
they've probably been in there for close to 2 years.
the scarves all finally went up today
bought my first piece of for real artwork, a giant canvas title "little nova".
i swoon every time i look at it
dusted off my "acting skills" for this music video (i'm in there, i swear)
went rock climbing today with the husband and actually enjoyed it for the first time in 3 years, if not more
my hands did not enjoy it
need some calluses
reading "shades of grey" and am entirely engrossed in this strange strange world
i have 9 books to go until i reach my goal of reading 80 for the year

2011 Sleep Goblin Ornament

2011-11-16T02:57:00.001-05:00

I have been quietly re-opening my Etsy shop for business over the last few weeks. You might have noticed some activity on the store's Facebook page if you follow that. I also started a Google+ page, just to cover all my bases. So if any of you want some custom stuff made by Christmas, now is a great time to let me know so it can be done in time!

But the more important thing I have to tell you is that the 2011 ornament is done! Well, designed. I still need to "mass produce" them. They're themed after the carol 12 Days of Christmas, specifically a partridge in a pear tree. It took a long time to figure this one out. I had originally planned on doing it last year, but it just didn't come together. This year I had a brilliant idea for layered paintings, but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the partridge in a way that made me happy. I still love the layer idea, but it will have to wait for something else.

A pear tree painting inside an ornament.

After debating between sculpted paper, cross stitch, and felt, I finally settled on felt. I had to figure out how make a 3d bird plush, which I'd never done before. Normally I just sew two flat pieces together and put some stuffing inside. I did some research and found out the partridge referred to was most likely a red-legged partridge, so I tried to make it look like that. They have a lot of color changes in their feathers, so it's not perfect, but I'm cool with it. Then I threw in some real twigs with some felt leaves and pears, and done!

If you like it, you can pre-order it for $10 through the end of November, and then the prices go up to more accurately reflect the time and effort put into them. Also, if you're missing any previous year's designs, I found a bunch of half finished things that I'm going to try to finish up and put in the shop so I can be rid of them. Keep an eye out for those as well!

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A Cautionary Tale of Switching Banks

2011-11-08T12:46:00.000-05:00

DS and I recently decided that we wanted to go back to using a Credit Union. We used one in Madison, and were very sad to say goodbye when we moved to CA. There weren't a lot of options in Santa Barbara, it's a small place, so we went with Wells Fargo because it was easy to access. We didn't love it. They charged us fees for everything that the UWCU used to do for free, and this was before the crash that made banks decide to create a bunch of new fees.

When we moved to PA, we talked early on about finding a new CU now that we're someplace bigger (and, we're assuming, with more selection). But we are apparently lazy at heart, because Wells Fargo was everywhere (they existed here alongside Wachovia before the merger, and so after the merger, well.. ) and it was easier to stay. Then we get a notice that their policies are changing, and we should login to our account online to read them. It's a good thing I did, because they were major changes. The most notable being that basic checking accounts were going to cost $15/mo. Yes, you read that right. Per month. That's $180 a year just to have a computer manage my money. Money that the bank uses to make more money while it sits there.

We decided this was reason enough to finally make the move. A word of warning if you decide to do this. Switching banks takes time. I wish we had started sooner, because we ended up with a deadline based on when we would get charged for having the checking account. It made things more stressful than they needed to be. I'm not sure what's standard, but the new credit union holds check deposits on new accounts for 7 business days, and accounts are apparently "new" for a full month. There is also a further hold on checks over $5000, and specials holds for personal checks. This meant that the way we did it, closing the old checking account, getting a cashier's check, and depositing it into our new CU, with weekends and holidays included, kept us from having any access to our money for 14 days. Kind of ridiculous. I sort of wish we'd just paid the Wells Fargo fee to electronically transfer the money to the new account. But at the time, I was very turned off by the $20 fee.

Of course, had we started earlier, we could have gotten DS's direct deposit set up in time to go through the CU for November, which would have prevented all of these issues. It didn't help that we did most of this on the first of the month, which gave us maybe 2 days to play with before we needed all that money to pay the monthly bills. Thank goodness for parents and excellent CU customer service...

On top of all that, when I went into the bank to close my account, the person that helped me (who was, admittedly, very nice) did not ask which account I meant, and took it upon herself to only close the checking account. So the savings account sat untouched, with a zero balance, which is a $5 monthly fee when under $200... I didn't even know it was still open until Mint.com told me I had a low balance of $.14. I guess I got an interest payment? I contacted the bank again and told them of the mistake and that the savings should have been closed. I was informed I'd have to do it in person, because the balance on the account was not zero, or I could mail them a notarized letter and they could send me a certified check. For 14 cents. Which I shouldn't even have had if they'd closed the account when I asked.

So what I'm telling you is this. If you decide to switch banks, find out what sort of waiting periods your new place has, and plan accordingly. If necessary, get your old bank to give you enough cash to get by, instead of a lump sum cashier's check. And remember that direct deposit changes and potentially take 3 weeks to go into effect.

In Search of Climbing

2011-11-05T23:09:00.000-04:00

Today DS and I decided to explore. We haven't really done this enough since moving here. He had read that there was some decent climbing in Ralph Stover State Park, which is about an hour from here. Today turned out to be crystal clear skies and a high of nearly 60, which is perfect hiking weather in my opinion. We layered up just in case, grabbed the camera, and went off in search of adventure.

The climbing guide we were following took us to the picnicking and white water section. This part was home to a late 18th century water-powered grist mill, and the park takes its name from its owner¹. However, the climbing section is in the "High Rocks" section. While there is technically a road that connects the two, there is a pedestrian only bridge in the way. So we bundled back into the car and tried again.

The High Rocks area is, as you might have imagined, high. It overlooks a horseshoe bend in the creek, and there are 200-ft drops down to the river. The rocks were often a bit purple, and reminded me a lot of Devil's Lake because of that. They didn't seem nearly so slick though, so they are probably not quartzite. There were quite a few climbers there, though not as many as we would have expected for such a nice day. That looks good for us being able to find places to set up once we start going there to climb. There were a lot of bolted routes too, which isn't something I've personally encountered much. It will be nice to use their built in anchors and not have to spend 45 minutes setting up the rope just to get started.

The day was lovely, both because of the weather and because the leaves were still hanging on and beautiful. I tried to get a good feel of the place for you in these photos.

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¹Ralph Stover State Park Recreational Guide

Some Feelings About Google Reader

2011-11-01T13:08:00.000-04:00

When I discovered Google Reader, it was quickly considered a godsend. Here, in one place, I could see all the things posts on the websites I frequented. ALL THE POSTS. IN ONE PLACE! I would never miss another update. It was amazing.

And then it quickly became immensely overwhelming. I would log into Reader, and there would be 2000+ new things to read. Reader became a chore. A sad thing. Something that filled me with anxiety and caused me to "Mark all as Read", completely destroying the very thing that made it awesome for me.

Then I started noticing the social features. I realized that several of my friends had similar tastes as me, and that they subscribed to the same feeds. These friends would share the posts they found interesting. I realized that I didn't have to subscribe to every site I liked, I could just check my friends' shared items for some of them. Suddenly, my daily reading list was something I could knock out in an hour. That's quite a thing really. The idea that in one hour I could ingest the entire contents of 79 different websites, plus those things my friends found worthwhile, is an amazing thing for me. I felt connected and informed with the world around me in ways I never have before. And if something on the internet was worth sharing and saving but not the whole site? Well, there's was the "Note in Reader" button on my browser tool bar.

The best thing about Reader was that all of these things was in one single place. I didn't have to go anywhere to read anything, because the entire article was there. I even made new friends by enjoying the comments friends of friends left and realizing that their shared items would also be things I found interesting. Many of those friends are people that aren't even on any other social networking site, and they are not effectively gone from my life.

Now I must say, I feel like Google Reader is a ghost town. Can I still read the full contents of those 79 subscriptions? Yes. But who will I talk to about them? Share them with? The idea that I have to go to another site to see +1 items, which are snippets, and then click those to go to yet another site to read all of those items.. well, that's not going to happen. I don't have time to do that. If something that was shared wasn't something I was interested in, I could easily type N and be done with it. Now I need to scroll through everything all of my friends have done on G+? I mean, that's a lot of stuff. I don't really care about most of that stuff. Every picture they post, every time they're happy there was ice cream in the fridge, every time they go somewhere and check in... This is not part of my "one hour to know what's happening in the world" routine, and it shouldn't be. The option to have that data show up in G+ is not the issue. It's that my Google Reader experience has been neutered into something far less useful in the process.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T01:02:00.000-04:00

This year, DS and I made our costumes from things we already owned. I'm Totoro, and he's Yukon Cornelius. Mine is a little disheveled from dancing. Happy Halloween!

To-Do Lists

2011-10-28T16:37:00.000-04:00

I've been keeping a to-do list on the marker board on my fridge. It's mostly just a list of things I need to do around the house that I don't want to forget about, and the fridge is something I see many times a day. Right now it says the following:

Litterboxes
Vacuum
Scarf
Thanksgiving Banner
Iron
Dulcimer Should Strap
Test Clear Plastic Ornament Idea
Blog
Upload Photos
Make Christmas gift list
Clean Kitchen
Totemsoul Updates

I'd cross off blog right now, but I actually put that on there to remind me to chronicle our going ons of the past couple weeks, and that's still not done... As you can see, it's just a bunch of chores and craft things. That last one is a website I've been working on for some friends lately.

Generally, I'm the only one that uses the marker board. Sometimes I leave notes for DS on there so he'll see them before work. However, today when I woke up, I found DS had made himself his own little to-do list:

R:

Put away clothes
Work out
Wish list
Drink 17 beers

I cracked up. I doubt he'll make it to 17, especially since we don't even have that many in the house. But I can tell you he deserves as many as he wants, because he's had a crazy month. Lots of deadlines and classes and travel and conferences with talks. Here's to the end of October!

Pumpkins

2011-10-23T23:50:00.000-04:00

It would seem DS and I are developing a habit of being with our niece and nephew for carving pumpkins. I just spent some time looking for last year's post about it, but it would seem it was during my "I forgot I had a blog for 6 months and all these posts are really back-posted" phase. Lucky for you, I did take photos that were saved somewhere.

"Jack" or a princess. Carved for (and with a some help from) Dorian. The glitter was all her, but once it was lit up, I was in love. -2010

Last year we had flown down to South Carolina for DS's mom's birthday, which isn't long before Halloween. His grandmother Marie was also in town. It was a really lovely trip, and DS and I enjoyed hanging out at his sister's house and carving pumpkins with the kids.

We thought this year we'd go back to having pumpkin carving parties at our place, especially now that we actually have friends here in town. However, life seldom goes as planned, and this time we found ourselves in West Virginia. Both of DS's grandmothers live there, and we were met by his sister and her family. Wouldn't you know that the same grandmother from the last year's pumpkin carving had gotten pumpkins this year too? I was not expecting that, but I was happy. Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite fall things. Not that that list is things is short.

The kids this year. It's hard to believe how old they are. <3

This year I ended up carving both pumpkins, though the kids cleaned them out on their own. There was only one good carving knife, and even that was long and very sharp. They have a healthy fear of knives after an accident last year. Miles started out wanting a scary pumpkin, and we sketched out designs until he was happy. And then he decided he wanted a pumpkin for God. And the end result is probably more scary than his "scary" design, but he was happy with it.

Hearts=Jesus / Cross / Ears=Bibles / Fish

Dorian wanted something scary. She took some time (interrupted several times by the need to run away from some bees that kept pestering us) before deciding on a ghost. Carving out those little eyes and mouth with the big knife that I had was tricky. And everyone was terrified that I was going to slice my fingers off when I was trying to shave down the skin for the rest of the ghost. Dorian even made me show her my hands a few times to assure her they weren't bleeding. She topped this one off by stabbing in "the head." By the time we took the photo, Marie had reclaimed her knife. You can still make out some stab wounds by the light shining through the slit though.

A ghost with stab wounds.

As with last year, we decided these pumpkins were enough carving for this Halloween. Now we're looking forward to seeing the girls in his family when they visit us in December to see the Nutcracker.

Behind the Scenes of a Mobile Commission

2011-10-19T08:54:00.000-04:00

Last November, a friend commissioned me to make a custom hanging mobile for their yet-to-be-born child's room. I was given a photo of the crib set, which was "jungle" themed (with the exception of a giraffe). Other than that, I was given free reign.

The thing with the giraffe is that I have problems with these themed sets that like to combine animals that don't really make sense. I'd be fine with it if they didn't say it was a jungle theme. Giraffes live in the savannah. But this eventually got me thinking that I had an opportunity to make the mobile both awesome to display and educational.

I was told the child was expected in May, so I had "plenty of time." However, inspiration was slow. Very slow. A whole year slow. I worked on it in spurts, creating an animal here and there with months in between as I struggled with what to make next. I probably could have worked much faster if someone had said, "I really love X, please make me something with these items in it." Coming up with it on my own, I just have to wait until it feels right.

So it's about 5 months late, but in the end, I am glad I waited until I had something worth sending. I decided to stick with the jungle theme, but make sure that all animals included would be something actually found in a tropical, wooded climate. Not all of the animals would have to be from the same jungle, just so long as they had similar habitats. I also wanted them to be animals you'd be likely to encounter at a zoo, but not necessarily the most famous ones. And I wanted the animals to be removable for some kind of interaction. My thought was that they could be used in story time, or something along those lines, with the idea being that the child would get to know the names of these animals and what they looked like. Then visits to the zoo would be more exciting, and hopefully with less mindless screaming and banging on enclosure glass...

I ended up making the three larger animals first, and they were also the most spaced out. Hand-embroidering the tiger stripes was probably not my best idea in terms of feasibility. The final structure came recently, when I decided to hang the bigger animals as if they were walking around the base of a tree, with smaller animals hung higher as if they were in the canopy. This idea was what finally triggered the creative juices, and it was mostly downhill from there. I believe the last three animals and the tree all came together in about 5 days.

Each animal is roughly to scale with the others; the elephant is a tad small, but I made it as big as my single sheet of felt would allow. They are all made of felt, hand-sewn and embroidered. The smaller ones have a touch of marker for shading, since the stitches were pulling through the felt once the pieces passed a certain size. There are wires in the leaves of the three, with loops for hanging. To keep it light, the tree trunk is made of straws that are wired together, wrapped in paper, and then covered in felt. I've never done anything like this before, so I just sort of made it up as I went along.

Because it was so late, and we hadn't talked about it in so long, I packaged everything up and quietly sent it along for my friend's birthday. I included a little packet that said how to put it together, as the tree is actually two pieces, and the animals can be hung from various points depending on what looks good. The packet also gave mini-bios, with pictures of live animals, for each of the animals included.

Now that the package is safely delivered, I can share the photos with you. Soon I should have photos of it hung in the baby's room, but for now, here are the ones I took before shipping.

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Apple Pie

2011-09-28T23:42:00.001-04:00

Today is my husband's birthday. We didn't do a whole lot, as he spent most of the day working. He got his present early (I talked his family into pitching in for an iPad, which he adores), so no presents. But I did hang the Happy Birthday banner I had made for a previous birthday, and lit candles, and cleaned.

Banner!

For dinner, I brined some pork chops, a la Alton Brown minus the stuffing, which DS grilled when he got home. Then he grilled some eggplant, because between the CSA and my garden, we have SO MUCH EGGPLANT. It was pretty tasty.

The best apple pie EVER.

But the best part was dessert. Which was an apple pie. That I made. From scratch. Let me tell you something. I can make a mean dessert. Also, the Pioneer Woman knows a thing or two about recipes. By which I mean, everything I've made of hers has knocked my socks off. I told DS I was going to make him the best apple pie he'd ever had, which apparently he did not believe. It is his favorite dessert, and he once knew a girl who knew her way around an apple pie. I was not afraid. He has conceded, whether truly or out of his love for me, I don't know. But I do know that the noises he made while eating that pie were all good.

One happy dude.

Three Decades

2011-09-14T12:55:00.000-04:00

I'm officially in my 30's. Since leaving Madison, a lot of the people that we tend to hang around are still in their mid 20's, and I can see the fear in their eyes when I tell them how old I am now. I kind of enjoy it. Truly, being 30 is no different than being 29. Except that I find myself terribly excited. Wait, was I excited last year? (checking...) Nope, I didn't even get around to making a birthday post. Shocking!

