tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35936129482623035662023-11-15T23:09:13.917-08:00Knit CulturistaWhere I share my adventures in fiber and culture in Los Angeles and beyond.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-76281831093760428522015-05-19T18:06:00.001-07:002015-05-19T18:06:26.162-07:00Vogue Knitting Live!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0884aFO7oiZON9cQ1eNUYy48n0E-MwdETo6yul8WI_ZnGTn_0NthW8xH1EG4Q6jomyva9lbZENXsYM3D5mCbTtMJ0t_2lGHnF8OdRgoWQENsfqBpbQ9ddWAXoKVpQ1mCLVXeXd5Y6xek/s1600/IMG_4569+-+Version+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0884aFO7oiZON9cQ1eNUYy48n0E-MwdETo6yul8WI_ZnGTn_0NthW8xH1EG4Q6jomyva9lbZENXsYM3D5mCbTtMJ0t_2lGHnF8OdRgoWQENsfqBpbQ9ddWAXoKVpQ1mCLVXeXd5Y6xek/s400/IMG_4569+-+Version+2.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
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On April 18 Vogue Knitting Live came back to Southern California after a long absence. This one was at the convention center in Pasadena, which I think was a good choice. It’s not as cushy as the Century City hotel location from last time, but the location was fantastic - right in the middle of downtown. Pasadena is one of my favorite places in Socal - a real city with a lot of history and character and tons of cultural events. I had to sneak out of the house for a few hours to make this so I didn’t take any classes, but spent some quality time in the marketplace on Sunday. I thought that I had taken many more pictures but I ended up with only a few from the event. Near the entrance there were some incredible fiber artists who were exhibiting. <a href="http://bencuevas.com/">Ben Cuevas</a> was there exhibiting his knit body parts which rise to the level of sculpture. There were two artists who work in free form crochet whose names are not in the program but the work was really spectacular, one making actual murals out of yarn. There was also the adorable <a href="http://mochimochiland.com/">Mochimochi Land</a> from designer <span style="background-color: white; color: #4e4e4e; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Calibri, 'Myriad Pro', Myriad, 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anna Hrachovec.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXsZlRLJMy_t3cEBdVf6awH-RkBy0KOVFkcMJ3Mdqua0MM9YcQ2ODQoGVaijS_rqnLQ-4kGZzwMPKOlP3c6aBwSCmbldWuONZhvEKLKAsxAr8ScgYAvuhiJZGF8_IUkDDp1Pr_brTnogf1/s1600/IMG_4572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXsZlRLJMy_t3cEBdVf6awH-RkBy0KOVFkcMJ3Mdqua0MM9YcQ2ODQoGVaijS_rqnLQ-4kGZzwMPKOlP3c6aBwSCmbldWuONZhvEKLKAsxAr8ScgYAvuhiJZGF8_IUkDDp1Pr_brTnogf1/s400/IMG_4572.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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One of my first stops was at a lovely soap company called <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/purpleenaturals">Purplee Naturals</a>. They are mother and daughter knitters who make really lovely soaps and lotions out of all natural ingredients, including some with only essential oils for fragrance. I’m sensitive to chemical fragrance so that’s something I always look out for. I bought a few bars from them.</div>
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One of the best things about festivals is discovering new businesses and products. There was a booth called <a href="http://stuffyoulove.com/">Stuff You Love</a> featuring gift items and notions for crafters. I could not resist this ingenious color wheel.</div>
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I’m always having to refer to an online color wheel to figure out combinations, but this is so much better. It lets you point to a starting color and gives you options based on how many colors you want to put together, or what kinds of combinations, like complimentary, triad, analogous, etc. Each color section also has 7 different values so you are sure to find the one you want. It comes with a handy little guide explaining all of this in detail. I think it’s a must-have to throw in your knitting bag, especially it you’re also a quilter. I got the smaller 5” size but it also comes in 11”.</div>
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On of the most gorgeous booths belonged to <a href="http://www.pampowersknits.com/">Pam Powers</a>. I have long coveted her <a href="http://www.pampowersknits.com/shop-patterns/ruffled-ruched-scarf">Ruffled and Ruched Scarf</a> pattern and her whole booth was filled with luscious scarves and mitts, many available as kits. I really love not only her romantic design aesthetic but her photography, graphic design and models. The photoes were blown up to large scale at her booth and mad e astounding impression. Since my photos are no where to be found, here’s a link to her latest book <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Dress---Impress-Knitted-Scarves-Extraordinary/dp/0811713288/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432078909&sr=8-2&keywords=knitted+scarves">Dress-to-Impress Knitted Scarves</a>.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Next I met the fine folks at the <a href="http://www.fiberista.club/">Fiberista Club</a>. This is a unique subscription club that has options for both yarn and spinning. The boxes are curated with a painterly aesthetic and are designed around mood boards which you can preview on their site. The founders both have a dance background and they manage to find fibers that you may not find anywhere else. They also gifted me with this cute little journal made from repurposed publishing materials.</div>
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I’m not sure what their relationship is to the publisher <a href="http://craftside.net/">Craftside.net</a>, but their web site is very cool.</div>
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My one and only fiber acquisition was some glorious merino from <a href="http://lisaknit.com/">Lisa Souza</a>. </div>
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She is a prolific dyer who is inspired by the natural world. I got to meet her and her husband at their very impressive booth filled with both yarn and fiber.</div>
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Sharing a booth with Lisa was Cecelia Campochiaro, author of a new reference book called <a href="http://www.sequenceknitting.com/">Sequence Knitting</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRD2bfPpQ5W1II6CkBOdzEAEBexrq0ES2nMQE-ACc9qQu17YLO4gdr4t5glRynmHc9bWbdhU1iPj97R4EjDyaEKVIzJFasQPlYCo1fjyXFwozmzX6ka-0yrYOMuS2vJtN73Dq1l0eYnjSP/s1600/sequence+knitting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRD2bfPpQ5W1II6CkBOdzEAEBexrq0ES2nMQE-ACc9qQu17YLO4gdr4t5glRynmHc9bWbdhU1iPj97R4EjDyaEKVIzJFasQPlYCo1fjyXFwozmzX6ka-0yrYOMuS2vJtN73Dq1l0eYnjSP/s1600/sequence+knitting.jpg" /></a></div>
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Cecelia has a science background and explained the principles of the techniques in the book. Through a simple formula it allows you to create new and inventive textures.</div>