Gifts from my mom, so I can "party."

I'm tolding a woman's 30's are the best years of her life. Something about being comfortable in your skin and the bedroom. I don't know how much of a difference a year will really make on the latter, but I can tell you that I feel 100 times better in my skin than I did this time last year. Have I mentioned that I've lost 18 lbs? Bri has been keeping me on a pretty tight workout schedule. I even wore a real bikini at the beach last weekend for the first time in years. Aside from the sunburn, it was awesome. I'm not saying there aren't still things that need work. Just that for the first time in a long time, those things are not something I think about constantly. I am content.

I spent my birthday lounging around the house reading, and then several hours of band practice. Tonight the band has a show at Millcreek Tavern, and we're debuting two new songs. Songs I helped write! Bri surprised me with a homemade cake, which was so delicious. It actually had 30 candles on it, and it looked like it was some castle torch. I don't even remember the last time I had candles on a cake for my birthday, and it made my day.

Bri with my Birthday Cake/Torch

DS showered me with gifts this year. I finally own Settlers of Catan, which makes me so happy, even if you do need three people to play it. I have my first 3DS game, Ocarina of Time. And best of all, a serger! This last gift has inspired me to get back to sewing. I dug out a skirt pattern I bought a year ago, along with some fabric I'd been hoarding, and got to work. I've never made anything from a patter before, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It fits and has a zipper and everything. I didn't bother lining it, or using interfacing (I don't even know what it's for, stabilization I suppose). I figure I can get into all that stuff later.

A horrible photo of the skirt I made. The lumps are because I have shorts on under it.

This weekend DS and I will be attending the wedding of one of my favorite people, Luke. Which means we're heading back to Madison for the third time this year. The weather is supposed to be lovely, upper 60's, and I'm very excited. The rest of this week should be lovely.

PA Renaissance Faire

2011-09-06T20:06:00.001-04:00

Apparently, around these parts, the Renaissance Faire is a big deal. I'm told it's famous. Bri was very bothered I had never been to one at all before, much less PA's. So we took advantage of the Labor Day 2-for-1 special and took the boys.

I've always wanted to go to one of these. I wish I'd had a costume. I wish I hadn't been so sunburnt that it hurt to wear clothes. I am thankful for Lidocaine spray.

This place was huge, and completely full of actors in period costume walking around and manning booths and performing, so you really feel immersed in Elizabethan England. Well, except for all the people like me, running around in modern clothes with a giant camera. When I walked in, two of the actors welcoming people freaked out because I had a "hand cannon."

It was a rainy day, and we weren't there for very long. DS and Bri had to work for a bit in the morning, and then we all had band practice in the evening. This is really the kind of place you should experience all day. There is a storyline that the events follow throughout the day, and as that's one of the few free things, it's probably better to soak it all up. We thought we were going to see jousting, but it was just the pre-joust that set up the story for the 6pm "joust to the death." Lame. We did see the human chess game, which was amusing. Probably the best part was the whip/comedy/variety show with Don Juan and Miguel. Those guys were hilarious, and if you get a chance to see them or watch one of their dvds, I recommend it.

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At the Beach in Avalon

2011-09-04T23:08:00.000-04:00

We spent the day in Avalon, NJ at the beach. Bri's family rented a house for the week and was kind enough to let DS and I crash with them for the day. This was mine and DS's first trip to the Jersey shore, and I have to say, it was rather pleasant. Much nicer than expected a northern beach to be.

The day started off cloudy and a bit chilly for beach play. We took our time getting into our bathing suits, first walking to the Paper Peddler to pick up a copy of A Feast for Crows for Dan. He and DS have been going through the Song of Ice and Fire books together, and Dan didn't want DS to get ahead of him. I was rather impressed with this tiny little bookstore. It had a much better selection than I expected of a place so small in the middle of a tourist district.

Once the sun came out, we head to the beach and each read our books while sitting in the sun. It was the perfect temperature for me, so that the sun warmed my skin, but I never felt hot or sweaty. The boys convinced us to get into the ocean, which was definitely on the cold side. However, once we got used to it, we had fun jumping around in the waves for a while.

I didn't have a camera, but here is a photo of where we were, taken by ONG.

When we got hungry, we went back to the house for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon by the house pool. I have to say, if you have enough people you like that are willing to split the cost of one of these houses, it's a really nice time. The house was fully furnished, complete with washer and dryer and 3 bathrooms, and easily held Bri's entire family. Very relaxing.

We had dinner at Oceanside Seafood, which was decent and well priced. There were much better rated seafood places we could have gone to, but they were also insanely expensive. This was also when my sunburn decided to show up. Normally I can tell when I'm getting too much sun, but this time the breeze and the temperatures tricked me. So I will be sleeping with ice packs on my stomach tonight. No joke. It hurts to move. Hell, it hurts not to move. Still, it was worth it.

Fall Beginnings

2011-09-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

Fall is my favorite season, followed very closely by winter. In my head, all of the wonderful things these seasons bring start in September. There are all the holidays, the decorations, the colors, the smells, the FOOD. Also, my birthday. You guys know how nuts I am about my birthday, and this year is a milestone. I'll be 30. Apparently that makes some people feel old, but I say, MORE CAKE.

On Sept 1, Thursday, Bri dragged me to a bikram yoga class. We had got a set of five classes for $25 through Groupon in the spring, and they expire in Nov. We figured it was about time we used them. Especially now that we're working out so much, we actually feel in good enough shape to get through a whole yoga class. You know how I am about heat; I hate it. It makes me sick. So probably bikram yoga was a bad idea, but I figured that I'd at least try it. It was 107° in there, and I felt bad the second we walked in the studio. The first 45 min were standing poses, and I kept falling out of them and then sitting on the floor waiting for them to get to the next one, trying not to cry. It was entirely too hot for me. The last 45 min were seated poses, and my head tended to be in the draft of the back door, which someone had cracked open. That made things soooo much better, and I ended up really enjoying the second half. It was hard work, but the kind of hard work that makes you feel good. Instead of the kind of hard work that makes you want to run away in tears. I have 4 more classes...

On Friday I did my first pull-up since elementary school. So I guess all this exercise is working.

Today DS and I have been mostly relaxing. But when our chef friend gets off work late tonight, he's picking us up and we're going to the beach. We live super close to the beach, but in the entire year we've lived here, we've yet to go. So Sunday, BEACH.

Then on Monday, we're going to the PA Renaissance Faire. Apparently it's a big deal. I'm so super excited. I've always wanted to go to something like this. Bri keeps exclaiming about how I'll eat an entire turkey leg, but I'm more excited about the costumes and the jousting. Because I'm a nerd. And it's awesome.

Hopefully we'll have some good pictures of that stuff for you.

Oh, and before I forget. My band is playing a show on 9/14, which is doubling as my birthday party (and also our cellists', whose birthday is the 18th). We're planning to debut 2 new songs, one of which was my idea. It will be the first time we'll perform publicly with DS and I included in the whole show. Plus, someone is making me cupcakes.

I told you this month was awesome.

Speaking of Disaster...

2011-08-28T16:00:00.001-04:00

Hurricane Irene was not nice to us. Actually, I can't even blame the hurricane. I never saw the winds get over 24mph, which DS and I experienced while walking around today. 24mph is not that big a deal as far as winds are concerned. It rained fairly consistently, but it didn't flood; at least it didn't in my neighborhood. I blame our little disaster on the guy upstairs and the maintenance people who told my landlord everything was fine. The hurricane was just an inconvenience.

So here's what happened. DS and I started getting rain from Irene early, around 1 in the afternoon. We thought it would be a good idea to take photos of the view periodically. That would give our families some idea of how things progressed based visible distance and tree movement. We took some videos. We laughed at the balcony door (which is 10ft tall mind you) being hard to shut. We remarked on the whistling noise around the door. But most of the excitement felt had more to do with the idea that this was the start of a hurricane, and not because the storm was particularly exciting. We've seen a lot worse from the thunderstorms that roll through here.

When we moved into this apartment, we had noticed evidence of water damage over the balcony door. We alerted the landlord (who conveniently lives below us), he called the building manager, and masons were sent out to check on things. I remember laughing because I had used my master degree training to hypothesize on the cause, and DS "pff"-ing me, and then the mason explaining the problem to me using my exact wording. That was the last we heard about it. Apparently these same people told our landlord the problem was fixed.

I tell you this so you understand why we did not immediately freak out when our ceiling started leaking. We texted our landlord, but didn't really expect a response since we could hear him having his own hurricane party downstairs. We had been partaking of DS's latest batch of sangria ourselves. I took some photos since we were documenting stuff anyway, threw a bucket and towel down, and went back to my video game.

Not long after that, DS went to bed. As he does. I continued to loosely monitor the leak and play said video game. To avoid Leak 2 from exploding all over the floor as the paint broke, as Leak 1 had done, at some point I pricked it with a pin and drained it. Leaks kept appearing, all over the balcony door, and I kept rearranging the buckets so our wood floor wouldn't be totally ruined.

This is what I was doing around 11:45pm when the ceiling collapsed on my head. I remember kneeling on the floor, moving buckets, and then hearing loud noise. There was a sensation of being covered, like a bucket of water had been dropped on me, and also kind of like a sheet the way it clouded my vision. Except it hurt. And I screamed. Not an "oh shit, you started me" kind of scream. An "i'mdyingohgoddon'tkillmeMURDERER" scream. I felt my glasses get knocked off my face. I felt like someone dropped a book on my head.

My eyes were full of grit, and burned, and I was afraid to open them. I'm not sure I could open them. I held my arms out away from me, like you do on instinct when someone drops a can of soda at your feet for example, and I stood there and screamed. At this point, I wasn't entirely sure what all had happened. It was really fast and I couldn't see almost immediately. I was barefoot, in pajamas, and I could feel that I was covered in something and standing in rubble. I was terrified. My adrenaline hit so hard I honestly didn't feel any pain from that first book feeling until at least a 1/2 hour later.

I heard DS stumble out of the bedroom, yelling for me. I couldn't stop screaming. He's not very coherent when he gets woken up that soon after falling asleep, no matter what the circumstances, and the screaming doesn't help. I know this from past spider experiences. So looking back, I'm sure a lot of the noise I heard after that was him running into walls trying to run to me. He kept telling me to shut up, to tell him what happened. I remember thinking he should tell me and that it was probably obvious based on what my feet were feeling. He can see without glasses after all.

I must have gotten out that I couldn't see, and I guess he realized I needed to rinse my eyes out, because somehow we made it to the bathroom. He turned the water on for me, and I spent some time rinsing out my eyes while I sobbed uncontrollably. Not even tears, just loud noises that sounded like sobs. It was like my body could not help crying out in some way; pure panic noises. I calmed down a lot when I could finally open my eyes. I tried to get some of the grit out of my hair, but it was hopeless.

We went back out to survey the damage and were floored. White fluff was everywhere. There was a 2.5'x4' piece of sheetrock broken in half on the floor. What looked like mud was covering everything within six feet of the door. I immediately grabbed the camera and started taking pictures, because I didn't want to take any chances of later being told we had exaggerated something. The apartment has a way of not getting fixed... DS was on the phone, trying to get the landlord, even though I was sure he had heard the noise. I found out that pieces of the outer brick wall had come with the ceiling, which explained why I felt like I'd been hit with them.

The landlord came upstairs right away, and his face held the same shocked expression I'm sure ours had moments earlier. He asked if we were alright. We said we were. This is when I found out I was bleeding. There was an inch long gash on my forehead and I didn't even feel it. My landlord said, "You should probably put some ice on that. You're bleeding."

Over the next hour, I attempted to clean myself up some more, administered some first aid, took a bunch of ibuprofen to fend off the pain I figured would come when the adrenaline wore off. DS and the landlord worked on cleaning up the living room and attempting to tarp off the upstairs balcony to help minimize further damage. We asked why the masonry problem hadn't been fixed, and the whole "it is/it isn't" thing mentioned at the beginning came out. While tarping off the upper balcony, the landlord found out there's actually a hole in the outer wall of the upstairs unit and the dude never did anything about it. So a lot of rain, 150 year old bricks, and a hole in the wall meant a leaky ceiling for me. My landlord is super mad at that dude (this is a condo building, and the landlord only owns our unit and his own) and the maintenance people for basically lying to him. I think he's afraid we'll sue too, but we won't.

Today we tried to clean up as much as possible and covered the hole since insulation (the white fluffy stuff) kept falling out. I feel like you'd probably expect after having a ceiling and bricks fall on my head. Thankfully, the cut is pretty minor all things considered. Right now is the first time I've let the ibuprofen wear off, and I can tell it was a mistake. There are a lot of sore spots on my head and shoulders. I wish I had a photo of how I looked when DS found me. Apparently he had a moment where he honestly thought I'd been tarred and feathered. That image would probably provide some comedic relief about now.

The rain stopped earlier, but not the wind. We chanced it anyway and walked around a bit outside with camera. My neighborhood seems to have been really lucky. We didn't find any real flooding, or downed trees or anything. The last of the clouds should be gone by 7pm, and the winds will drop under 20mph then as well. We're supposed to hear on Monday when the masons and contractors will come fix the ceiling. Thankfully, the 10 day forecast is rain free, so more leaking shouldn't be a problem.

I'm going to take some more painkillers and chill the rest of the day. I hope your hurricane experience was better, and that my story will be the only scary thing you hear about.

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It's a "2 for 1" Kind of Week

2011-08-26T22:16:00.001-04:00

Have I ever told you that before I decided to major in Art History in college, my ideal career was Storm Chaser? I was hampered by not having the proper curriculum offered in my home state combined with a fear of leaving said state for school. Which is kind of funny looking back on how far away I've traveled since then. At any rate, I am not a storm chaser, but am still enamored of crazy weather. I look forward to all major weather events and natural disasters with a childish glee that scares my husband. He worries for my sanity. It's not that I want to be in the middle of something that will kill me. I have no death wish. But the raw power of Earth is a beautiful thing, and as long as I can experience it in a way that keeps me alive, I will.

The whole time I lived in California, I kept expecting to experience an earthquake. It's not like I wanted to the ground to rip open beneath my feet or anything; having some glasses rattle and my bed shake is plenty fine. It never happened, though there were a few that were near enough to me that my family freaked out for me. I didn't even know about them until I found I had a bunch of frantic messages on my phone. So the fact that my first earthquake experience was in Philadelphia on Tuesday was disorienting. I think if it had happened in CA, I would have been like, "whoa! this is an earthquake" and went with it. Instead, I woke up to my bed shaking, the whole building swaying, and thought maybe it was being torn down and no one had checked to make sure everyone was out. Look, your brain does not function quite right when you first wake up. Shut it. The only casualty was my cuckoo clock, which fell and busted. I think I can fix it, but all things considered, this was probably the best I could hope for in terms of experiencing an earthquake. I'll go ahead and cross that off my list.

An electronic billboard on my way home from taking Bri to the train station today.

Just when I thought that was my excitement for the month, I find out there's a hurricane coming. DS keeps telling me it's no big deal, and in hurricane terms, he's totally right. As of this moment, Philly is still in Irene's path. It's projected to be somewhere between a CAT1 and a Tropical Storm by the time it gets here. Either one would be a first for me, and neither are likely to cause my building to fall down, so I'm excited. To be on the safe side, we brought all my plants in tonight while it's still dry out.

This room will probably be infested with spiders now...

My tomato is still growing. It's insane. The netting is to keep the birds from eating the ripening tomatoes. Bastards.

We live downtown on the 4th floor of a building, so flooding isn't an immediate worry as far as our stuff is concerned. I suppose there's an off chance our building could float away, by which I mean like 0.05%. However, both rivers surrounding us are expected to flood, and they're only 2.3 mi apart where we are. The Delaware River is 2 blocks from me; I can see it out my window. It's kind of weird, because we're not on the coast, but we're very close to the mouth of the Delaware, and it has tides up here. So flooding in my area is entirely possible. My weather app on my phone is also telling me loss of power is a possibility, so we've gathered the candles and charged all our spare batteries again. The main thing I worry about with loss of power is losing the internet. That should tell you something about our worry levels. And probably something about how much I use the internet.

My plan is to read Game of Thrones, quilt, and take photos. Maybe I'll even get inspired to write another song.

Song Writing

2011-08-23T00:53:00.000-04:00

Bri helps us with a beat while we work on some polymeter.

I think I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. DS and I have officially joined the band Designer, which is based in Philly. I'd describe the music for you, but honestly, I don't know how. I recommend you check out the website to learn more. DS plays bass, and I mostly play flute, though there are plans to add my mandolin and hammered dulcimer to the mix. The other instruments are piano, drums, cello, trumpet, and guitar.

It is so much fun writing music with these guys. So far we have one full song nearly done, and we're working on a second. I'm excited to say that the second is based of something I wrote, which is probably the best complement anyone has given me. That's sort of how the band does things. Someone will bring in a little something they were playing around with, and then everyone sort of jams until magic happens. I say magic, because that's what it feels like to me, but honestly, it's more like a lot of talent and a really well rounded group.

The band had written one album already when DS and I came along. We didn't really want to change the overall sound of those songs, since they're already released and awesome, so we've been writing some parts that fit in. Otherwise we'd just be sitting on stage waiting for the new songs to be played, which is no fun. We played a show on August 10 at a place called The Fire. We hadn't really been expecting to be doing anything other than the helping out we'd been doing on the song Thundersnow, but when we got there they already had a mic set up for my flute. So DS ran home quickly to get it, and I played my first real show as a band member.

This is a band that, the first time my friends told me about it, I heard "we're in a band" and just nodded and smiled, assuming they were crap like most basement bands; but when we heard them the first time at their Christmas show last year we were blown away. I remember DS and I looking at each other with our mouths open and being like, "shit, these guys are seriously awesome." So the fact that they've asked us to join them is nothing less than an honor. What I'm trying to say is, I'm so excited.

The really wonderful thing about this is that I've been spending a lot more time on my music. I've had a hammered dulcimer for ages, but I only really started learning to play it this year. I actually took my flute in to the music shop to have it serviced, which is something that had never been done in its 15 year existence. DS and I look forward to our weekly practice like a breath of fresh air. Not only that, but it's a lot of fun hanging with these people, and we finally feel like we have a group of "Philly friends," which helps it feel like home here.

Anyway, if you're in the area when we're playing, you should come check us out. The show schedule is up on the website. Until then, feel free to listen to the tracks we have posted online.

Lightning Storm

2011-08-18T23:27:00.001-04:00

There have been a lot of thunderstorms rolling through lately. Tonight DS and I had the presence of mind to go out on the balcony and enjoy the show. I attempted to take photos of the lightning, but most of the time I missed. However, sometimes those misses resulted in some really interesting color studies. Enjoy.

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A Conversation with DS

2011-08-15T01:58:00.000-04:00

me: what's with all these cops out tonight?

ds: not sure.. maybe it's a response to all these flash mobs that have been roaming the streets?

me: what?!? we had flash mobs and i missed it???

ds: yeah, it's kind of nuts

me: man, that's awesome. i'd love to see that! why would the cops care about that? were they disrupting traffic or something?

ds: what? no man, it's scary. they're like twenty 16 year old running around and knifing people

me: oh. yeah, i don't think you know what a flash mob is

me: a flash mob is where people show up like it's random and then do a dance routine

ds: oh. what kind of mob is this?

me: that'd just be a regular mob.

I'm not posting this to make fun of DS, though I did laugh a lot at the time. Mostly, I think it really illustrates how different our brains are. And it's funny.

Minneapolis Re-cap

2011-07-29T14:19:00.002-04:00

Minneapolis was wonderful. DS and I had been once before for a short one night trip to see the Yankees play the Twins. Though perhaps I didn't blog about it, because I can't seem to find the post now. This particular trip was due to a conference DS needed to attend. I tagged along to see Beth and Brian.

Sunday:
Arrive in the morning, temperatures 66, FANTASTIC. Picked up at the airport by Beth and Brian, whom I am technically meeting for the first time even though I've known them for 5+ years. Go to the "going away" party brunch at The Strip Club (no joke! but it's steak, so sort of a joke!) for one of Brian's sisters, where we met his whole family. Have fenian french toast with an irish whiskey caramelized sauce.

Drop DS off at the hotel for conference stuff, then go to the zoo. Get dropped off at hotel, eat, collapse in exhaustion.

Monday:
Sleep in! Wait around for people to stop having job stuff to do. Dinner with Beth and Brian at La Casitas. (Take phone call from Mom to tell her how to set up her wireless router.) Stop by Minnehaha Falls.

Oooh and Aaah!

Photo by Beth

Tuesday:
Sushi Lunch, eaten in the IDS Center downtown, which is a totally enclosed space full of sunlight and benches and trees and "rain."

Swim laps in the pool, work out in the gym, go to Brian's place and play Minecraft and League of Legends all night.

Wednesday:
I don't remember what I did during the day! But that night we were fed homemade pizza by Beth, and then Brian, DS and I played Settlers of Catan, and all four of us played We Didn't Play Test This At All. And of course, you have to end a gathering with a YouTube party, so we did!

Photo by Beth

Thursday:
Fly home!

Minneapolis Zoo

2011-07-25T12:39:00.040-04:00

Yesterday, I made to yet another zoo I've never before visited! This time it was the Minnesota Zoo, which is located in greater Minneapolis. Specifically, Apply Valley. We are in the great city of Minneapolis visiting friends. Well, I'm visiting friends. DS is visiting a conference, and so he is staying busy doing other things. It's always a lot of fun for me when I get to experience friends' local zoos, and lucky for me, Beth and Brian were happy to tag along even though it was hot.

This particular zoo does not have an amazing selection of animals. However, the exhibits for the animals they do have are just fantastic. The grizzly bears has geysers. Every animal there had just a massive amount of space that they were often hard to find. It must be a really nice place for them, which makes me happy. Fun zoo facts: the decor is themed around Dr. Suess; first zoo I've been to with a dolphin! Unfortunately, the zoo closed and we were scooted out before we got to see the Medtronic Minnesota Trail, which had a wolverine and a cougar. This probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't spent forever entranced by the coral reefs.

So a quick note about these photos. Apparently the animals thought it would be fun to keep their butts towards the onlookers, so the three of us made it into a game. Goal: Take as many butt photos as possible. We were quite successful, though for your viewing pleasure, I tried to throw some good photos in here as well.

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Bri's Kittens

2011-06-29T20:58:00.001-04:00

My friend Bri just got new baby kittens. They're just 11 weeks old, and SO ADORABLE! I spent the afternoon following them around with my camera after giving them some of the toys my cats ignore. They make me realize just how humongous my cats are. I mean, Felix was the runt, and she's still 13 lbs. No wonder people look at them like they're freaks of nature...

Anywho, I hope you're prepared for a cuteness onslaught.

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Show at World Cafe Live

2011-06-23T23:07:00.000-04:00

Here's video from the song DS and I helped out with at the show on June 17th at World Cafe Live. Sometimes the sound doesn't match up just right, but you'll get the idea. It was so much fun, and I hope that we get more chances to do fun things like this in the future.

If you like the music, be sure to check out the band's website for more info.

I'm With The Band

2011-06-07T23:43:00.002-04:00

Today was a busy day. I'm having a lot of those lately. A good portion of this is because I've been playing with the band Designer, based in Philly. I came along as they were finishing up recording their first CD, so I don't have a huge part yet. They needed a second pianist for one of their songs when it's performed live, and luckily for me, piano is one of the instruments I play.

Being one of the only band members without a full time job (something I'm working on, more details on that if it pans out), I've started doing a lot of background stuff to help out. The major thing was designing the website. Website design is not something I have any training in, and I rely heavily on templates followed by back-end editing of html, css, and xml for those things templates won't let me do. Thank goodness for Google.

Other things include imparting my (limited) knowledge about things like Square Up and business finances, and helping out with creating band merchandise like this poster.

No, I didn't design it, Dan, the drummer, did. All I did was use my ink-free hands to move finished posters around during the screen printing process and then make sure they were dry with a blow dryer so they wouldn't smear. The posters are going to be on sale at the CD release show on June 17th at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. I'll be on the piano, and perhaps the flute. We'll see about that last one. I've been noodling around on the songs during practice, but I'm not sure anything I've done yet is worth playing at a show.

Check out some of the band's songs here (some will hopefully be on the website soon), and if you like them, pre-order the CD so we can afford to make another I'll actually be on!

What else have I been up to? Practicing my mandolin, flute, and piano playing nearly every day. Working out, which has actually been showing progress! Sewing up a mobile for my friend Lisa's baby. Lots of for real cooking; I'm as shocked as you are. Tonight I made DS a lentil soup from scratch for him to take in his lunches. Of course, I've been doing the usual things, like cleaning the house, gardening, reading, etc.

What's keeping you busy?

Mandolin

2011-06-01T23:36:00.003-04:00

Check out my new mandolin!

Not long after DS and I moved in together, or perhaps even before that, DS was given an old mandolin that had been found in his aunt's attic. For a long time I dreamed about learning to play it, but it was not in great shape. We held onto it anyway, and after I started playing with the band Designer, it was decided that my learning to play would be beneficial.

So I tuned it up with the old strings, which were rusted, to see if it was worth a shot. It seemed to hold a tune, and I got really excited and bought new strings and a book for learning to play. Unfortunately, when I went to restring the thing I discovered two of the tuning pegs were bent. They would only turn so far in one direction before they would just stop moving and would only go back the other way. This made restringing it impossible.

We took it to the repair guy at the music store who tried his best, but apparently that old thing has a weird tuning head and he couldn't find a replacement for it. Poor me, I was forced to buy the one I had been playing with all the times DS had been shopping for a bass!

I've had it for just over a week, though it already feels like twice that. I try to play for an 45 min to an hour everyday to help build up my calluses, because I've never played anything like this before. I'm taking my time learning the basics, trying not to rush it. DS keeps asking if I can play like Chris Thile yet, and I can assure you the answer is no.

Garden Update 01

2011-05-30T23:30:00.000-04:00

It's been about a month since I last showed you my garden. An update was requested, so here you go! One of the garlic plants didn't make it, but the other seems to be doing well so far. I've moved some things around as the plants have been getting bigger. All four of the rail planters are full now.

I had my doubts the eggplant would do anything, especially since Felix kept eating it, but when I took photos of it today I found a bunch of flower buds. I can't believe it. The tomatoes are another thing beating my expectations. There's a bigger balcony over ours, so I think at most we get 6 hours of direct sunlight. Tomatoes like a lot of sun, so I was worried they wouldn't do well. Those things are exploding right now. I can't wait to taste the first batch!

The strawberries have had some hiccups, probably in large part because I didn't realize I shouldn't let them produce at first. The one plant of the three that came from the nursery with blossoms already managed to make a little batch of strawberries, but they were smaller than marbles. Not even the shooter size, just regular small ones would be bigger. Those went straight into the trash. The second crop is attempting to come in now, and maybe that one will work. I still only have one plant even trying, but I'm not too worried about it after reading that strawberries do best in their second and third years.

After the success I had with hot peppers in Santa Barbara with only evening sun through my bedroom window, I figured I'd do well with those. The plants are getting massive, and they each have at least 15 flower buds so far. Within the next week or two they should start making their first actual peppers since a couple of the flowers are open. The Hot Thai Pepper, which is more bushy than the others, is already making fruit. You should be able to make it out in the photo.

Except for the garlic, everything seems to be surviving. Even thriving. We've been putting the oregano and basil into our food, especially homemade pizzas. With our CSA shares coming in we're getting a lot of salad makings right now, so the tomatoes will be very welcome. We have no idea what we're going to do with all those peppers... I don't even care really. Gardening is like sustenance for my soul.

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Finished Garden 2011

2011-05-02T16:26:00.002-04:00

Have I told you how excited I am to finally have a balcony for an entire growing season again? SO EXCITED. Feast your eyes on this gorgeousness.

Plants from left to right:
Catnip
Ornamental Thai Pepper
3 Strawberries
Lavender
Eggplant
Basil
Oregano
Cilantro
Garlic

Hanging:
Yellow Pear (Heirloom Tomato)
Marion (Heirloom Tomato)
Anaheim Pepper
Hot Banana Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Habanero Pepper

Things you can't see yet:
Spinach
Lots of part-sun flowers
The cats camped out in that camping chair
The water puddles on the balcony below because I can't figure out how not to make a mess when I'm watering. :( I'm seriously considering hanging a shower curtain that will funnel the water into a bucket.

This is the window box on the other side of the apartment, outside our bedroom. It doesn't get much light, so I picked out plants that are supposed to like part-sun. Gerbera daisies for the win!

Now I just need the sun to come out more than once every 10 days.

PIFA Street Fair 2011

2011-04-30T21:00:00.001-04:00

This month has been the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, or PIFA for short. It started April 7, but somehow I missed everything but the Street Fair. I honestly thought the Street Fair would be awesome, and indeed, the individual aspects were pretty cool. However, there are a good 100,000 or so more people crammed into that area than was good for me, and so I mostly felt a full-blown panic attack coming on the whole time. We didn't stay long, and I'm glad for it, but I am happy we managed to see what we did.

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Attending a Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T11:08:00.001-04:00

I am not one to care about things like royal weddings. However, I am one for silly parties that allow me to dress up either in costume or fancy dresses. Thankfully, I have a friend here in Philly that is down with that, and she agreed to participate in my "Royal Wedding Tea Party" party. And no, we did not get up before dawn to watch this thing. I have DVR silly.

We made Earl Grey tea with milk and sugar, as it seemed the most English thing to drink. We don't really know. We had lemon bars, for "tea and cake." We had cakes from a small local bakery. We had champagne. We had dresses. We had the ability to fast forward through the lamest parts. We had everything except fascinators. The commentators even seemed to answer every question we blurted out to the TV.

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles. And Tornadoes.

2011-04-28T23:24:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's a movie. It's also what it took to get me home from a visit to KY. That and 24 hours. Let me tell you about my adventures traveling through that massive storm. (TL:DR version: it was a mess, but I made it after a crap ton of delays, 6 trains, and 24 hours.)

I got into KY on Tuesday, April 19th. That night my mom got me up because the tornado sirens were going off and we were on the second floor of her house. Tornado sirens pretty much sums up my visit. Seriously. It stormed every day that I was there, which I honestly enjoyed. The problem came when I had to get home Wednesday.

Before I had even gotten to the airport, my first flight had been delayed long enough to make me miss the second one. A quick call to customer service had me rebooked from the 7:35pm out of Atlanta to the 9:52pm. It was going to get me home late enough that DS wasn't sure he could stay up to retrieve me, but that was a minor concern. During the online check-in process, it asked for volunteers to be bumped, and I gladly signed up thinking, "hey, free voucher and getting to travel during not storms. score."

Having never signed up for this volunteer process before, I kept thinking I would be getting a call letting me know I wasn't flying, and there was no need to come to the airport today, kthx. That didn't happen of course. Since I knew the flight was delayed, Mom was actually able to take me to the airport, which was nice. Not long after I was in the terminal, the flight was delayed again. And then again.

A flight that was originally supposed to have me in Atlanta by 7pm ended up being a little after 8. All in all not too bad. My original second flight had been delayed as well by this point, and I ran to the gate in the hopes I would get lucky. Ha! That flight was overbooked because of all the previous cancellations and delays. I didn't even try talking to the people at the counter. They were completely surrounded by people losing their minds. At this point I have a confirmed ticket for the next Philly flight, but no seat. The counter people at that gate are also tired from dealing with crazies all day. I got "the look" and was asked to come back after all the other flights leaving from my gate that weren't mine were gone. Also, that flight was now delayed until 11:08. Checking the airport-wide departure screens, I see that there are only 10 flights in the entire airport that are on time.