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At the very stylish and post-modern <a href="http://yothyarns.com/">Yoth Yarns</a> booth I picked up these adorable little stitch markers.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0Fi-XMdK8Ea0-zljOeuCbHrW7yK5R2Zd5KQWvuVqZQ-gX23VvpiyNk0UYQafXju2Q6gLUYPkkpMCObGIAmkAX-pEX0dLSiV12cwNdVOh3jfF8GF51wTXo3GUhrppWta4jQ5exsNPqdAO/s1600/IMG_4588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0Fi-XMdK8Ea0-zljOeuCbHrW7yK5R2Zd5KQWvuVqZQ-gX23VvpiyNk0UYQafXju2Q6gLUYPkkpMCObGIAmkAX-pEX0dLSiV12cwNdVOh3jfF8GF51wTXo3GUhrppWta4jQ5exsNPqdAO/s320/IMG_4588.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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They’re teeny and perfect for small needles. Along with their yarn line, they have lots of cool notions such as this.</div>
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Vogue knitting was having a sample sale of some of their garments, and look what I found.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNiT28pF84xP1R0ECICzk41bKaEhvZyFe0OiLaMBv2KwZm98UOla7RkY-cxnVLhnbOS6gEbTxk4qN8Cp_lecYlZE3TCjc9m69-MG7cWnSx60kMOpMqP26upPHZ8E735z4ntrIe_osropxE/s1600/IMG_4574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNiT28pF84xP1R0ECICzk41bKaEhvZyFe0OiLaMBv2KwZm98UOla7RkY-cxnVLhnbOS6gEbTxk4qN8Cp_lecYlZE3TCjc9m69-MG7cWnSx60kMOpMqP26upPHZ8E735z4ntrIe_osropxE/s400/IMG_4574.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It’s the <a href="https://store.vogueknitting.com/p-2920-medallion-wrap.aspx">Medallion Wrap</a> from Spring/Summer 2012. It didn’t really register when I saw it in the magazine, but in person it’s beyond stunning, so much so that I declined to buy it. Even though it was quite a bargain at $60 and you can’t even buy the yarn for that amount, I knew I would love it so much more if I made it myself. If you’re reading this blog I’m sure you understand this level of insanity. Look at that pattern!</div>
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The very popular <a href="http://www.mkwares.net/">Kunihiro Pottery</a> booth was filled with lovely yarn bowls of all shapes and sizes. I picked up something there a little different for storing sponges by the sink.</div>
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On the way out, the line was finally short enough to stop in at the Vogue Knitting Measurement booth. While it’s true that you have to screw up your courage to look at your accurate measurements, we all know how invaluable they are to fitting garments and choosing the right size patterns. They did 10 different measurements and wrote them on a handy-dandy card.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnZsgzTAVY4uhQpFxA65fGDdXySQPfjotIcj17vBC04Tm6lWpIwSv_z0T_1ZW6XazmqkAqeHK3shtTXP9xnfpb_NazGPbzWJ_qp5vyRxtiGZ-ZEz1f9zSYnG0Zm9Zw20G5k61q3fHDnV7J/s1600/IMG_4691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnZsgzTAVY4uhQpFxA65fGDdXySQPfjotIcj17vBC04Tm6lWpIwSv_z0T_1ZW6XazmqkAqeHK3shtTXP9xnfpb_NazGPbzWJ_qp5vyRxtiGZ-ZEz1f9zSYnG0Zm9Zw20G5k61q3fHDnV7J/s320/IMG_4691.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Just before I left I made sure to stick around for the Skacel Hikoo contest, promoting their newest yarn line.</div>
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Welcome back to LA Vogue Knitting, we missed you!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-41280620154477351732015-04-24T17:03:00.000-07:002015-04-24T17:03:12.630-07:00Santa Fe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Wow, it’s been almost a month since my last post. I promised myself I would’t do that again, but here we are. Too much fun stuff going on, I guess, so I’ll just try to get caught up here. When I got back from the desert I had to start getting ready for our Spring Break trip to New Mexico. We were going from March 28 - April 4. Sadly for me, that meant that I would only have parts of 2 days to enjoy the <a href="http://layarncrawl.com/">LA Yarn Crawl</a>. I realized that there was no way I could go anywhere but the Westside, so I limited it to <a href="http://compattoyarnsalon.com/">Compatto,</a> <a href="http://www.jenniferknits.com/">Jennifer Knits</a>, <a href="http://www.wildfiberstudio.com/">Wild Fiber</a> and <a href="http://www.theknittingtreela.com/">The Knitting Tree</a>. I bought one skein of Cascade 220 at the Knitting Tree, that was it. I was heading off to a state with actual Fiber Trails, after all!<br />
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We flew into Albuquerque and drove the hour north to Santa Fe. This was the first trip for all of us to this state. I’d become fascinated with it because of all the fiber events that seem to be going on and the rest of the artistic and culinary traditions. Yes, and Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. We decided to just stick with one place because it’s such a large state, twice as big as NY, and we didn’t want to spend the whole time driving around. Our first stop was at <a href="http://www.harrysroadhousesantafe.com/">Harry’s Roadhouse</a> for lunch. If that place was any indication we knew we’d be loving the food. We checked into the <a href="http://innatloretto.com/">Inn and Spa at Loretto</a> which is right downtown.<br />
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We had gotten a deal through Groupon, which was not all that much of a difference from their normal rates. It’s quite a lovely hotel with boutiques and galleries and a fantastic living room downstairs with entertainment and a fireplace. There were a few annoying things like mandatory valet and a resort fee which added quite a bit to the nightly rate, plus no room safes or jacuzzi (resort, remember), but it was comfortable and a great location.<br />
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We were all really surprised by the all-adobe-all-the-time nature of the architecture here, and it’s pretty strictly enforced by city code. It gives the city a lot of character but I think seeing the same color all the time would make me a little batty. Everywhere you look there is art, including a lot of these kinetic sculptures from an artist in Utah named <a href="http://www.wifordgallery.com/store/sculpture-lyman-whitaker">Lyman Whitaker</a>.<br />
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After settling in and checking out the pool and the surroundings, we went to<a href="http://tomasitas.com/"> Tomasita's</a> for dinner. It was a little bit outside of downtown but a solid Mexican place with a nice atmosphere.<br />
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The next day was Palm Sunday. We decided to do a road trip up through Taos and on the <a href="http://www.enchantedcircle.org/">Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway</a>. On the way was the <a href="http://www.elsantuariodechimayo.us/">Santuario de Chimayo</a>, which I discovered by chance at <a href="http://atlasobscura.com/">Atlas Obscura</a>.<br />
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It's one of the largest pilgrimage sites in the US, especially during holy week. Some pilgrims even walk many miles carrying others to get there. We got there just in time for the end of the outdoor service. One of the features is a shrine with a hole in the ground filled with "holy dirt". It is supposed to be a cure for physical ailments, so we all put some on, why not. We did the same kinds of things in Greece and Turkey when we were trying to get pregnant - mineral springs and talismans and local rituals - something must have worked because I came home knocked up. After that we drove through Taos, which was so much different than I expected, very small like a village, and even more adobe-fied than Santa Fe. We missed out on seeing downtown because we still had a long drive. I would have liked to see the <a href="http://www.taospueblo.com/">Taos Pueblo</a>. We did stop outside of town for lunch at the <a href="http://farmhousecafeandbakery.com/Farmhouse_Cafe_and_Bakery/Welcome.html">Farmhouse Cafe and Bakery</a>.<br />
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While we were there we saw a brochure for the <a href="http://earthship.com/">Earthship</a>, which is a community nearby of fully sustainable structures which you can visit. On the way there we crossed the Rio Grande and stopped to walk across a very high and scary bridge overlooking the nearly dry riverbed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little target practice</td></tr>
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The <a href="http://earthship.com/">Earthship</a> community is really worth a visit. There are several of these in the US and it’s also become a worldwide movement to provide sustainable buildings. The houses are fully contained and sustainable and completely off the grid.<br />
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Then we headed up on the <a href="http://www.enchantedcircle.org/">Enchanted Circle</a> through the towns of Red River and Angel Fire. We really liked the atmosphere up in Red River which was a very piney mountain ski town with clean crispy air - the kind in short supply here in SoCal. The drive was really pretty too, even though there is always a constant jostling for the shotgun seat between my son and me. He’s also at the age where he’s so over Mom & Dad and was always wanting to just stay in the room on his computer instead of going out to eat with us. When we got back to town we took him up on his offer and went to <a href="http://www.elfarolsf.com/">El Farol</a>, which is in a historic building on <a href="http://visitcanyonroad.com/">Canon Rd</a>, the art gallery street.<br />
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The food an ambience were really nice and they had a singer and even some people tangoing on the dance floor.<br />
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The next day we took a <a href="http://www.toursofsantafe.com/">city tour</a> on an open-air trolley that left right outside the hotel. The guide gave a lot of interesting backstory to the town history and took us up to the bluffs where quite a few of the town’s museums are.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Journey’s End Monument</td></tr>
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He also encouraged us to go see the <a href="http://santafe.org/New_Mexico_State_Capitol/">State capitol</a> building which has a unique circular construction and millions of dollars worth of artwork, which we did later on that afternoon. Everyone there was remarkably friendly and we were free to roam around pretty much anywhere we wanted to.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peace quilt</td></tr>
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For lunch we went to the<a href="http://www.thunderbirdsantafe.com/"> Thunderbird Bar & Grill </a>which is on the second floor overlooking the town square. We sat out on the patio which was really nice.<br />
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We really lucked out with the weather while we were there. The week previous it had been 28 degrees but was in the high 60s and sunny for most of our week. We decided to check out a few galleries on Canon Rd after that. Besides the kinetic sculptures I mentioned, almost every gallery and the town features sculptures of all kinds - they’re everywhere you look.<br />
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We stopped for a coffee at <a href="http://caffegrecosantafe.com/">Caffe Grecco</a> which is very cozy and has lots of cool local artifacts inside.<br />
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We shared a blueberry empanada which was pretty awesome.<br />
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On the way back from the Capitol we came across the <a href="https://www.kakawachocolates.com/">Kakawa Chocolate House</a>. They sell drinking chocolate in American and European varieties. We got one of each, the American spiced with chilies.<br />
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This is nirvana if you love chocolate, and they provide samples of all the varieties. They also have chocolates and brownies and a lovely space to hang out. For dinner we all went to <a href="http://www.marias-santafe.com/">Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen</a>. It was a bit outside downtown and had pretty standard Mexican fare, though it was totally packed.<br />
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Tuesday we went to <a href="http://www.ojospa.com/">Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa</a>.<br />
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This is an excursion that we had all been really looking forward to. I wanted to go on Thursday which was my son’s 13th birthday, but the forecast was for a lot of wind on that day. Tuesday turned out to be perfect. The spa is an hour outside Santa Fe and is really in the middle of nowhere, like most everything here. We had lunch there and then headed into the springs. There are several mineral pools featuring different elements but the first thing we did was head for the mud. It comes out of a fountain like chocolate. You put it all over your body, wait for it to dry and then get into the mud pool to wash it off. We spent time in all the other pools and then chilled out in the hammocks. I met some nice people from Colorado in the Jacuzzi. There were hills in the background where Yuri took a little hike. A really unique and chill place and pretty affordable to come for the day. When we got back to town we had another date night and went to my favorite restaurant of the trip, the <a href="http://terracottawinebistro.com/">Terracotta Wine Bistro</a>. It’s in a historic little house and done up with a French flair, and the food was just great.<br />
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Wednesday we went up to Los Alamos to the <a href="http://www.lanl.gov/museum/index.php">Bradbury Science Museum</a>. This is a great place to learn about the history of the Manhattan project and all the scientists and workers who converged on this remote location to carry out a top-secret mission. It also touches on the reality of nuclear war and the consequences that the people of New Mexico suffered because of atomic testing. We had lunch at the <a href="http://labluewindowbistro.com/">Blue Water Bistro</a> in town.<br />
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After that we headed to the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm">Bandelier National Monument</a> to see the cliff dwellings.<br />
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This is a really accessible and not too strenuous walk from the museum/gift shop. You can climb ladders and see where nomadic tribes carved rooms and even apartments out of the soft rock. Back in Santa Fe we went to the <a href="http://www.palacesantafe.com/">Palace Restaurant and Saloon</a>.<br />