Now my phone battery is on its last leg and I'm starving, so I went in search of food and power. Guess how much a phone charger in the airport costs. Go on, guess! Okay I'll tell you. $24.99 plus tax. That was a no sale, and a strong lesson in not putting my charger in my checked luggage. After eating, the gate is in chaos. Flights are being moved around from gate to gate with no really communication or warning. The gate attendants have no idea they're even supposed to be boarding a flight to New Orleans, but all the New Orleans people are there expecting seats on standby. Meanwhile they ask for volunteers to sit out the flight to Philly again, and again I think, "whoo! full night's sleep!" and quickly get in line. They get through the first person in line, who gets a voucher and a free hotel, and just as they're finishing her our flight is moved to another gate. That attendant kindly put me on the volunteer list but didn't do any of the actual work and sent me to the next gate.

There, I go to check in with the attendant and either get an actual seat or a hotel. He says they're not even bumping people from the flight but thanks anyway kthx bai... So I sit and wait while the flight is delayed, and delayed, and delayed. There are torrential rains falling outside and lightning every couple of seconds. It's announced our plane couldn't land and was diverted. The flight might not leave until 2am. Oh no wait, it's canceled.

So now there's a massive herd of people literally running to the concourse help center for rebookings. By the time I get there, there must have been 1000 people at least. We are being urged to go to the main ticketing counter outside of security, but a fair number of us decide to take our chances waiting in the terminal since we're imaging the throngs of people out there. Then the person working the counter announces he's leaving in 5 minutes and we stood in line for nothing. By this point I've attached myself to group of people that were all going to Philly, and we make our way down to the ticketing counter. Where we get behind a line with thousands of people. And then thousands more get in line behind us. And then we stood there for 3 hours.

All the "free hotel" vouchers were gone by then. If I wanted to take several flights, I was told I could be in Philly by 10pm Thursday, but at this point I know that it's going to be storming all day in Philly. The idea of leaving late and getting delayed and delayed again and spending another night in the airport was appalling, so I asked them for the earliest flight that got me anywhere near Philly. I figured I'd rather be 60 miles from home and at the least retrievable by DS after he got off work than stranded in another airport somewhere. They give me the 7:37am to Newark, NJ, and I'm sent off with a thin blanket and a toiletry kit which thankfully contained a toothbrush and some deodorant.

After going through security again, I zombie walked through the airport to my new gate, taking the long way since the trains between concourses don't run at night, only to see once I was there it had already been moved. I zombie walked to the new gate, tried to sleep but couldn't because the seats in this terminal have arm rests and you can't lay down. Not to mention my phone is in the red and can't be relied on to be an alarm. The chances of me waking up in 4 hours don't seem good, so I sort of close my eyes and zone out for an hour. And then the gate changed again, so I walked down another 5 concourses.

By this point, it's 4:30am. I find a Starbucks that's open and get a coffee and a muffin. Find I can't really eat, I'm just exhausted and need sleep. The people I'd been with in line downstairs all show up for the same flight, and we talked until boarding. I find out the first flight into Philly that morning is already canceled, and I feel so happy to being leaving for Newark on time. I was asleep before the plane even left the ground, so I did managed to get an hour or so of sleep in there.

Once in NJ, I re-attach myself to 4 of the people from earlier, and we debate the different ways to get home. There was Amtrak, NJ Transit, rental cars, or going across the water into NYC to catch a bus. After talking to all of the car rental places, we decide the train is the easiest, and NJ Transit is cheapest. There's an airport train to the real train. That ends at Trenton and we switch to SEPTA which serves PA. We roll into the 30th St Station around 2pm having not really eaten since 8pm the night before. We all inhale some quickly bought food before catching another train to the airport to pick our up luggage which was never rerouted. Not that I minded traveling those trains without a massive suitcase, but it was that much longer before getting home.

Somehow we managed to find our luggage within a minute of walking into the airport, and so I was able to catch the outbound train that left 9 min after dropping us off. I said goodbye to my traveling companions and headed back to 30th St Station to meet DS because I didn't have my house key with me. Then I take the subway to the stop near my house and push my suitcase the 2+ big city blocks home where I immediately showered. It was a little after 4pm, which was almost exactly 24 hours after leaving my mom's house. I attempted to stay awake until bedtime so as not to through off my sleeping schedule (which has been relatively normal recently, somehow), but I was actually doing the bobbing head thing sitting on the couch and gave up. DS said I didn't even budge when he came home and brought Winston in to see me.

As awful as it was to stay in Atlanta overnight, standing or walking for most of it, I have to admit that wasn't entirely unpleasant overall. I want to thank the flight attendant waiting for her next flight that let me use her phone charger until my canceled flight caused me to leave her. Little Brad and his mother for entertaining me during both the 3 hour line wait and final boarding wait at the last gate. And especially Angie, Denise and their husbands to let me tag along during the baggage hunt and travel from NJ to PA. They made what would probably have been a stressful and intimidating part of the journey no big deal, and at times even hilarious. Also, there were massive tornadoes being made in this storm, so all things considered, a night in the Atlanta airport was way better than being yanked out of the sky or something. I am home, alive, and none of my luggage is missing. In fact, I have a new travel kit.

Important lessons: keep your phone charger on you, and perhaps some emergency amenities (there were people who had no access to medications they needed); stay calm and chill. That last one is key. There were so many people telling horror stories, but they were freaking out and making demands. Every single person I encountered at the airport and over the phone was completely helpful and nice to me. They want you out of their airport as much as you want to be out of their airport, and blowing your top isn't going to endear them to you. I saw desk attendants all night long that I had talked to not long after landing and they had mentioned they'd been working all day. Their day wasn't much better than mine. Probably worse really, because they had angry people yelling at them throughout.

Exciting things for Spring

2011-04-07T11:43:00.000-04:00

Here are some things I'm currently very excited about:

I bought my first strawberry plant
I found an array of flowers that tolerate partial sun, so they might actually thrive on my balcony
I have basil, lavender, and oregano growing right now
I'm in the process of sprouting spinach and cilantro
I have screens for all my windows and the balcony door, so no flies this summer!
Joined my first CSA! (Just awaiting some sort of confirmation that they haven't already sold out; nervous)
Seeing Halladay pitch in person tonight with Bri
Trees are blooming all over the city
Found a Wegman's within easy driving distance of my house and it's great
I was able to wear my Vibram's without my toes freezing yesterday on the concrete
Nell and Brian are visiting this weekend
Lots of fun trips planned in the very near future
The weather is finally shifting to full on Spring, and not "sometimes I really want to be Winter still!!!"

There are a few things that aren't exciting, like how Spring makes my allergies turn from a slight annoyance to nearly incapacitating. But just look at this list of awesomeness! I'm so excited to have growing space again, even if none of it is south facing.

If you're a frequent reader of this blog, look for back posts in the near future. At some point I plan to catch up with all these photos I have sitting on my computer...

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T14:17:00.038-05:00

We had the pleasure of being invited to the Boy family Thanksgiving. In order to attend, we had to break our 5 year or so commitment of not travelling on this particular holiday. One too many times spent stranded in uncomfortable places on DS's part has left a sour taste in his mouth. Luckily, David's parents are only a few hours away, and in the direction of least traffic. The drive was pleasant, and even included several tunnels through mountains, which never fail to enthuse my 5-year-old self.

The menu was planned out weeks, maybe months, in advance. We all shared a Google spreadsheet, adding and editing and leaving comments until we were all excited and drooling. In the end, this is what we ate:
2 turkeys (1 made by DS using Alton Brown's recipe)
1 smoked ham
baked mac 'n' cheese (again, Alton Brown)
green beans (grown in Tennessee by a family member as far as I could tell)
homemade rolls
stuffing
2 kinds of sweet potatoes
4 kinds of cranberry relish
homemade creamed corn
roasted brussel sprouts
cranberry citrus salad
mashed potatoes
pumpkin pie
cherry/rhubarb pie
a Colombian ice cream thing that was awesome
pumpkin pie/apple pie/pecan pie/dulce de leche with fig truffles
hot apple cider the whole trip
homemade cappuccinos

Are you drooling yet? It was divine. I thought it was entirely too much food, but there were so many of us that we managed to put a good dent in it. We even had some to take home, which helped ease our sadness at not having an entire turkey in our own fridge like usual.

Here is a small selection of photos. I'm sad to say that I didn't get one of the whole food spread, but that's okay.

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*Written 2/14/11 and backposted

A Wedding in Baltimore

2010-11-17T15:51:00.001-05:00

We had the very great pleasure of attending a wedding in Baltimore. Micah was a high school friend of DS, and though I haven't seen much of him, I've always had the impression that he and his family were, well, family. So you can imagine how happy we are to only be 1.5 hours from him now. This means a lot more now that the wedding has occurred, and he's no longer frantically preparing for it.

The cathedral where the wedding was held, and I do mean cathedral in the strictest sense of the word, was absolutely gorgeous. Having catholic family, but not being raised catholic myself, I did my best to keep DS and myself in check throughout the ceremony and not embarrass ourselves. At the reception I discovered I probably should have given all his friends a quick primer as they were confused, but no one did anything strange. All standing and sitting went as expected.

The reception was held on the top floor of the Admiral Fell Inn. There was an open bar. I can tell you I danced. A lot. Not necessarily on the dance floor. Apparently I felt the need to encourage everyone else to dance by whipping my head around a lot. My neck has never been so sore. It took 3 days to recover.

In all honesty, my night should have ended with the reception, but instead we all headed over to the Greene Turtle to watch the South Carolina football game. Where there were more drinks. And my husband decided to enjoy the company of his long lost friends and let me be as I went back to the bar. *sigh* At some point I was handed a Jägerbomb... The next 36 hours were trying, let's put it that way.

For your enjoyment, here are a collection of photos of the beautiful church, and the parts of the ceremony DS and I managed to capture before things got too crazy. We can't wait until Micah and Anne start visiting.

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Downtown SLC

2010-11-10T01:21:00.002-05:00

With the actual reason for visit being a conference DS had to attend, I didn't have a whole lot to do starting Monday. Except look at the snow, and walk through rain and sleet without a jacket looking for a lost phone. Joy. Tuesday turned out to be much more hospitable as far as the weather was concerned. So I ventured out to see the town. The only other time I'd been here, it had been dark and we were only interested in seeing the Christmas lights in Temple Square.

I decided to walk up to the Salt Palace convention center, where I'd experienced a really beautiful art installation while DS was getting his conference badge. Outside the building there is a set of 12 windmills, and each one is connected to a wooden tubular bell inside the entrance. As the windmill turns, it causes bell to strike. Each windmill sort of does its own thing, so the music made is random. I walked into this space, not even really in the building yet, just part of the entrance, and stood there with my mouth open. I spun around a few times, looking at all the bells, the way the light played in the space. DS was waiting for me, wondering what the heck was wrong with me. I'm telling you, conference halls and locations are wasted on the people that use them. For real.

I also wandered over to Temple Square to see the area in the light and the splendor of fall. I had nearly made it out of there when I was caught by two Sisters who wanted to talk to me. I think I could have gotten away, but they lured me in with the promise of seeing the inside of the Tabernacle. With my love of historical architecture, I agreed to follow against my better judgement. I will say without any reservation that they were more than nice, and didn't bring up religion in the sense of getting me more of it until I'd hung around and seemed interested for too long. My mistake. At the same time, they were nice in a way that made it really hard for me to just walk away or be rude, and so I felt trapped. I ended up using a text from DS as an excuse to go because we had a "lunch date." Which was mostly true. He had texted me, and I still hadn't had lunch at 3pm. And I honestly don't regret seeing that building, but remind me to never be Mormon.

In conclusion, if you ever get a chance to visit Salt Lake City, I highly recommend it. It's beautiful, the people are nice, the food is delicious. If you go at Christmas, check out the lights in Temple Square. Just be wary of lingering too long in one spot in the square unless you're looking for advice on converting, or you're actually Mormon.

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Hiking Shoreline Trail

2010-11-07T23:17:00.002-05:00

It was an absolutely beautiful day. The kind of day that insists you go out and enjoy it. There was some talk of climbing Mount Olympus, but as I had not packed any active gear and have not exactly been keeping up with my exercise, I pushed for something a little easier. Thus, we hiked Shoreline Trail instead. This is actually part of what will be a 280 mile trail system that follows the historical shoreline of Lake Bonneville, a massive lake that once covered most of the state of Utah.

The fall colors were gorgeous, and the hills were covered in long grasses and plants that made it all look like a blanket of suede. Lovely.

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Triassic

2010-11-06T21:59:00.017-04:00

The last time DS went climbing in Salt Lake City, he and Mike went to this place known as Triassic. There was a particular climb that he was unable to finish, and it gnawed at him. So during this trip we made an effort to tackle that particular beast. I honestly can't say whether he was successful, because I was playing with Swiss and Kuro or reading most of the time. I can say that he did finish some of the things that he climbed. I can also say that I really should have taken more pictures of the scenery, but it was strangely beautiful for the middle of nowhere.

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Kuro and Swiss

2010-11-05T21:35:00.003-04:00

Our friends in Salt Lake City just got a new puppy named Swiss, and I spent some time photographing him with his big brother Kuro. Are these some handsome dogs, or are these some handsome dogs?

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Favorite Toys

2010-11-03T16:05:00.000-04:00

Felix's favorite toys are always either what we call "fluff balls" or "sparkle balls." Basically, small balls of either rabbit fur died bright colors or fake "fur" that sparkles. She will bat those things around the house for hours. I especially love when she "hunts." She will chase down one of these fur balls, carry it around in her mouth, and cry very loudly like she's hurt or something. It use to scare me a bit, but now look over to DS when I hear it and say something like, "someone just caught something good."

Winston's favorite toy has always been his mouse. And he has always wanted DS to play fetch with him. That's it. No other toys, no other games.

When we moved to Philadelphia, the cats came without their stuff, as all of that was trundling along in the moving truck. We got them a few new things to hold them over in this strange new place. Felix got fluff ball on an elastic string attached to a stick. At this point, we only had an air mattress, a few clothes, and our laptops, so I figured this was a great time to play with her. (She is normally very content playing by herself.) Winston got a rather large mouse covered in rabbit fur and some feathers sticking out with its tail. Little did I know that these two toys, meant to be mere placeholders until their real stuff showed up, would end up being the things they couldn't live without.

Now Felix trots through the house carrying that red fluff ball like usual, except now there's a long plastic stick trailing along behind her. It took us a while to realize that this was why some of the side tables in the living room would be in the middle of the floor when we woke up. Turns out she's getting the stick stuck in there and just pulling it all along behind her. Sometimes she wakes us up because we have wooden floors, and there's a step in the hallway, and she just clatters through there in the middle of the on her way to bring me her kill. Where I use to wake up to a small collection of toys on the floor beside the bed, now I wake up to this stick and its fluff ball.

Winston, on the other hand, gave up playing fetch for a long time. He flips this new mouse up in the air, and then bats it back down and kicks it around like a soccer ball. He will do this by himself for at least 20 min at at time, several times a day. It usually ends with him getting it stuck under the couch. Apparently the best part of this game is almost losing it, and then wrangling it back from the depths. Recently we discovered he'll still play fetch if he has to weave through all the living room furniture to chase the thing down. He still hasn't looked at his old favorites though.

Perhaps that plane ride was more traumatic than we thought... Their personalities do seem to be slightly altered. Winston even snuggles all the time now. In my lap. It's crazy.

Attempts

2010-11-02T18:25:00.000-04:00

I have been struggling my way through cooking dinner every night. I started easy. You can't really mess up frozen chicken tenders and frozen fries that you just throw in the oven. Or spaghetti...

Now I'm attempting things like lamb kebobs.. I'm scared guys. This morning I had a broiled brown sugar grapefruit that was so nasty I couldn't finish it. I should have known going into it, because I hate grapefruit. But this magazine I have has all these recipes for meals that will keep you feeling full all day and eating a reasonable number of calories, so I thought 'what the hell.' Luckily, the almond butter and honey toast I had with it was delicious. Not sure what I'm going to do with that other grapefruit I bought. See a bad play maybe....

So like I said, tonight I'm trying 'Greek Lamb Kebob', which involves lamb, on a kebob. And also some sort of salad base thing with cooked barley, tomatoes, red onion (nope, not doing that part, blech), mint, parsley, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Except I forgot to buy barley. Hell, I'm not completely sure what barley is. I'm assuming some sort of leaf or grain? It's in beer after all. But I don't have it, and I've already started the kebobs, so we'll have steamed kale. Hopefully that's not nasty, otherwise this will be a whole day of nasty.