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We choose this because our son was with us and he only eats a handful of things, and I was getting a little weary of all the Mex. It was more like a nightclub and was pretty empty when we were there but picks up later on in the evening.<br />
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The next day was Stefan’s big 13! He was pretty adamant that all he wanted to do was chill. We started the day by taking a long walk up Canon to <a href="http://teahousesantafe.com/">The Teahouse</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time to drink tea like a man</td></tr>
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He’s a big fan of loose-leaf tea and this place had maybe a hundred varieties, plus various other drinks and a nice menu. The plan was for the boys to go to our hotel’s spa for massages while I set out on my one and only stop on the <a href="http://www.nmfiberarts.org/">New Mexico Fiber Arts Trails</a>. Originally I had envisioned hitting a lot of these places on this trip, especially <a href="http://www.victoryranch.com/">Victory Ranch</a>, but it was not to be. I drove an hour north of town to the <a href="http://www.evfac.org/">Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center</a>, a non-profit collective centered mostly on weaving but encompassing all fiber arts.<br />
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This was a really impressive place, with a large main room featuring locally sourced fibers and yarns, bulk dye material, finished objects from collective members, and books and magazines for sale. There was also an extensive library and in the back a whole room set up with floor looms where they hold classes and workshops. I picked up some local fiber that I plan to spin up when I decide to break out that new wheel of mine. I was very jealous of this amazing place and really think that LA should have one of its own. On the way back I stopped by a <a href="http://www.nambe.com/">Nambe</a> outlet and picked up a few things. There is also one in downtown Santa Fe which also has outlet pricing. You’ve seen these pieces everywhere but it turns out they’re made from a proprietary material sourced in NM. I also hit a few yarn stores in Santa Fe. <a href="http://yarnandcoffee.com/">Yarn and Coffee</a> is a cute space with a nice selection and cafe where I picked up some local yarn.<br />
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I also stopped by <a href="http://www.sfschoolofweaving.com/">Santa Fe School of Weaving</a>. It’s on the ground floor of a house in town and features not just yarn but dozens of incredible finished items made by the owner herself. For Stefan’s birthday dinner we went to <a href="http://ilpiattosantafe.com/">Il Piatto</a> which is a really lovely Italian place with beautiful Venetian plaster walls and at least one genuine Italian waiter.<br />
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Friday was our last full day in town so we wanted to see a few sights and go shopping.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Literally everywhere you look</td></tr>
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We visited the <a href="http://www.cbsfa.org/">Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi</a> and the <a href="http://www.lorettochapel.com/index.html">Loretto Chapel</a> with its magic staircase.<br />
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For lunch we went to <a href="http://www.sfshed.com/home.html">The Shed</a>, which is a ridiculously busy Mexican place near the square - the whole time we were there we couldn't get a reservation for dinner. It was really good, with lots of different rooms inside. As soon as you get to town, call for a reservation. Then we went to the <a href="http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/">Georgia O'Keefe Museum</a>. There was a film about her life and art that was very illuminating. When you think of her it's usually of the large flower paintings, but there were very few of those there, they're all in museums and collections around the world. This museum gave a window into her life in New Mexico, as well as many photographs that were taken of her. She was one of the most photographed women of the 20th century, and many of the early photographs were nudes taken by her future husband. She was then thought by the public to be a sensualist (this was the 1920s after all), and responded by painting still lifes, including flowers. The fact that these were seen as erotic in nature horrified her, as her motivation for painting them was originally quite the opposite. The rest of the day we walked around and bought souvenirs, and my husband bought a painting from an artist outside the chapel he had seen on the first day. The temperature had started dropping and it was pretty chilly when we walked over to the <a href="http://www.cowgirlsantafe.com/">Cowgirl BBQ.</a><br />
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This place was super fun with a really authentic Southwestern feel. There was a band playing in the SRO bar, and several dining rooms inside and out. They also have an extensive craft beer selection and another room that's a pool hall.<br />
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On the way to the airport we stopped at <a href="http://twistersinc.com/locations.php">Twisters</a> which is a local burger/burrito place with locations throughout NM and a few in CO.<br />
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The people here were incredibly friendly and remarkably excited that we were enjoying the food. Turns out Breaking Bad was filmed there, which is a source of local pride everywhere you go. The friendliness and openness of just about everyone in our travels in NM was really notable. Very cool place, as I thought it would be. And I have to mention the<a href="http://www.abqsunport.com/"> ABQ Sunport,</a> a pretty and chill little airport which is good place to pick up some authentic souvenirs on the way home.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-15316877969345293622015-03-21T17:10:00.001-07:002015-03-21T17:10:53.041-07:00Tennis anyone?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8ct69zwwURiXmjQ2Ta6UW_oyPWYjzXb5Wnwqn1AStQV0GtAjpDuiR5k_Sm-Y7Gxyu9UMhZaQmU6EYAAKc8CpObpbYCdDSOy4BJ4gKYpXgfM5GAXzUZnyAzeTuDjBWKfd9nO6Ql8CcYIo/s1600/IMG_4269+-+Version+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8ct69zwwURiXmjQ2Ta6UW_oyPWYjzXb5Wnwqn1AStQV0GtAjpDuiR5k_Sm-Y7Gxyu9UMhZaQmU6EYAAKc8CpObpbYCdDSOy4BJ4gKYpXgfM5GAXzUZnyAzeTuDjBWKfd9nO6Ql8CcYIo/s1600/IMG_4269+-+Version+2.jpg" height="383" width="400" /></a></div>