UPDATE: Turns out steamed kale tastes nearly the same, but not quite as good, as steamed broccoli. A little bitter maybe. I can live with that, though it's not high on my 'oh man, that sounds delicious!' list.

Random Bit of Info

2010-10-24T08:12:00.000-04:00

These popsicles I referred to 2 years ago? Yeah, there are still some in my freezer from that very same box. Turns out 200 of them take longer to go through than you would think.

Retirement

2010-10-23T08:36:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, some days I have more trouble adjusting to my retirement than others. It's strange not working while your husband does. It leaves you feeling sort of worthless, like you don't contribute anything to this life you share. I mean, I don't even have kids to care for, and my craft business isn't going anywhere because I can't figure out the PA laws. These problems aren't constant though. I've been making an effort to cook dinner everyday. This is a major step for me, and it sort of rubs in that housewifey feeling I don't particularly like. But at the same time, it's something DS hates doing, and it's one less thing he has to worry about after a long day at work. I have to admit that it feels good to make something tasty. Most nights though, I'm just putting Tyson chicken strips in the oven or something. Baby steps people.

What I have been doing more of is baking. It's awesome. I'll sometimes get on a kick, and DS will have to ask me to stop because he can't stop eating cookies and he feels sick. Ha! We didn't do gifts for our anniversary, but I did make him some peanut butter cookies. (He ended up getting a little something from Naked Chocolate for me, which was DELICIOUS.) I had some decorative sugars in the cupboard in fall colors, and thought they'd be fun to use since peanut butter cookies have to be rolled in sugar anyway. Check it.

4 Years of Awesome

2010-10-21T13:38:00.000-04:00

Happy Anniversary dearest. Thank you for making life wonderful, and the opposite of being in jail, or caged, or tied down, or any of the other things people seem to associate with marriage. I cannot imagine a better second half. <3

Twilight

2010-10-20T23:12:00.002-04:00

Weekend in Aiken

2010-10-19T20:46:00.000-04:00

DS and I managed to find some last minute plane tickets to South Carolina to celebrate his mom's birthday over the weekend. It had been a long time since I was able to go with him, and we spent a lot of time at his sister's house playing with the kids. They were so much fun, and the little one cried when we left. <3

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Party in NY

2010-10-12T12:47:00.001-04:00

Friday, October 8th, was Sam of NY's (not Sam of Santa Barbara) birthday. DS and I fought 3+ hours of rush hour traffic to get to Brooklyn in time for dinner. It was totally worth it! DS, Sam, Matt and I took the subway to Manhattan so we could go to the Barrel. It was a beautiful little tapas place. The food was delicious, if a bit overpriced. There were many many people there, all of whom I had never before met. There were also many many drinks. I tried to remember the names of everyone I managed to photograph (it was very dim, and people were moving a LOT), but there is a bit of fuzziness. This was seriously a wonderful time. We all just kept randomly ordering items off the tapas menu, so that food just kept appearing. And then quickly disappearing. They also had quite the list of original mixed drinks, including something with basil infused vodka that had me swooning.

After we finally scarfed down cheesecake and tiramisu, and paid our (OMGSERIOUSLY) bill, we all careened off to the nearest bar with room for us all. It ended up being a new place called Queen Vic, which was meant to look like a little English Pub. This led to Sam and I drunkenly explaining to each other what English pubs really look like (Sam) and random tidbits about Queen Victoria (me). Did you know that English pubs have carpet? I can't imagine how horrible that would be to clean. She tells me it's because it's so cold all the time.

Anyway, what I'm saying is, our friends have cool friends, and Manhattan is apparently an excellent, though expensive, place to celebrate.

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Wookie

2010-10-11T20:04:00.000-04:00

I wish I could say that I took this, but alas, I did not. This is Wookie, Matt and Sam's lovable cat, and Sam took this with DS's new lens. Wookie showed up one day, looking disheveled, and decided to stay. All he wants is love. All love all the time. It's so different than my cats. We curled up together on the futon bed while I recovered from a bit of drinking the night before for Sam's birthday. Isn't he so handsome? He is one of the many treats that await us when we visit our friends in New York.

Pretty Kitties

2010-10-03T22:49:00.000-04:00

My mom got DS a new lens for his camera for his birthday. I am predictably taking photos of the cats with it.

Winston makes doing laundry difficult. 2 years away from a dryer and he still has forgotten how much he loves being in one.

Felix continues to be sweet and loving. Plus the new food change has her coat even more silky and shiny.

Not too Shabby

2010-09-30T14:11:00.000-04:00

Life around here has been pretty mellow. A lack of immediate friends will do that. Also, DS has been scarce because teaching has swallowed him whole. I'm just happy if he's home by 7 and not completely catatonic. It's a good thing those notes he's making can be used in future classes...

So I've been celebrating little things. Why not? Tuesday was DS's birthday. I didn't give myself time to make him a treat, (and honestly, after the birthday cupcakes I made myself which were so nasty that we threw them all away, that's probably a good thing) so I picked him up a little cake and two of his favorite ice cream flavors. Well.. I'm guessing he'll love that Baked Apple Dumpling. He does love apple pie like crazy.

He got all kinds of sweet presents, including a new lens and flash for his fancy pants camera. I'm told he took cool pictures at Maker Faire, but I have yet to see them (see above).

My most recent sewing triumph is this new cushion for the window seat. It's corduroy, so it's super soft. I even put a zipper on one end in case it needs washing. Felix has claimed it, which is to be expected.

She's a little confused at my coming near and not loving her...

I love this set up, because it's the perfect length for me to stretch out and lean back against the pillow and read books. And thanks to a helpful tip on Facebook from a family friend, I picked up some shelf liner to keep the cushion from sliding. And also the couch (thank god, for real; hardwood floors are slippery), and the craft station table top. Finding that in the grocery was way easier than dragging myself to someplace like walmart...

Six Flags Great Adventure

2010-09-28T03:13:00.000-04:00

DS and I spent the weekend with our friends Matt and Sam. The Matt who married us. They live in NY, which had its first Maker Faire. It seemed smaller than the SF one we went to last year, and DS and I got there late in the afternoon so we didn't have a lot of time. Still though, it was cool to go, and ARC Attack was AWESOME! I recommend finding some video of the dudes themselves, because it was so cool. Though maybe you've heard of them? Apparently they were on America's Got Talent? I have no idea, I don't watch TV...

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner, delicious chocolates, and good conversation. Then on Sunday we drove Sam out to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. It's been at least six years since I've ridden a roller coaster. I have a serious fear of heights. Well, not so much of heights, but of falling. If I think I'm safe, I have no problem whatsoever being high in the air. Roller coasters were something that took me some years of concerted effort to be comfortable with, to trust that they wouldn't kill me and accept the fear so I could enjoy the adrenaline rush. It's a skill that requires practice to maintain, and so I was excited about Six Flags, but also horrified...

There were six of us altogether, and we split a Flash Pass so we wouldn't have to wait in line. (so worth it!) We started off with the Batman coaster, which looked about on par with the types of coasters I really enjoyed back in the day. I've looked up some point of view videos on YouTube for you to ride along.

Not too high, not too fast. Easy peasy. Also, shoulder harnesses, which are an important part of me feeling safe. So then they all insisted we do Nitro, which is the second highest coaster in the park, with the first downhill going past vertical. Yowza. According to Wikipedia, you can see Philadelphia on a clear night from up there. There aren't even shoulder harnesses. I was freaking out. I closed my eyes for the lift hill, because contemplating falling to my death is less forceful when I can't see it laid out before me. Surprising myself, I opened my eyes as we crested the hill and let go. It was exhilarating. Watch.

That horizontal helix is just the right length so that you just start to feel your vision fading, then those little snake hills would have me giggling from the blood still stuck in my head. Probably not good for you to do all the time, but several times a day once a year seems like a good plan.

Other notable experiences:

El Toro, which I think is supposed to make you feel like you're riding a bull. And as such, there's little to hold on to, and I was lifting out of my seat quite a bit. Also, those rails always freak me out, which is oddly one of the reasons I love wooden coasters so much. And hooray for banked turns! That's something wooden coasters have seriously needed.

Kingda Ka gave me a panic attack just looking at it. DS loved it, and I sat and tried not to think about him failing to come back to me...

Superman would probably be a lot of fun for me, except that the cars invert you so you face the ground like you're flying. Staring straight down at the ground as I plummet towards it was a little too much for me visually. Though with my eyes closed, it didn't feel all that crazy movement-wise.

Bizarro is actually a fun coaster, but it has this music that plays right in your ears the whole time that's loud and static-y and completely annoying.

Skull Mountain reminded me of Kentucky Kingdom's old Starchaser, and as such had me laughing through the whole thing. Also, they put a giant foam jack-o-lantern at the bottom with a spotlight on it. SCARY!

After at least six hours of this, we were exhausted. DS and I made the short trip home (about an hour, and some of that was because we took a wrong turn; though we ended up getting home toll free because of that wrong turn, so I was happy) on our own. We made a frozen pizza, checked the interwebs, and then crashed as the pitiful hour of 8:30. Even me people. Me who is currently up at 3am. I slept 14 hours last night!

This was my third separate theme park, the first two being Kentucky Kingdom and King's Island. I have to say it was a lot of fun. Sometimes terrifying, but overall, fun.

Apartment Tour!

2010-09-24T17:59:00.000-04:00

I kept thinking I would do this when everything was neat and pretty. Then I realized that would probably never happen, at least not up to my expectations. So here it is! The apartment in all its glory, and mess, and lived-in-ness. Enjoy.

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My Husband is a Professor!

2010-09-14T14:13:00.000-04:00

Here is the photo that will soon be adorning the faculty website! I'm so proud. :)

Birthday update to follow soon!

PSA: Laundry

2010-09-08T19:43:00.000-04:00

This post has some nasty images in it, so move along if you don't want to see them. No blood and guts though, just what came out of my washer. It is meant to serve two purposes.

1. To let the previous tenants of my apartment know that I will punch them in the face if I ever meet them.

2. To warn the rest of you about things I've learned the hard way when it comes to washing clothes.

So you know that piece on the washer that says "Liquid bleach only"? Yeah, they mean it when they say that. Apparently the previous tenants didn't care, or couldn't read, because they put other things in there. Nasty things. Things which I discovered with my nose, because I couldn't figure out why my washer smelled like mold after using it.

I pried the little cover off the bleach thing, and to my horror, discovered the entire compartment full of moldy, caked in detergent and fabric softener. Or maybe just fabric softener. It had that really horrid smell that liquid softener has. (Did I really use to like that stuff? UGH.)

What you're looking at in that second photo is the top rim of the drum part of the washer, with mold on it. In the bottom left corner you can see where the caked in detergent is all the way up to the rim of the bleach compartment. GAG.

I spent over an hour today scraping that stuff out with a butter knife. A knife I might have to trash....

Yeah, that's nasty stuff. And just think, when you use liquid fabric softener, that crap is in your clothes. All the time. Maybe not moldy, granted. I'm not sure that makes it any better. This is why your towels smell nasty and no amount of washing them fixes it. It's partially why you have sweat stains, but that's also due to antiperspirants in deodorant (something else we've given up, and been the happier for it).

Even if you don't agree with me on the fabric softener thing, please don't use the bleach compartment for anything other than bleach. The drain holes it has are super tiny and clog very easily. And you're likely to cut your hand on the metal washer casing when you clean it out, because I did twice. If you have a mold smell in your washer that you can't seem to get out by running an empty cycle with bleach, check in there.

Winston is Angry, but we are not.

2010-09-08T00:51:00.000-04:00

Before we left Santa Barbara, we had to take the cats in to the vet for official health certificates. They were behind on the FCL something or other, I don't know. It's a shot they need yearly. So we paid the check up fees for each cat, the cost of the shots, and a small prescription of "chill out" medication, just in case. Then we find out that for the vet to sign the piece of paper saying she looked at them was extra. To the tune of $37 EACH. So yeah, that wasn't a cheap trip.

So when the vet told us Winston would need oral surgery to fix his bulging gums to the tune of $700+, we were not happy. Then she told us that we needed to do it as soon as possible. Double not happy.

The move meant that wasn't really happening though. We had to wait until DS's paychecks started rolling in and we were a bit more settled. I found a vet nearby with decent reviews. When I called to schedule the surgery, they let me know that they couldn't do it without a normal check up with them first, which was another $52. *sigh* The things we do for these kids...

Today we took him in for his check up, which actually went really well! Whew! After all that stuff that happened above, I was sort of dreading this. Don't get me wrong, Winston yowled the whole way there, frightening the guys that work in our garage, and then growled the whole time he was being examined. But he didn't swipe at anyone, or try to bite anyone. He just sat there and let the vet stick her fingers in his mouth, around his lymph nodes, and over his tummy. Well, sat there and growled, but he let her do it! She was super nice, answered all our questions, and was really good with him.

To top it all off, their estimates for the surgery are a LOT cheaper. We also learned that Winston is in good health, probably shouldn't eat grapes anymore, and has lost 4 ounces. Hooray!

Monday we take him back for the surgery. He can't eat after 9pm the night before, which is going to be hard, since when he's hungry he finds plastic somewhere and chews it loudly beside the bed at 3am. He'll be there all day, but will thankfully be sedated. I can't really afford to pay for some vet people to get stitches. Oy.

Oh! And we got the cat food Beth suggested, the Natural Balance, Green Peas and Duck. Well, the wet is that. The dry is Green Peas and Chicken, because the didn't have big bags of the duck. The cats are now going on a half wet, half dry diet, at the recommendation of the vet. They got their first can tonight, and are now sleeping happily. Here's hoping Felix stops dropping bombs all over the apartment soon...

Slowly but Surely

2010-08-16T13:11:00.000-04:00

We are slowly making progress on the apartment. There are just a few boxes left, but most of the last week has gone into making sure things are in the spaces they belong. A lot of the initial work was just getting the boxes emptied as quickly as possible. Things went wherever there was space, and there was packing paper EVERYWHERE. I've never seen so much paper in my life. I kept one whole trash bag of it to use when shipping fragile items, and bags and bags of it are slowly making it to the recycle bin.

Meanwhile, Felix is finally taking to the window seat I set up. I knew she would love it.

Current Goals

2010-08-10T18:13:00.000-04:00

1. Make good use of my new gym membership. Ultimate goal: stop feeling like dog doo everyday. Vanity goal: lose 25 lbs. And yes, that is based on healthy weights told to me by a doctor. For some reason people always look at me like I'm crazy when I say that. Though, upon hearing my weight, one friend did say "Man, you're dense aren't you?" So... yeah. I guess I am. Progress thus far: 2 visits in 1 week.

2. Build a standing work desk for the craft room so I don't sit on my butt all day. Perhaps something like this. It's going to be awesome.

3. Make a pad for the larger than normal window sill in the living room that I've decided to make into a window seat. Here's hoping my sewing skills, or lack thereof, are up to it.

4. Finish unpacking and arranging this freaking apartment. *groan*

Moving In

2010-08-09T22:35:00.000-04:00

When we got to town, we were very excited to finally be out of the car and HOME. Of course, we love traveling and visiting friends and family, but it can be so exhausting living out of a suitcase and juggling all the people who want to spend time with you. Especially when you have to cram everything into such a short space because of how infrequently we're in town. So yes, home was calling our names.

Having been here a full week now, I have compiled a list of loves, and not-so loves, regarding our new place.

Loves:
1. The apartment is on the National Register of Historic Places, because it was the first lager house in the US. This is why our building is called the Lager House.
2. Because of #1, we have giant, wood frame windows, and original exposed brick and wooden support beams.
3. We have a balcony again.
4. From my couch, when the blinds are open, I can see the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the Delaware River, and some other cool buildings.
5. It's surprisingly quiet here, even though we're right next to the bridge and highway. The only thing we really hear is when the train goes over the bridge, and I don't mind it.
6. This place is larger than our last two apartments, so I don't feel squished anymore.
7. Washer and dryer!
8. Built in HDTVs in the living room and office.
9. A/C
10. Walking distance to the subway, various DELICIOUS restaurants, a small grocery, pet supply stores, bars, a gym, and some of the more popular tourist attractions.
11. Our actual street has none of these things, so street noise is nonexistent.
12. Did I mention how good the food here is?? Because it SO IS.
13. My office has built in shelving, and a ginormous walk in closet that I don't have to share with DS.

Not-so loves:
1. Bugs. Creepy, fast, multi-legged things that come out of nowhere and scare the crap out of me. They seem to be few and far between, but boy do they creep me out.
2. Dirt. Some of which I suspect is due to a prolonged vacancy, just judging by the dust and the knowledge that it was empty when we toured it a month before. The rest was obviously from the last tenants, meaning that the place wasn't cleaned by the landlord before we moved in. It took me 4 hours and 3 magic erasers to clean all the walls, and I'm still not done with the bathroom.
3. Somehow, this place has the same bad plumbing as our last place. Specifically, the shower hardware was installed incorrectly so that the single knob goes left for cold water, or right for hot water. Showers are sometimes uncomfortable...
4. It takes 3 full cycles on high heat for clothes to dry in the dryer, even if there are only 4 things in there.
5. There is evidence of water damage in multiple places.
6. There are at least 10 light bulbs either missing or burnt out throughout the apartment. (We have a combination of track and recessed lighting.)
6. The landlord has yet to return any of our phone calls since we moved in, so we none of this is even being addressed.

That's it so far. Today DS and I pulled out the W/D combo to check the hoses for lint. The exhaust didn't look too bad, but the intake was completely covered. I'm hoping laundry tomorrow goes smoother. I at least know that the heating apparatus is functioning, so here's hoping cleaning the back helps. All things considered, I think this place is awesome. The things that are wrong are completely manageable, and the things that are right are SO RIGHT.

We still have boxes all over the place, because there is only so much unpacking and arranging I can handle at one time. But we're much much closer to being done, and I will post photos once we are. I checked to see if there was anything useable from my move in photos, but they're all close ups of various things I wanted to document for the landlord whenever we move out.

The one thing I miss the most right now are my friends. Right now, we don't know anyone, and without me having a job, I have no immediate hopes of meeting anyone. It's incredibly difficult to spend all day alone, and then just get a few minutes of conversation out of DS once he's home. It's like pulling teeth. We're both adjusting, him to a new job that's more stressful and demanding, me to an utter lack of human interaction. I wish we could just put an ad on craigslist for friends :P But I did join a gym today, and we have briefly met one of our neighbors, who seemed cool. DS has even been to the local climbing gym. With any luck, we'll have friends soon. In the meantime, if anyone wants to visit, you have our permission.

The Move

2010-08-03T17:34:00.000-04:00

Is it Thursday already? We've been at our new place for over 4 days?? Wow. Well, let me tell you about the move. Be forewarned, there is boring narrative to follow.

The cats were taken away, and I cried like a little baby. They looked horrified. The movers came and boxed all our stuff in a mere 7 hours. I guess when the things aren't yours, you aren't as tempted to spend time touching, remembering, getting sidetracked by each thing you own. Everything just got quadruple wrapped in white paper and stuck in a box. DONE.

At the Palace, clinking glasses with the staff as we sang What a Beautiful World.

That night we started staying at our friends, to whom we gave our big tv. It was a wedding present, and also a way to get rid of it since the new place has built in televisions. We were not opposed to getting the best new thing whenever we manage to get a house :) That Friday we did just a little bit of cleaning, but nothing much since we were basically told by our landlord that he was taking the money out of our deposit to have it professionally cleaned no matter what. I was not about to break a sweat cleaning some place for nothing. The pick up for our things was delayed until Saturday, but went smoothly. Though there was some muttering about just how much stuff we had, and packing the truck had to be done carefully to make sure it all fit. I don't know what to tell them. A guy came to estimate our belongings' volume a month ago, and it's not like we got a bunch of new stuff...

Nell and DS looking at the city and the moon.

We took our friends out to dinner at The Palace, a Louisiana inspired grill that is soooooo good. Then we all went up to Lizard's Mouth (a rocky spot on the mountain) to see the sun set over the ocean and take photos. After too little rest, we caught a plane to KY, where we were picked up by my mom and her husband.

Me and Sam at Lizard's Mouth.

Monday we visited my grandmother, then the four of us toured the Louisville Slugger Museum. I'm not sure how none of them had ever been before, but I made sure that was fixed. Back in G'Town, we took my mom out to dinner for her birthday.

Kid in front us at the Bat game, covered in cotton candy.

Tuesday we hung out with my college friend Tim and his wife, and their dog Sterling. We grilled burgers and learned a new way to make delicious corn on the grill. After dinner we went downtown to see the Louisville Bats play. DS was so excited because this guy named Chapman was relief pitching, and he's supposed to be the next best thing for the Reds.

Aroldis Chapman pitching.

Wednesday we picked up Chanda and went north to see Kelly and Jon. We enjoyed their patio, and their cats, and the booze in their fridge. For dinner we had Olive Garden, which I hadn't been to in years and years. Seems strange.

DS, Tim and Beth at the game.

Thursday we saw Geno, walked the dogs, and I was surprised to discover my good friend Mike had moved back next door. My brother even graced us with his presence. We picked up the rental car, then DS made dinner for us. Everyone thought it was delicious, and I let them know it's because Alton Brown can do no wrong. (Seriously, try that 40 cloves and a chicken recipe)

Chapman's pitching speed. DS claims we saw him pitch 101.

Friday morning we piled into the car and drove to Elkins, WV to visit with DS's grandparents. It's only the second time that I've been there, and it was nice to have more than a few hours to see the place. We spent the rest of the weekend bouncing between his two grandmothers, and I met loads of extended family at various dinners. Elkins is beautiful, and decidedly cooler than KY this time of year.

Elkins as seen from the Triplett place "in the holla".

Sunday morning we loaded up the car again and drove the rest of the way to Philly. Pennsylvania looks almost exactly like the region of KY where I lived. At least, the region we drove through did. We mostly took back roads out of WV, then took the Turnpike the rest of the way. Stupid tolls, and lunch at one of those little stops on Turnpike was not great. But I guess it was better than driving through places like DC the whole way. That would have take an hour or two longer.

Once in the city, we quickly realized that driving here is nowhere near as nice as walking here. It made me very happy that we chose to live downtown so we won't need the car hardly ever. We managed to get some keys, drag in our few belongings from the car, and set up the air mattress before dinner.

Up next: Moving in.

========================
For some reason, I only have photos of a couple of things. I'm assuming DS has the rest on his camera. Though I know I forgot to gets photos of me with Kel and Chanda :(

Where does the time go?

2010-07-19T04:37:00.000-04:00

I was just searching for my photos from Mardi Gras to show a friend, and realized they are not to be found here, on flickr, or facebook. Why didn't I upload them?? I'm sure I took some. It occurs to me that even with my incessant back-posting, my blog is seriously lacking. So perhaps you would like an update.

I'm counting down my last days in Santa Barbara as we speak. The cats are being moved by an animal transport service. They'll be picked up on Wednesday, flown to Philadelphia, then boarded until they can be delivered to us in August. The movers come Thursday to pack all our belongings, and then will pick them up on Friday. We'll be staying with friends here until Sunday morning so we can tie up any loose ends, like cleaning, then we're flying to KY to visit family and friends. We'll be there for almost a week, then we'll rent a car and spend the weekend in WV visiting more family. Finally, we're driving to our new home, which will hopefully let us in. Getting keys isn't something that's been worked out yet... We should be in our new place by August 1, and with any luck, should have our stuff the next day. Though that's up in the air.

We've been trying our best to fit in all the last minute things we wanted to do here. DS took one last climbing trip to Pine Mountain this weekend. I've been to my last book club meeting, and hosted my last BSG night. I've already said goodbye to several people for the last time in the foreseeable future. Sad times. I also thought it would be a good idea to make sure only things worth keeping made it to Philadelphia, so I've been combing through my belongings to cull the crap. I actually had medication that expired in 2004, and mascara from high school. Oy.

Because we don't need to pack, we are happy to be avoiding the unpleasantness of the cats protesting the destruction of their world. I'm really sad that they'll be with strangers for nearly 2 weeks though. Though not sad enough to drive them across the country again.. seriously. I feel almost sorry for whatever sucker is flying with them. Still, I am cherishing things like Felix bringing me 6 balls of yarn over a couple of hours, and Winston waking me up with a full facial and complimentary ear cleaning. It's the little things ;)

I'm not sure how much internet time we'll have after Thursday, but I'll try to update when I can.

Green Thumb

2010-07-06T01:21:00.000-04:00

Despite having only a hanging planter in a window that gets less than 6 hours of sun a day, and two cats that seem to love eating things that make them sick, I've managed to keep my pepper plants and basil flourishing this summer. Four of my six pepper plants are producing, and the other two are on their way. I just need to keep Felix away from them for a bit longer. Twice the basil has gotten so huge we've had to have basil pesto just to have a reason to cull a ton of it. Which, by the way, is SO GOOD made with just picked basil.

Now if I just knew what those peppers were....

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Sequoia National Forest

2010-06-29T00:49:00.000-04:00

Camping in Sequoia.. mine and DS's last ditch effort to "see California" before moving out of the state. Happily, we did not do this one alone, but had the pleasure of being with our Battlestar viewing crew. We stayed at the Quaking Aspens campground, whose amenities include pit toilets and a spicket. And surprisingly, I did just fine. Who knew? We enjoyed a campfire each night complete with dinner, s'mores, and jiffy pop. We slept in tents, in sleeping bags, and woke up around 7am without alarms. We hiked and hiked and hiked until I had a blister on my heel the size of an embedded golf ball... But truly, it was all worth it.

We hiked the 1/2 mile, paved loop of the Trail of the 100 Giants. Ran up to the top of Dome Rock to have lunch. Did the 4.6 mile there-and-back trail to the Needles Lookout tower (which nearly gave DS a heart attack, but he still says it was worth the view). And finally did maybe 1/3-1/2 of the 8.6 mile Freeman Creek Trail. This is where my feet decided they had had enough, and DS says "How are you?" To which I replied, "Done." And with that, we all decided to eat our lunch and then hike back out to go home.

The follow photos do not even begin to do this place justice. Seriously. You should definitely go if you ever get the chance.

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DS's Parents Visit

2010-06-20T16:08:00.000-04:00

DS's parents' road trip finally brought them to us. It was a lovely couple of days, and we celebrated with good food and wine. We introduced them to the joys of In-N-Out Burger, west coast seafood, our cold beaches, and the mountains. Two of the places we went were lovely, so I took some photos. The first set is from Cold Spring Tavern, which was a stagecoach stop in the mountains just above Santa Barbara. Now it's a tavern and restaurant. The second set is fro Rusack Winery, where his mom did not realize I was being facetious on the way in by saying "Man, this place is a dump" until we'd been there for a bit. Which, if you knew her, would be hilarious. That woman is sharp and funny to boot, but this place is obviously not a dump. I'm not really a wine person though, so mostly I just enjoyed the scenery.

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Grand Canyon

2010-06-13T01:28:00.000-04:00

DS's parents are RV'ing across the country, from their home in South Carolina, out to us in Santa Barbara, up to Yosemite, to Mt. Rushmore, down to visit family in St. Louis, and then back home. All in all, a VERY long trip. Since I'm 'retired' now, I decided to drive out to meet them at the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, and took their train from Williams, AZ up to the Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. We only had about three hours there, which turned out to be a bit too much as it was one of the few days it actually rains there. I doubt their hoodie, sweater and poncho sales are ever higher... Luckily, I had checked the weather before going and brought my own jacket.

Even without a ton of time to hike around, this was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen. There's just no way to describe how jaw dropping it is to walk up to the rim the first time and see the gaping hole. I had no concept of its proportions, even after seeing it from the plane just weeks before. It's up to 16 miles wide, 1 mile deep, and 277 miles long. MILES! It's just... indescribable. I'm so glad his parents like me enough to have me stay with them all by myself :D

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Raccoon

2010-06-02T02:06:00.000-04:00

There is a momma raccoon that lives around our building. I can hear her sometimes at night, but other than a flicker once while DS was grilling, I've never actually seen her. Tonight I heard her, and managed to see her running along the fence that separates the little patios for the downstairs apartments. She was out with one of her kids. I grabbed the camera and went out to see if I could catch her from a distance, but was surprised to find them in the tree running up the front of the apartment. I guess she thought if she came down and walked away some, she would get me away from her kid, which she left in the tree. I kept my distance, got a couple of shots in, and vamoosed. I certainly don't want to run her off, nor did I want to risk rabies. Check out that stance man. She's like, "I don't want to, but I will eat your face if I have to."

David and Juliana's Wedding

2010-05-22T23:00:00.033-04:00

As expected, David and Juliana's wedding in Potomac, MD was absolutely beautiful. The backdrop of forest was perfect, and I particularly loved the alternating greens and blues of the bridal party. The wedding was outdoors, in both Spanish and English. Afterwards, dinner was served and there were many speeches by friends and family. We were lucky to have translators, though sometimes I suspect that we lost some of the turns of phrase in the process.

Because Juliana is Colombian, the cake was specially brought in from there. Unfortunately, customs suspected it had some nefarious purpose and destroyed it. Fortunately, it was pieced back together and the taste was unaffected. All I knew was the cake involved alcohol. Juliana tells me it's called ponque negro, or black cake I think.

After dinner, we headed upstairs. There was a dance floor, a room with chocolates made by David's sister along with some coffee, and a fun photo booth. I had quite a bit to drink, so I can't remember too much about the latter half of the night, but I can say we all had fun.

Once it was time to disperse, all the friends went down to see the honeymoon suite, which was two bunk beds pushed together and decorated. It doesn't sound like much, but considering we were all sleeping on twin beds from a former Girl Scout camp, it was adorable and romantic.

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=======================
*Written 2/14/11 and backposted

Philadelphia, I think I love you

2010-05-09T00:44:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, DS and I visited Philadelphia to see if I could live there. As you noticed in the earlier post, I had strong reservations about moving to a big city. Therefore you may be surprised to learn that I had decided we were moving there on Friday night after just arriving on Thursday. From the moment I got there, it reminded me of living in Louisville, which I loved. The city was lacking the crowded, dirty feel I associate with most cities of this size. I think this has something to do with the decision to not build higher than City Hall until the late 80's, meaning there have only recently been skyscrapers. That left a lower density, and less of a need to raze entire blocks for building new structures. As you'll see in the photos, this left the city with lots of trees, and what seemed like entire neighborhoods intact from the Colonial Period. It was charming, and felt a lot like walking through old villages in Europe.

We arrived on Thursday and walked around the neighborhood just to the west of the University of Pennsylvania. Then we had dinner at sushi place called Pod, which was very mod. There were actual "pods" with a single table for 8 or so where diners can change the color of the lights inside. Behind the conveyor belt sushi bar there was a flat screen tv built into the wall that kept playing a cartoon about a white lion. As far as I could tell, since there was no sound, the entire show was about the little lion cup running around with other wild animals.... We ended up spending a small fortune on sushi and dessert, but it was so delicious that I don't even care if its not reimbursed. And as a bonus, it happened to be some sort of charity night, so 30% of our bill was donated helping people who are living with AIDS and HIV.

On Friday, DS spent most of the day in meetings with various faculty members. I slept in, then strolled around campus a bit taking photographs. I also discovered that the UPenn Bookstore is really just a Barnes and Noble with Penn paraphernalia, which was nice in that I was finally able to pick up a light for my nook! (Have I mentioned I got a nook? Because I LOVE IT!) We were able to relax a bit, and then were picked up by a faculty member who drove us around the inner city, showing us some of the nicer places to live. Then we had dinner with him and his wife at Alma de Cuba, a Cuban place that was so much better than I expected. It turns out Cuban food is actually delicious when you have the resources to do it right. Poor Cuba...