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Last week my husband insisted that I go out to the desert and enjoy a few days at the <a href="http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/">BNP Paribas Open</a> tennis tournament. If you’re not familiar, it’s considered the “fifth slam” and draws all the top players to one of the largest stadiums and events in the world. We’ve been a few times, but since we took our son last year and he wasn’t so into it, my DH thought I should just go by myself and have a good time. Which I did. The plan was go to the day session on Thursday, and then on the way back spend a day at <a href="http://www.glenivy.com/glen-ivy-hot-springs/">Glen Ivy Hot Springs </a>in Corona, which I’ve been wanting to go to forever. They are famous for their mud baths. Anyway, the draw on Thursday turned out to be pretty weak, hardly anyone I recognized and a lot of qualifiers and wild cards. Don’t get me wrong, these can be great matches. I remember going to the qualifying rounds at the US Open years ago and it was great. It was the first round though, and there was a definite lack of enthusiasm around the grounds. The first place I headed was the practice courts to watch one of my all time favorites Martina Hingis getting ready for her doubles match. She looked in really great shape, so much that I wished she would start playing singles again (fat chance). The over to the match of the day which was the return of Mardy Fish playing fellow American Ryan Harrison. I was hard to tell who was the underdog, as Mardy was once a top player but has 11 years on his opponent. It was a really good match and Mardy almost pulled off taking the second set, but Harrison prevailed. It was nice to see him play well but he ended up falling in the next round. Then I headed over to stadium 2 to watch Hingis and Mirza win their match. General admission in this court can get you really close to the action if you can find a seat. I stayed for bits of a few more underwhelming matches before calling it a day. I had been there since noon and had almost burst into flames, but the evening was really nice. I decided then that I would have to come back for the night session the next day to see Serena Williams make her return to the tournament after 14 years away.<br />
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I got to the tennis garden as soon as they let the night session in at 4:30 and watched Nadal play doubles. Most of the top players are playing doubles here and draw huge crowds. Then I checked out the practice court schedule. Federer. There was a bit of a line but I finally got up there, one court away from where he was hitting. For tennis fans, he is god. Not <i>a </i>god or <i>the</i> god, just god. After he was done he was sitting around talking to his team and the crowd near the fence started cheering for him to come over. A girl in front of me yelled “yay Roger, the way you sit in that chair!” and we all cracked up, because I think everyone would have stayed around another hour just to behold him. He finally went over and spend a long time signing autographs and taking photos, so I got as close as I could to his highness.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2dzPTutxwhyphenhyphenCHnAxzI5xPXfY766PXWUFSvhlI1hefLYErNv_GZ9Vl55z1KW42_rXJYBeJt4rU7-Jxwb193EGDkkV5hF3571FUv1HHxh8_kGKK1TAsmkDH4VpDU8Z7c3fZc9IdPJFoLJF/s1600/IMG_4299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2dzPTutxwhyphenhyphenCHnAxzI5xPXfY766PXWUFSvhlI1hefLYErNv_GZ9Vl55z1KW42_rXJYBeJt4rU7-Jxwb193EGDkkV5hF3571FUv1HHxh8_kGKK1TAsmkDH4VpDU8Z7c3fZc9IdPJFoLJF/s1600/IMG_4299.JPG" height="400" width="328" /></a><br />
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Then I bounced around a few matches before discovering the wonderful lounge chairs in front of the 3 screens showing the matches going on. I thought this would be a great place to park it while waiting for the night match. The life. Then I grabbed glass of Pinot and headed up to the major nosebleed seats. Now I have not always been a major Serena fan, but I’ve always enjoyed watching her play. Her entrance, though, and the reception she got was really something special. There was a standing ovation that just kept going on and she was clearly very moved by it. And then there was the match with Niculescu, which was surprisingly competitive. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her play, but it was close and very entertaining at times. Serena ended up winning in a tight 2 sets and the crowd was of course pulling for her all the way, but really showing some love to Nuculescu for some phenomenal shot-making. There was a salute to heroes afterward honoring military and first responders. I stayed for a few games of the Kyrgios/Kudla match, but it was late and I had to drive back to LA that night.<br />
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I really feel like I learned how to do Indian Wells this time - here’s a few tips:<br />
*Check the order of play online to see which day and session to go to<br />
*Buy tickets online<br />
*Plan which matches you’re going to hit<br />
*Bring snacks, an empty water bottle, sunblock and a hat, and a seat cushion if you’re in the grandstand seats on Stadium 1. If you’re going to a night session, check the weather because it can get <i>cold</i>.<br />
*Get there early to park/walk/get through bag check/buy a draw sheet/hit the head/fill your water bottle<br />
*Check the practice court schedule and spend some time there<br />
*Try to get a seat where the sun isn’t on you the whole time (it sets in back of the mountains)<br />
*If you’re pooped, plop yourself down in front on the jumbo screens, grab cocktail and chillax.<br />
This is a very chill tournament, so if you’re in Socal you should definitely check it out. Meantime, I’ve been keeping up with the action on Tennis channel and ESPN. Serena, Roger, Djoko and Murray still all in there.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">On Wednesday my back finally felt well enough for yoga so I took Dice Iida-Klein's class at <a href="https://www.yogaglo.com/">Yoga Glo</a>. I had taken from him before and knew he was kind of athletic, so I took the one hour Level 2. It was an interesting Vinyasa flow where something is added on each time. I think we did about 6 cycles and boy it was killer. He is known for his arm balances and handstands and he threw one in on the mat after all that, but there was no way I was trying it at that point. I was just happy to have made it through the class. Later I had some wrist pain that was probably from not planting my hand down firmly enough, but luckily it was gone by the next day. If a teacher is always getting on you to plant your index finger joint down, that's the reason. </span></span></div>
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I finally completed the roman shade for my bathroom, and it looks really cute. It was so labor intensive and took so much time and table space that I'm not sure I'd do it again. There's a store around the corner form me called Fabric Planet that has a great selection of fabric remnants and trim and also does curtains and alterations. I recently ordered some ottoman cushions from Lowe's to match the chair cushions on my patio furniture, but they are a few inches too long. Knowing how I am with projects like this and wanting to actually use them this year, I think bringing them over there might be a good idea.<br />
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I started 2 new books. The one I'm reading is <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Bat-Inspector-Vintage-Lizard-Original/dp/034580709X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426982554&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Bat">The Bat</a> by Jo Nesbo.<br />