The first half of Saturday was spent with the Chair of the department, as she lives in the suburbs and was able to give us that tour. Then we walked from the hotel on the Penn campus all the way to the Delaware River. We were able to see the Liberty Bell, if only through the window. Dinner was at some fancy place that was way overpriced for the quality of the food. By this point we had probably walked several miles, so we took a taxi back. It was at this point that I convinced DS that we were definitely moving here, so we hiked back over to the UPenn Bookstore and got ourselves some official gear to celebrate!

On Sunday it was so hot and humid that we ditched our original idea to visit the zoo, and went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art instead. This is honestly one of the best museums I've visited in terms of shear size. We didn't get to see all of it, but luckily we got there on a free admission day. It was also the last day of their special exhibition on Picasso, which was interesting, though apparently Cubism is not DS's thing. I particularly loved the Impressionists galleries, as well as the period rooms, though we had to move quickly through those areas. I'll definitely have to visit again once we move. And everyone is welcome to visit us once we get there, which we think should be late July. So yeah! My husband will be a Professor at UPenn this fall!!

Photos from the City

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Photos from the Museum

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Reviving Zoo Quest

2010-04-27T22:33:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, in 2005 no less, I started a side project called Zoo Quest. Until a few months ago, it sat there, forelorn, with only the introductory post for company. Poor Zoo Quest.... But now it boasts five whole zoo entries, including this past weekend's trip to the San Diego Zoo. Hopefully very soon it will have all fifteen of the zoos I've visited, so keep checking!

Decisions

2010-04-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

Perhaps you've noticed that DS and I are in the midst of deciding our future. On Thursday we'll be visiting Philadelphia to see how well we like it. Having gotten all of our offers on the table, I think it would take a very bad experience there for us to turn down Philadelphia at this point. This is both disappointing and exciting at the same time.

One of the things I've always imagined having one day is a very large yard. I'm talking acres and acres. I'm not really joking when I say things like "I want baby goats", or "I want fresh eggs". I take a lot of pleasure and comfort out of growing things, and having a garden full of vegetables just sounds like heaven to me. Caring for plants and animals makes me feel calm and complete. Not to mention the food is just so much better when it can ripen in the earth and be eaten right away. This was a real possibility for me in Chapel Hill, but isn't looking promising for Philadelphia. I mean, I might be able to have a small garden, but definitely no goats.

So there's that, and the fact that many of my friends here in Santa Barbara have plans to end up in North Carolina when their school paths are finished. I have to admit that I had this whole future of fun times planned out in my head with this knowledge in mind. Which, to be honest, was always very tentative. One thing I've learned from tagging along behind DS is that no matter what you think your plans for the future are, the world makes its own path for you. That's not to say that if your main goal is to end up in a specific location that you couldn't do that. Just that making that your first priority limits all your other goals, and I've found that these things change over time.

Philadelphia is exciting in it's own right though. It's a real city for starters, something that intrigues me having only briefly visited such places before. Of course, this is both good and bad. It has all those things about cities I love, like art museums, ballet, orchestras, theater, good places to eat. But it comes along with things I've never had to worry too much about before, like crime and real traffic. I have to be honest, the crime thing makes me nervous. And also the lack of personal space... But the rest of it sounds exciting and fun, and so I'm willing to give it a try as long as our visit doesn't go horribly awry.

This has me questioning my life goals again. I believe a place like Philadelphia opens up the historic preservation option again, and I'm seriously unsure if I even want it. I've been thinking a lot about what my dream job would be since the last time I posted about jobs, and I just don't know. And if "farmer" is off the table, I'm having trouble coming up with my second choice. Honestly, I just never thought that at nearly 30 I'd still be wondering what I wanted to be when I grew up. I can tell you one thing for sure though. I'm never taking another crappy job just to pay the bills. That is one thing all of these job offers for DS can promise me, and it is the best gift I could ask for.

North Carolina: Check

2010-04-14T01:10:00.000-04:00

I am HOME! The flights were long, and stressful, and due to the time differences, my body felt as it were well past 2 am before I even walked through my front door. But we made it. And the cats survived. And all was well. Here is a quick and dirty run down of my impressions of the trip. Pictures should follow when I'm recovered and not busy doing something else.

Airports:
SBA - Do NOT go through security until you have used the bathroom and eaten or anything else you need. Because their two gates have nothing but a few seats.
LAX - Man LAX, you really disappointed me. I mean, you were definitely not the worst airport I've ever been to, but since you're in LA, I just expected you to at least look cool. That's sort of LA's thing, right? Though, if I'm being honest, I would have to say that it has been my experience that is LA's lie.
O'Hare - You know I love you O'Hare. I don't even have to keep telling you.
RDU - Oooh, your new terminal is lovely! Those lofty, arching wooden beams are so creamy and rich, I just want to run my hands over them and whisper sweet nothings to them. You may not be big and full of shops, but you were glistening, and open, and you fed us just fine. Thank you.
DFW - Screw you Dallas. Well, your Skylink is pretty cool, but the rest of you sucks. You would think that such a uniquely shaped airport would have more going for it, but you would be wrong. I will avoid you in the future whenever possible.

Airline:
American Airlines - I don't have any complaints, other than nearly spending the night in both Dallas and LA, but really, what airline doesn't promise to leave you stranded somewhere? (What? They don't promise that?? Well... they should, because it almost always happens.) But I don't have any compliments either. Don't be offended. The only airline I've ever loved was KLM.

Hotel:
The Franklin - Snazzy rooms. We had a king size bed that came with a down comforter and no less than 12 pillows, and I kid you not, half of those were down as well. I reveled in using four at a time, while DS made fun of me and stuck to one. I didn't accidentally bump into his sweaty sleeping self once, and it was glorious. (Accidentally mind you, I wasn't avoiding him; but really, why do guys get so gross while they're asleep?) There was an LCD tv on the wall, and all the fabrics in the room were luxuriously woven jacquards and patterns. Also, I actually liked the free toiletries, which is really rare. The breakfast service in the dining room was rather slow, but I can't say whether that was due to our timing (we got there right after a huge party), or if it is always that way. The food was good though.

Towns:
Raleigh - I only saw your airport.. so... maybe next time? Sorry buddy.
Durham - You have both a Kroger and an REI, which makes you infinitely better than my current locale. So hurray! Also, Duke Gardens was in bloom. Lovely.
Chapel Hill - You're an odd one, because you think you're some kind of small town with your little main street and your lack of big business. But you're no small town I've ever seen. You're like the small town rich people made for themselves. Like Disney's Main Street USA, all clean and stuff. That being said, you are lovely. I wish I was one of those rich people, so I could have one of your mansions.
Carrboro - What little I saw of you was pretty cool, though I will admit that was only two restaurants. They were scrumptious.
Hillsborough - Now you! I could live in you. You remind me of what my hometown was before it exploded. <3! You don't have a Kroger though *tear*

Up next: Philadelphia, PA - April 29-May 2. Anyone know anything about living around UPenn? We are taking advice before our trip.

Photos!

2010-04-08T01:53:00.000-04:00

A month of photos for your enjoyment, back-posted to reflect actual chronology.

SB Botanical Gardens
Figueroa Mtn
Winston and Birds
Arroyo Beach

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to throw some crap in a back pack so I can be at the airport in six hours. See you in Chapel Hill!

Tremors

2010-04-07T03:48:00.000-04:00

Lots of things brewing this week. Currently DS is in Philadelphia for his last interview, and on Thursday I'll be meeting him in Chapel Hill so we can be "wooed". We've been jokingly referring to it as our chance to "live it up on someone else's dime", but in all honesty, I don't know how much time we'll have to do that. He'll be meeting to negotiate an offer, and we've been scheduled time with a realtor to look at houses. Let me tell you, going through a website full of houses that you know you can't buy yet so that you can get a feel for the area is... both exciting and scary. Also, there is a LOT of new construction for sale in Chapel Hill. It seems like they were hit hard by the housing collapse. Not that it helps me any, because I want an OLD house! With acreage. But after much hand wringing, I chose five for us to see on Saturday.

After a month of letting them gather on my camera, I finally got all the photos into my computer. I'm hoping I have time tomorrow to go through them, clean them up, and then put them on here for your curious eyes. But just in case the packing and the last minute errands keep me from it, I wanted to at least post this one. Almost all of my photos of DS are of him scowling. Maybe he thinks it's funny? It often is. But sometimes I just want a good one, and here it is. I had to tickle him to get it, and he was momentarily irate, but it was so worth it.

And in answer to all the wonderful notes I've been sent regarding my last post, let me just say that I have been reminded that I don't have to work when we get there. Which means I'll be able to do things like volunteer, and take classes, and generally get a feel for what makes me happy. It's so strange to be in that position, after years of toiling just to make ends meet. Thank you all for being so supportive, and giving me truly helpful advice.

Yes, lots of things on the horizon. But no earthquakes. Sorry Mom. I know you keep calling to ask if I'm still alive, but honestly, we've felt nothing.

SB Botanical Garden

2010-04-05T01:44:00.000-04:00

In an attempt to "see California" before we leave sorry state, we spent Sunday at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. At least half of it is still trying desparately to recover from the last forest fire, but as you'll see below, lots of lovely things remain. To my enjoyment, I even saw redwoods for the first time. Feast your eyes on what can happen if it rains even two or three times a month! So, you know, like once a year.

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Future Job Hunting

2010-04-02T02:45:00.000-04:00

So DS has job offers. Probably more than is good for us, because now we'll have to make decisions and negotiate and all those things provide opportunities for future "what ifs" and regrets. Here's hoping we make the right choice... Who would have thought that being successful would cause more stress? We are very excited about the future though. In fact, next weekend, meaning the 8th, we'll arrive in Chapel Hill to see how we like the place. I'm assuming DS will be talking shop with the school as well, and apparently we'll be meeting with a real estate agent? oy.

All of this has me contemplating my own job prospects. I've spent a large part of today on Craigslist for the cities with offers, as well as filling out surveys intended to help me find my calling. So far, I've discovered that I've most likely wasted my six years of higher education on degrees that are useless...

So I'm asking you, the collective mind, what I should do with myself, because I honestly feel like a failure. I have a bachelor's degree in art history, where I attempted to focus my studies on architectural history. I also minored in mathematics. I went to graduate school for historic preservation, though I never wrote my thesis, so I don't technically have a degree. The majority of my actual experience is in lowly sales positions, but I did spend a wonderful two years at a healthcare IT company doing user testing on medication software. I have mad test plan writing skills, but no coding knowledge. I can tell you that I prefer working with my hands, and thinking things through, and coming up with creative solutions to problems. I like to see some sort of finished product or goal, so that I feel like something was accomplished with my time. I like my work to benefit society in some way, even if indirectly.

Whatever job I've held, my reviews are always good, and if it's possible in the job, I'm promoted quickly. I can be trained to do just about anything, in my opinion. The problem is that I want to do something I enjoy, and I haven't the slightest idea what that is. I'm terribly afraid that my two year stint at the software company will be my only fulfilling job, and that the rest of my time will be spent in whatever minimum wage gig is currently hiring. The idea of going back to school to get another degree only to find out that the jobs are either undesirable or seemingly impossible to find is terrifying.

I still have my craft business, but here I am working less than 10 hours a week at my current job, and I have no real desire to go into the craft room. It's not that I don't like it. Probably more that I've had the business for 4 years and still average 1 sale or less per month. It's hard to keep doing something when it seems like no one appreciates it. I think I would like to do commissioned work, where someone has a general idea in their head of what they want.

At the risk of sounding like a pity party, I'm starting to feel stupid. I used to think I was smart. I think the combination of being surrounded by PhD scientists and my decreasing ability to find engaging, fulfilling work is wearing me down. And the longer it lasts, the harder it's becoming to find the inner strength to find a way out of this. Worse, I'm finding myself incredibly jealous, almost resentful, of DS's success. Aren't I better than this? I used to know I was, but in the last year and a half, doubt has eaten a hole in that confidence.

I'm floundering.. drowning.. and I need help. Preferably in something other than empty reassurances, as nice as those are... God, I hope I feel better tomorrow.

No, Really

2010-03-31T13:47:00.000-04:00

Actual conversation between DS and some teenagers that came to our door the other day:

Kids: Whoa! What are those?!

DS: *confused* cats?

Me: (safely hidden in the living room) *smirk* idiots

Kids: No way! Like wild cats?

DS: no... house cats

Kids: What do you feed them?!?

DS: cat food.

============
Seriously, is Winston that big? He doesn't seem it to me, but apparently we're the only ones that think so.

Multiple Successes and Random Updates

2010-03-24T23:15:00.000-04:00

After more than a year of periodically going to Goleta Beach looking for sea glass, Samantha makes me go to Arroyo Beach and we find a crap load. Neither of us had been to that one before, and we were so surprised. The beach is really rocky along the shore, then turns to sand, and then giant cliffs with uber fancy houses on top. We made the mistake of walking it barefoot. It probably would have been nice in the sand, but once we realized that sea glass was abundant, we stayed in the rocks. Ouch.

Sore feet is a small price to pay for this megaload of sea glass though! We even found two small cobalt blue pieces. Most are white and green, and there's a fair amount of brown.

Double Success: I bought a diamond tipped drill bit for my Proxxon today, and managed to get a nice little whole in my practice piece. That means I can start making real sea glass jewelry now!!

Speaking of successes, I purchased one of those "as seen on tv" planters that grows vegetables upside down. This particular one is meant for pepper plants, and I got a "six alarm combo pack" of peppers to go in it. And then, because I don't like peppers, I got myself basil and rosemary. I hope it actually works. Though I'm a little nervous about our sunlight situation. And also the cats.

While I was at it, I re-potted all of my plants, finally getting rid of some dead ones that had been languishing on the porch for six months. My aloe and catnip are doing excellent, so if you want some... let me know. Also, the porch has been cleaned finally! (it's coated in some kind of high gloss paint, and is always covered a thick layer of dirt due to lack of rain, dust, and occasional fires) We'll see how long that lasts.

DS is having success as well. We'll be in Chapel Hill from April 8-12 to see if we want to live there. Anyone going to be around there then? Any suggestions for things to do/see that might entice us? Would you recommend it?

Also, it looks like we'll be in the DC area the weekend of May 22 for a wedding. I've never been there. Not sure we'll have much spare time, but just in case, feel free to send me suggestions for awesome things there as well.

Hiking Figueroa Mountain

2010-03-22T01:44:00.000-04:00

Our friends convinced us to hike a six mile trail up Figueroa Mountain to see the spring wildflowers. While I'm not much for exercise for the sake of exercise, things like this are easily agreed to. If only they were easily done...

The drive there was longer than expected, so I hit my inhaler a bit too early. Plus, on the way, we kept seeing fields and hillsides covered in gorgeous carpets of flowers. We couldn't resist pulling over to take photos. As we pass the shorter, paved hikes, we enjoyed mocking the people gathered, calling them "Sunday Drivers" and the like. We kept going, to the big hike, expecting to be met with rich rewards for our persistence. Boy were we wrong. Karma is a bitch. The hike we had chosen was dry, rocky, and uphill for miles. UP. HILL. I thought I was going to die. It's a good thing I took the inhaler out of the car with me, because that early shot left me hyperventilating five minutes in. We felt like we were lost in the desert, and in a way, we were. We had no idea where the "good part" of the hike was, and we plowed forward, our feet creating trails of dust in the air, our shoes full of spiky little pebbles, sure that each new bend or crest would provide us our prize. There was no prize. Unless you count that one time I led, and everyone wondered how I could hike so fast. That was pretty cool, for a wimpy asthma kid.

After several miles, we gave up, ate our picnic lunch, complete with wine, right in the middle of the rocky trail, and went back. Since it was all downhill from there, we moved quickly, and then drove back to the wildflowers we had mocked people for stopping to see. Sometimes, following the trail most taken is very good advice.

The lower parts of the trail did have some flowers and greenery, and you'll see that in the photos. But all of the lush fields of flowers are, unfortunately, from elsewhere. Honestly though, it was a great day. You know what T-Rex says... "The worst that can happen is Adventures!"

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Winston Hunts Finches

2010-03-20T01:19:00.000-04:00

Now that spring is here, Winston spends a large amount of time each morning frantically stalking finches through the kitchen window. I've had to keep the counters clear so he doesn't break anything. He gets so anxious, like he actually thinks he has a chance of catching one through the screen. I actually think the birds enjoy taunting him. They hang out in groups of five or so in the top of the tree, which is right at our window. When they fly past the window, Winston flinches, his tail flicks, and his eyes become giant black discs. Have you ever noticed that cats' eyes dilate when they're hunting? It cracks us up.