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<span style="clear: right; color: black; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">It's the first in the Harry Hole series. I read <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/The-Snowman-Harry-Hole-Book/dp/0307595862/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1426982743&sr=1-3">The Snowman</a> a few years ago which is the 7th in the series, and it was so good I wanted to read them all. It took me a while to track this down because it hadn't been available in English until recently, and I've collected almost all the others. This one is set in Australia but still qualifies as Nordic Noir.</span></span><br />
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On audiobook I'm listening to<a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Here-If-You-Need-Me/dp/0316066311/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426982684&sr=8-1&keywords=Here+if+You+Need+Me"> Here if You Need Me</a>, which is the true story of a woman who became a chaplain for the Maine State Forest Service after her husband's death.<br />
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<span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;">As far as podcasts go, I've been getting a little bored of the ones I've been listening to a lot, so I tried a few others on my list, like <a href="http://www.startalkradio.net/">Star Talk Radio</a> with Neil Degrasse-Tyson and another one called <a href="http://www.wqxr.org/#!/programs/meet-composer/">Meet the Composer</a>, which is an in-depth conversation and exploration of a modern composer. There's so much stuff out there that I think it's a good idea to actively search out new things and then</span><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;">actually listen to them.</span> </span><br />
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<i> </i>I finished <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing-ebook/dp/B00KK0PICK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426982871&sr=1-1&keywords=life+changing+magic+of+tidying">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</a>, and it's really starting to change the way I think about <i>things</i> - acquiring them, storing them, getting rid of them, etc. While I haven't put the full system in place, I did try one trick about folding things up in drawers and stacking them vertically. This is really amazing and I highly recommend it. My drawer of tops before was a jumbled mess, and I didn't even know what was in there. After culling what I didn't need, I can see everything as soon as I open the drawer and choose what I actually want to wear, not just whatever's on top. I even did my husband's scrub drawer too so he could feel like a Japanese surgeon. Adorable. I really like what she has to say about the less you have, the more you're able to see what you value and what direction you want to go in life.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-19527872482137050662015-03-08T18:39:00.003-07:002015-03-08T18:39:44.868-07:00Too much fun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I can't believe it's been a week and a half since I've blogged anything. I was so good at the beginning of the year doing it every day, then every other, but there's just been way to much activities/festivities and fun going on. Last weekend was my husband's birthday weekend. We made it a weekend because instead of going away we decided to do a staycation here in LA filled with fun stuff that we never do - namely, venture east of the 405. Friday evening I wanted us to go to The <a href="http://www.museumofdeath.net/">Museum of Death</a> in Hollywood, but the logistics of traffic means that we have to put that off for another time. It sounds really cool though, so when we finally get there I'll be sure to report back. We opted to chill at home for a few hours and take naps instead. What we did do was go <a href="http://theprincela.com/">The Prince</a> for dinner. It's one of those LA institutions set in a historic building, this one in Koreantown. It's also the setting for the bar scenes in New Girl, which we're big fans of , so I thought he'd get a kick out of it. The food was amazing - I had some vegetable dumplings. We've been really getting into Korean food lately. I don't eat meat, but they're known for their fried chicken. The hubs had some kind of chicken dish and loved it. The have a private room for parties and lots of banquets. It's a fun place for a group of friends and a great place to take out-of-towners.<br />
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Saturday was his actual birthday do we wanted to do some grown-up things. Our son went to a sleepover and off we went. We finally made a trip to <a href="http://www.beverlyhills.org/exploring/greystoneparkmansion/?NFR=1">Greystone Mansio</a>n which is an historic site in Beverly Hills. They have tours of the interiors but unfortunately they're only on the first Saturday of the month. We did walk around the grounds which were lovely and had an impressive view of the city. The site is used extensively for weddings and other events as well as filming. I really wanted us to go to the <a href="http://www.chadotea.com/">Chado Tea Room</a> after this, but the Hollywood location was in the Hollywood and Vine complex and I could see it would be a nightmare getting in and out of there, so we stopped in a little place along Melrose instead. The Chado is something I first saw on Groupon and it looked like a fun activity. Besides afternoon tea, they have a tea tasting and a store. There are several locations around LA. Since my son really loves tea we might do this with him another time. </div>
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For dinner, we went to another LA institution, <a href="http://www.lucques.com/">Lucques</a>. I've been hearing about this place forever and have seen Suzanne Goin all over the chef shows. I would describe it as Rustic Continental cuisine. We started with salads of burrata and root vegetables. Hubs had a beef dish which he claimed was devine. I had the ricotta gnocchi, which were these pillows of perfection on top of<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">sunchoke purée, pea shoots, chanterelles, pecorino and pistachios.</span></span> Wow. I'm obsessed with her now and want to get her cookbooks. Beyond the flavors it was the textures which were really memorable and unique. The dining room itself is pretty small, though there is a patio area. There's a small bar and a cozy fireplace as you walk it. It's incredibly romantic and the service was great.</div>
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In the theme of the weekend, I planned a lot, but we ended up doing about half. After dinner, we realized that we had 4 hours to kill before the late-night event, so we decided to once a gain go home and take naps, but not before grabbing some tres leche cake at Whole Foods to sing happy birthday with. Then we were off to North Hollywood to <a href="http://zombiejoes.homestead.com/">Zombie Zoe's Underground Theatre.</a> I was trying to find something really unusual and there's a lot out there, including roller derby and burlesque and Mexican wrestling, but none of those we going on that night. After searching around I came to this theatre doing some weird stuff, so we went to see an 11pm show called The Nightmares Trio. I've seen (and done) quite a bit of experimental theatre, but never anything quite like this. This production had 3 very compelling performers and a musician. It was dark and sexy and touched on a little bit of everything and somehow tied it all together. You should see it, and if you like it, like we did, you'll be back. Outside the theatre I saw a friend from college that I hadn't seen for years. He was a long time fan and was getting set to mount a show there himself, so we got to meet Zombie Joe. We talked about the writing process for these shows and some of the other things they do there. They've been in the space for more than 20 years, and though it was a struggle getting attention up in the valley for a long time, they've lately gotten a lot of critical love from the LA Times which has been great for them. </div>
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Sunday we had to take our son downtown for rehearsal, so we took that opportunity to visit another LA landmark, <a href="http://www.grandcentralmarket.com/">Grand Central Market.</a> This was kind of like the Original Farmer's Market by the Grove, but much more crowded, bustling, ethnic and <i>downtown</i>. After walking the whole place, we settled on <a href="http://www.berlincurrywurst.com/index.php">Berlin Currywurst</a> as they had a tofu option for me. You can specify the level of heat, the way it's served and the toppings. It was pretty good, but I have to say not nearly as good as <a href="http://www.wurstkuche.com/">Wurstkuche</a>. The sausage was small and the bread was overpowering, but the flavor was pretty good. We ordered the fries which were amazing. </div>
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After this we stopped in to <a href="http://lastbookstorela.com/">The Last Bookstore</a>. This is an old bank building which has been converted to a retail and art space. Downstairs is the bookstore which carries both new and a curated selection of used books, CDs, DVDs and vinyl. Upstairs has the rest of the books in a warren-like maze of rooms, art gallery spaces and <a href="http://togatherdtla.com/">Gather</a>, downtown's only yarn store. </div>
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I finally got to go inside as every other time I've been down here it was closed. It's a very tiny space with a small selection of yarn, some of which is from indie dyers. I had planned for us to go on a walking tour of downtown with <a href="http://www.freelatour.com/">Free LA Tour</a>, but the skies looked threatening and my hubs, being a good dad, sacrificed his jacket to the kid. Once again we opted to go home and take naps, which was a good thing because it then proceeded to rain like hellfire. The plan was to go back later and pick up our son, then head to the San Gabriel Valley for dim sum. It was still pretty crappy out so we punted on the road trip, took him home and got noodle bowls from Whole Foods. And that was the weekend! Planned lots of stuff, did half of it, took naps. It was pretty adventurous for us considering the stuff we usually do in LA (mostly within a mile of our house).</div>
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Last time I mentioned a rather aggressive yoga class I took at <a href="https://www.yogaglo.com/">Yogaglo</a>. Well, I ended up straining my lumbar spine so bad that I could barely move for days. 11 days later I'm still having a hard time bending down even to put on clothes. Now, this could be owing to a lot of factors - lack of conditioning, my own lumbar history, age, but I've been practicing for 21 years and I've never experienced anything like this. I'm very good at making adjustments for my body, especially when it comes to forward bends. The problem is that I really believe these kind of asana should be proceeded my 45 minutes to an hour of vinyasa and standing poses. In contrast, this was only an hour long Level 2 class and had almost no warm up. I feel a little arrogant questioning the wisdom of this teacher, but this was my honest experience. The take home lesson? I really understand the value of all that hard work you have to do in order to safely do advanced asana. I'm not always a fan of it, but it's for your own protection, among other things.</div>
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Besides being a gimp this week, this was the week of rehearsals and performances for my son with the <a href="http://www.laopera.org/community/families/community-opera/">LA Opera Off Grand</a>, which was at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels downtown. He's playing violin in the Production of Noah's Flood. This was a great opportunity for young musicians and community members to work with world class artists including conductor James Conlon. This series has been going on for 9 years and this was the first time I'd heard of it. I can't say it's all that fun getting form the Westside to downtown during rush hour, even on the weekends, but it was only a few times and I think it was worth it. Hopefully I can convince him to do it again next year.</div>
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The other fun thing we did as a family was get new iPhones, which were a long time coming as ours were barely functional. We also finally dumped AT&T for T-Mobile. Had to buy the phones at full price but don't have to worry about a contract. So far we are loving the iPhone 6, though migrating was a little confusing. Some of my photos seem to be lost in the mix but are floating around here and there. I have a pretty <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Protective-SOFT-Interior-Protection-Metallic-Finished/dp/B00LL6B30I/ref=sr_1_11?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1425859541&sr=1-11&keywords=spigen+iphone+6">Spigen</a> case and got a white phone for a change. I also opted for the shatter-proof case recommended by the clerk, as apparently these phones are super fragile. Best of all, no overages with T-Mobile, which were what made us leave AT&T. </div>
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I'm one my way with the second <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/gathering-of-the-clouds">Aegean Sea mitt</a>. Once I get this very long post up, I can maybe make some progress on it.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-19831681568091229952015-02-25T21:09:00.001-08:002015-03-21T18:36:15.366-07:00An Italian-American weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This weekend we went out to the Coachella Valley to attend the <a href="http://www.franksinatragolf.org/home.html">Frank Sinatra Black Tie Gala</a>. We were invited by my cousin who helps produce the event. It's a whole weekend benefitting the <a href="http://www.barbarasinatrachildrenscenter.org/">Barabara Sinatra Center for Abused Children</a>, which is a really wonderful charity. There was a star-studded pro-am golf tournament on Friday, but we came for the gala, which was quite a shindig and included a full-on concert by Burt Bacharach. Wow. It's really the end of an era. There were women wearing fur coats, which you don't see a whole lot of anymore. We got to hobnob a bit with the stars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVY9rRic5MvKw7DVOwmLIJbUN2-zIW445hcMaaGyf76_s_KdO9X4aWHs7fKC5VEiuH3T8A7t41d-A-wxkDCga-ig2C6L2CAn0W0I51tTYwGXw_DYK5Yw0qlItNZkeHwWvrcCvpqHGZY7N2/s1600/IMG_4245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">The fun and music continued at the after party. I’ve never been much for nightclubs but I’m a sucker for these things - galas, auctions, events, they’re so much fun.