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Arroyo Beach

2010-03-19T01:13:00.000-04:00

Photos below of Arroyo Beach, where I discovered sea glass is abundant! The beach isn't bad either.

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Professor Science for Real

2010-03-11T01:46:00.000-05:00

Every time I talk to real people, I spend the next three or four hours feeling like I said something wrong, but I have no idea why. It's very troubling, and makes me think it's a good thing that I'm a hermit.

That being said, I love my book club, and it's one of the things I will miss when I leave Santa Barbara. Which, by the way, will before the fall semester, because my husband has a job offer.

Every time the universe delivers a solution to a problem of mine right as it's close to spiraling out of control, I sit around waiting for the other shoe to drop. Right now though, we're still in celebration mode. Say hello to PROFESSOR DRAGONSLAYER!

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Professor Science? Remember when I bought him this shirt? The one I had him wear under his suit for his PhD defense??

Enjoying It

2010-03-08T14:17:00.000-05:00

I am what "they" are referring to these days as "underemployed". Yes, I have a job. And yes, it pays me real money. But it's of such limited quantity that I'm thankful for public libraries and 99¢ bread. I'm not exactly in danger of missing payments on anything. More like we make exactly the amount of money we need to get by, but anything else is problematic. This is hard for us. Just this Saturday, we went to see a matinee (did you know those were cheaper?) with some friends, who all decided to go eat at Outback afterwards. Previously, we would have been all over going out to eat with friends. I mean, we are typically the type of people that wonder what our friends are doing, but don't bother to find out because we're socially inept. So when an easy opportunity to do said socializing presents itself, and with food, you can safely bet we'll be there. Lack of money is something restaurants sort of frown on though. DS and I spent 10 minutes, while the other four were joking around and settling on which restaurant, sending furtive glances at each other. Was this something worth dipping into our savings for? Are we bad people for thinking along these lines.

In the end, it apparently was worth it, because we went, and enjoyed ourselves. And you know what else I enjoy about being underemployed? I've had the last 2 months of Monday's off. I'm spending today playing Sims 3, because I can. Also, I've read a hojillion books since Christmas. I got rid of cable, and haven't even noticed because my laptop has an hdmi output and hulu is amazing. And when we just can't stand to be in the house any longer, we do things like go see waterfalls.

Truly, there are worse things than being underemployed. As long as I can put food on my table, I am totally fine with it. I'm sure that feeling is bolstered somewhat by the fact that DS will hopefully have a job soon. But still, right now, working 15 hours a week isn't too shabby.

Originally thought I'd spend the whole day playing Sims 3. Well, until people come over for BSG night at any rate. But you know what sounds good? Bacon. And I have plenty of time to make it. Those of you who know me well can appreciate that statement at its fullest.

Hiking Cold Spring Trail

2010-03-02T02:02:00.000-05:00

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On Sunday, DS and I decided to take advantage of the rains on Saturday, and went to see a waterfall. Living 4 miles from the mountains means we have lots of waterfalls, but living in an arid climate means they only show their faces in "winter". Our plan did not disappoint.

We hiked around 3 miles round trip, much of it up steep hills and over boulders. But it was totally worth it. At the end, we were right under a magnificent waterfall with a view of Montecito below, then ocean, and finally, the Channel Islands. We ate our lunch there, attempted to take photos without tumbling down the mountain (no joke, that was a serious possibility; it was slippery and steep).

The whole trail was nice though, crossing the creek several times, with lots of little waterfalls along the way. We saw lots of cool wildflowers, and a patch of clover full of yellow flowers being harvest by bees. DS didn't stick around for that part, being allergic and all, but I enjoyed photographing them and watching. Some of them had fat little sacks of honey on their hind legs, and many of them looked clumsy trying to get deep into the flower, their little legs flailing all over the place.

As this website will tell you, the hike is not for the faint of heart. But some good shoes that can get wet, and a willingness to scramble, and you can see some amazing stuff. You don't even have to hike the creek like last time. ;)

Life is Hard Without a Sink

2010-02-24T15:55:00.000-05:00

Of all the nice things about our apartment (size, neighbors, refurbished), sometimes I'm sure none of those can outweigh the bad. Mostly because the bad things are recurring and ANNOYING.

Today's bad thing: our plumbing. I don't know what crappy plumber they had in here to redo all the plumbing fixtures, but 2/3 of them didn't work when we moved in. On top of that, last night we got our third clogged kitchen sink since moving in here. I swear, I have never had so many plumbing problems in my entire life, and the house I grew up in was 100 years old.

After the first time (2 weeks after move-in), we got a letter from the landlord telling us that if they could prove we clogged the pipes, we would be responsible for the repair costs. Ever since then, we do not use our brand new garbage disposal, and every drain has a catch in it to keep all food, hair and whatever else that isn't straight liquid out of it. We don't even put coffee grounds in the drain, because that was in the letter.

So today the plumber is coming, and we're praying they don't pin this on us. And we're also praying that disgusting, foul smelling, impossible to clean off black goo doesn't come spraying out of the wall again.

For now, I have to constantly remind myself not to use the sink. I can't believe how much liquid gets poured down that thing... it's very hard not to dump stuff in there. Good thing this doesn't seem to affect the shower or toilet...

LA Zoo

2010-02-15T00:15:00.000-05:00

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Unforeseeable circumstances have postponed our trip to the San Diego zoo. However, with the LA zoo still on the list of zoos I need to visit, we decided to go there as it was much closer and decidedly better on the budget.

I have to say, for $13/ticket and free parking, this zoo was a steal! The weather was perfect (apparently 80, but no humidity, a slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky), the crowds were only bad near the most popular animals, the lines are went surprisingly quickly. Even in the crowded areas, people didn't linger overly long, or get pushy. Kids were not bumping into you, or climbing the railings, or screaming at the animals. Even when we felt the need to get away from the crowds, I didn't feel like killing anyone.

The absolute best part though? The babies!! I mean, we saw a baby koala (OH MY GOD!), wallabies, twin pigs, colobus monkey, gorilla, twin snow leopards, giraffes. Granted, some of them were more along the lines of young than brand new, but they were all so ADORABLE.

Also, kettle corn.

Stream Hiking

2010-02-09T01:34:00.000-05:00

A view typical of the tamer parts of the creek we splashed through.

On Sunday, a group of my friends went on a hike through Seven Falls Trail here in Santa Barbara. Because this is such an arid climate, the falls are only active during the winter rains. I use the word winter very loosely. It was 65 during this hike.

This trail is famous for having stepped pools where the falls have eroded pits in the rock. It was amazing. There were groups of young people in bathing suits and wetsuits using the falls as natural water slides and just generally having fun. None of us had swimming clot

hes on, so we weren't too keen on running around soaked afterwards. However, Nell and I were interested in how the rest of the pools lo

oked. You can't really see all of them from where the trail comes in, so viewing the rest requires some climbing. Nothing major, as at some point there were little foot pockets carved into the rock, but probably intimidating to someone who has never done any kind of climbing before.

Right Photo: Looking down on the pools where people swim. We climbed up this.

We braved it, knowing that if we fell, we'd just be wet and get over it. We said goodbye to the rest of the group, planning to meet them where the trail reconnects to the stream. I suppose we should have planned that in actual words though. We continued scrambling up boulde

rs, through the stream, for 2 to 3 hours after that. We were sure that if we kept going, we'd find the trail. Turns out, the trail came back right after the pools, which was not even 10 minutes after our separate. Whoops. All in all, we were hiking for roughly 4.5 hours. Granted, we spent some time ogling the scenery.

Despite worrying our husbands, ruining our pants, and being utterly exhausted afterwards, this was the best hike of my life. Generally the water was only a foot deep at most, though there were some places you could fully swim in, and some places unexpectedly were up to our knees or even our hips. The water was also COLD. We did a lot of jumping from rock to rock, and scrambling up the bigger boulders. There were so. many. water falls! We kept picking out the ones that would make the best natural showers for when we decide to live in the forest.

Seriously people. Hiking up a mountain stream is the best. We even found this big rock face covered in different kinds of moss. There were teeny tiny little mushrooms growing out of it. So adorable. And so soft! I'm sure that's where the magical fairies live.

We had both left all of our belongings with the group when we separating, because we didn't want to get anything wet. So I have no pictures to share. However, I did search the internet, and I'm sharing what I found out there. These aren't mine. Some are linked to websites that have even more photos if you're interested.

This photo is with a lot of other cools ones, and an article. I recommend it. This is also a good example of the more difficult stuff we had to do to not go swimming. There wasn't quite so much of this as you'd imagine.

UofL Scarf Finished!

2010-02-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

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I finished my brother's scarf! I feel safe posting it here, because I can't imagine he's ever been here. I doubt he would even know where to find me. Regardless, it's late, so I guess it doesn't hurt if he does see it here first.

Happy 25th Birthday Brother!

An Evening with Neil Gaiman

2010-02-04T01:13:00.001-05:00

Tonight I had the privilege of sitting seven rows away from Neil Gaiman as he read unpublished stories, answered questions, and told us snippets of things about life and writing. He spoke about how much he loves audiobooks, and making his own. As I sat listening to him read The Thing About Cassandra, I found myself both awed by how mesmerizing his story telling powers were, and feeling cheated that the only one of his books I've listened to was read by Lenny Henry. That's not to say that my experience with Anansi Boys on CD was anything less than great. But after listening to Gaiman speak for two hours, it occurs to me that my public library will need to be thoroughly picked clean of anything they may have recorded in his voice.

He also mentioned Twitter a number of times, and from his references, I'm guessing I should be following him. Such a wonderful, funny man. Bless you Santa Barbara, for finally giving me something truly amazing.

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*Both stories that he read to us have publishers, and will be available soon. Though I can't tell you what soon means. The other story, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, was about a dude at a B&B along the seaside in England. Both were wonderful, though Cassandra was longer, and had, for lack of a better phrase, more teeth.

**Did you know Blueberry Girl was written for Tori Amos while she was pregnant? *swoon*

Weaving Experimentation - Soumak Weave

2010-02-02T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'm working on a belated birthday/Christmas present for my brother, whose birthday is the day after Christmas. I'm attempting to weave designs into the fabric in support of his favorite team, the University of Louisville cardinals. After planning out the lettering on some grid paper (well, homemade grid paper... I really should buy some of that stuff; making your own grids is needlessly time consuming) similar to a cross stitch pattern, I went about weaving them into the fabric using what's known as a soumak weave. For you embroiderers, this is basically a stem stitch. Which I realized after painstakingly weaving this in between each plain weave row. I think for the image part, I will just embroider the design.

At any rate, I'm pretty pleased with how the UofL part came out. Very simple, striking, and not too fancy looking for a dude to wear even though making it feels very fancy. I should have photos once the whole thing is done.

Craft Room Makeover

2010-02-01T18:28:00.000-05:00

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Photos of my newly arranged craft room. I took the month of January off from crafting, as I was a bit burned out after the mad dash to Christmas. I just put the finishing touches on the room yesterday, just in time to resume crafting for February. I have a couple of projects for specific people that I need to get done, and then the shop should start seeing new items for sale.

Side note: DS has a fourth interview at U Penn!

Time Flies

2010-01-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

I would say it's because I'm having so much fun, but I'm not always sure that's true. Obviously, it's true sometimes.

Where to start? DS came home from France just fine. I had to read my last post to even remember he went... he travels too much. Right now he's in North Carolina for an interview. It's the first of three. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets an offer from one of those schools.

Christmas came and went. I got awesome presents, including a new Proxxon rotary tool that I LOVE. The cats got a new cat tree, which Winston is nearly too fat to use. DS got Vibram's (the toe socks of shoes), and while they look ridiculous, I find myself increasingly jealous of them.

I saw the movies Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Leap Year and the Princess and the Frog, all in two weeks or so. That's probably more movies than what I saw all of last year. It was expensive, but AWESOME. Though... Leap Year probably should have been rented. I couldn't resist though, because I went with the girls in my book club, who I really like, but had never just hung out with.

I kept my job after Christmas. It's not temporary anymore, but my hours are so few that it's hardly even part time. Also, my W2's are trickling in, and I was shocked by how little money I made this year. Did my salary really drop by 75% by moving to Santa Barbara? Dear God.. no wonder we're so broke.

I went home to visit family and friends in Kentucky. It was wonderful. I saw just about everyone I wanted to, and enjoyed every minute of it. I even caught up with my best friend from college one, whom I hadn't seen in like 5 years. He's married now, and has an amazing house, and the coolest dog EVER.

I've been taking a break from crafting this month. Last night I decided to rearrange my craft room. I've always enjoyed rearranging a room. I don't think my bedroom was ever the same for more than 6 months growing up. It reinvigorates me. I'm hoping the same will be said after this one, and I can get back on the ball with my business.

Speaking of which, I need to thank my husband. I had to do my business taxes this week, and I came to the startlingly revelation that I lost a way more money than I had thought this year by running it. I nearly decided to throw in the towel, but he talked me out of it. He reminded me that I do it because I love it, and as far as hobbies go, at least in this house, it's a relatively cheap way to spend my time.

While I'm acknowledging people, my favorite person in all of the southern United States just bought her first house. I am extremely excited for her and to see what she does with it, and also jealous in the best way possible.

Let's all hope that this time next year, DS and I will be in the city we will retire in, and that it will be within single day driving distance of all of our families. Then maybe we too can grow up and get a house :)

Au Revoir

2009-12-11T11:28:00.001-05:00

This morning I took my husband to the airport. He's on his way to France. Again. For free.

Jerk.

This time it's only a week though, so I'll have him back again next Friday night. Also, this trip makes me hopeful for his career. Strangely enough, his advisor back in Madison invited him to go, all expenses paid. Meaning he chose DS over other, current, students. Exciting for what that means about his talent, but kind of sad for the options for the current round of people.

At any rate, this is both good and bad for me personally. The good news is that with me being so swamped at work (how long has it been since I made a blog post??), severely behind on deadlined crafting projects, and heavily addicted to the game Dragon Age: Origins, some time alone will probably be helpful in getting back on track. The bad news is that without DS, my sleep schedule always becomes highly erratic, and having him to talk to has been keeping me sane. I mean really, if you're just going to be a complete ass on the phone, you should probably do your shopping on the website instead. I'm just saying.

I'm finding it hard to believe that it's mid December. Even with the tree up, lights outside, Christmas cookies in the house, all of that and it feels like any other time of the year. Is it because I'm not going home for Christmas (AGAIN?)? That it's officially "cold" here at 50 degrees and a little rain? That there are like 30 new blooming plants outside?

Whatever it is, I find myself paying more attention to the Facebook statuses of my Wisconsin friends (thank you Facebook friend lists, for being amazing development), scouring them for snow related information. Also, I find myself getting excited about my trip to Kentucky planned for January.

Now, if you'll excuse me, me and the cats need to snuggle this morning. They need reassurance that just because their daddy is gone, doesn't mean they're abandoned.

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Back-posting may follow to fill that... very long gap of silence. Because occasionally I did some stuff these past 2 months that I might want to remember later.

I Think We're Going to Need a Bigger Sink

2009-10-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

Winston's Drinking Problem

2009-10-18T16:25:00.001-04:00

A while back I read that cats are quite often dehydrated. Thus, anything that gets a cat to drink water should be encouraged. This is probably why those cat drinking fountains make so much money. My cats have always seemed to prefer faucets, and that's why you will often find our tub dripping.

Recently, Winston has discovered that he likes water. No, he LOVES water. Especially if it's not his. If you have a cup of water, he's going to drink out of it. This is troublesome if you actually wanted that water. Or a dry table. Because I'm a pushover, I've just been holding the cup for him while he gets his fill. I'm always surprised by how much of it he drinks. And then I need a refill...

His latest find is the pot full of cold water that DS soaks his hand in to help with his eternally sore climbing fingers. Does Winston care that DS's hand is submerged in this pot of water? No. Not at all. In fact, I think he might consider it seasoning.