</span></span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVY9rRic5MvKw7DVOwmLIJbUN2-zIW445hcMaaGyf76_s_KdO9X4aWHs7fKC5VEiuH3T8A7t41d-A-wxkDCga-ig2C6L2CAn0W0I51tTYwGXw_DYK5Yw0qlItNZkeHwWvrcCvpqHGZY7N2/s1600/IMG_4245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVY9rRic5MvKw7DVOwmLIJbUN2-zIW445hcMaaGyf76_s_KdO9X4aWHs7fKC5VEiuH3T8A7t41d-A-wxkDCga-ig2C6L2CAn0W0I51tTYwGXw_DYK5Yw0qlItNZkeHwWvrcCvpqHGZY7N2/s1600/IMG_4245.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVY9rRic5MvKw7DVOwmLIJbUN2-zIW445hcMaaGyf76_s_KdO9X4aWHs7fKC5VEiuH3T8A7t41d-A-wxkDCga-ig2C6L2CAn0W0I51tTYwGXw_DYK5Yw0qlItNZkeHwWvrcCvpqHGZY7N2/s1600/IMG_4245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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Between packing, driving and doing it again 2 days later, that was the weekend. We got back to LA with a minute to spare for my son's last meditation class. The parents got to sit in for the end of it which was nice. I'm not sure what he got from it but it's a start. He's really primed to take yoga now because at least then he'll get to move. A lot of the stuff about boredom is coming up in <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Life-Worth-Breathing-Handbook-Strength-ebook/dp/B004ULMX9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424901729&sr=8-1&keywords=a+life+worth+breathing">A Life Worth Breathing</a>, with practical ways of getting past it. I also like what he says about happiness. We always want specific things because we think they're going to make us happy, so why not just seek happiness, what ever form that might take? It turns out that we might not always know what’s best for us.<br />
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On Tuesday I took a class with Tias Little at YogaGlo. He runs <a href="http://www.prajnayoga.net/tias-little/">Prajna Yoga</a> in Santa Fe, which is pretty cool since I’ll be out there next month. I remember taking his class at least once before, but this one is memorable because it had some very intense flexion/extension of the lower back and my lumbar area is incredible sore today.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nIWLk55v9oUctDlieaU7rDUON10Zzy8lEICk7czrZ_2Ovu7DbhtC2TA_ESRTJtwi5A76B3DAcAtCh0T5JGkmWXzjR3spZ5UPCTRluqNHS2rTxR_sXJS-QLJamxyywmDxaSvrxg1qSFAE/s1600/a-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nIWLk55v9oUctDlieaU7rDUON10Zzy8lEICk7czrZ_2Ovu7DbhtC2TA_ESRTJtwi5A76B3DAcAtCh0T5JGkmWXzjR3spZ5UPCTRluqNHS2rTxR_sXJS-QLJamxyywmDxaSvrxg1qSFAE/s1600/a-21.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://total-yoga.org/portfolio-items/dwi-hasta-bhujasana-two-hands-and-arms-pose/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">Dwi Hasta Bhujasana</span></a></h2>
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This is different than being in pain, strangely enough. I know the things I can’t do if I want to avoid pain. This soreness is clearly from working muscles that I’m not accustomed to working and taking them to their limit. The class was filled with a lot of asanas with low back flexion like the one above, and the counter balance was some supported bridges<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmkW0TQCDZvYvUzt33K62taYWKWSCMcUDZwmPIEz5u9rtdvHWDQ4684PfddBJAqqv1b4_Er7EGDfTB-fg1RSbkxuEljBi4n1XfYVZdUquuPt9mybUzQJfV5PkdpT41Yua8CmQv23NCq6s/s1600/supported-bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmkW0TQCDZvYvUzt33K62taYWKWSCMcUDZwmPIEz5u9rtdvHWDQ4684PfddBJAqqv1b4_Er7EGDfTB-fg1RSbkxuEljBi4n1XfYVZdUquuPt9mybUzQJfV5PkdpT41Yua8CmQv23NCq6s/s1600/supported-bridge.jpg" height="262" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supported bridge</td></tr>
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This is actually a more intense stretch than it looks. I usually prefer doing it with the bolster along my spine, and keeping my feet in as much as I need to avoid over-extending.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhGB98sE8IF_o71O5hPFA2lPgXGrJCFUU9F6RyBOR9dN50BFfWglo_1fB6-NVFDG0KMXSGRvZJ0bszSUmYJHF3d4fgxh8GeyDk1vgStqZz5Mad2lpP3ekCAUJvZF_3ncCtZCuf40dcXiA/s1600/IMG_4255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhGB98sE8IF_o71O5hPFA2lPgXGrJCFUU9F6RyBOR9dN50BFfWglo_1fB6-NVFDG0KMXSGRvZJ0bszSUmYJHF3d4fgxh8GeyDk1vgStqZz5Mad2lpP3ekCAUJvZF_3ncCtZCuf40dcXiA/s1600/IMG_4255.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Here are my Aegean Sea Mitts modeled on my hand. So elegant. Here is the back side with the increases.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoPI_pANo-rnBknhDk-zfQGDTS0gzs3FNi1E8HG9LeQyqVAvj_spuhVbPLyIv7hrfc66XHky5b6M_5gfwo8bcRy0jJOGvhJ5BxS25aRTcrTxvOzPCPhB-4KqWBds-yNixtjrcDmdDu6Bd/s1600/IMG_4250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoPI_pANo-rnBknhDk-zfQGDTS0gzs3FNi1E8HG9LeQyqVAvj_spuhVbPLyIv7hrfc66XHky5b6M_5gfwo8bcRy0jJOGvhJ5BxS25aRTcrTxvOzPCPhB-4KqWBds-yNixtjrcDmdDu6Bd/s1600/IMG_4250.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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The increases were done facing away from the row marker, so M1R before the marker and M1L after. I think it’s a nice feature.</div>
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I am 2 rows away from finishing the sleeve portion of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/hitofude-cardigan">Hitofude</a>! It’s only taken 3 months. Since it’s going to be joined the round, I have to soak and block it while it’s still on the needles. That’s getting done tonight, and then I’m plowing through the second mitt. I finished reading <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Knitting-Without-Tears-Easy---Follow/dp/0684135051/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424926906&sr=1-1&keywords=knitting+without+tears">Knitting Without Tears</a>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYDuSi6BjflZtNZrK7Vran6F1F8pGhzwiMRwlJwn681kQ4w-3NV7fB7ztt51hBNo_fI7fZpqQv34Nk_b5lwccnyDFMIhCPP_4IrWLN_jWkOJnTFidbUEuSexapM2JGw7P6LcoFpb9KiEb/s1600/k+w:o+t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYDuSi6BjflZtNZrK7Vran6F1F8pGhzwiMRwlJwn681kQ4w-3NV7fB7ztt51hBNo_fI7fZpqQv34Nk_b5lwccnyDFMIhCPP_4IrWLN_jWkOJnTFidbUEuSexapM2JGw7P6LcoFpb9KiEb/s1600/k+w:o+t.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
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While it’s definitely a reference book, it’s a really fun read. Most of it is not applicable to my life as I live in LA and don’t have much need for ski sweaters and warm hats, but I love how she lays out recipes for pretty much all the basics. All you have to do is plug in your measurements and go, leaving plenty of room for creativity. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-3298848494523532982015-02-19T13:33:00.001-08:002015-02-19T13:33:36.112-08:00Half way there<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I finally finished my first Aegean Sea Mitt.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeO35ewu-ZSZQGvOi_0nyjP60VjKHDTSv2wCncwuE6xvN8sBnSLXvrfL16zyFlN39cIVAtF5vx0YTKLXJ6G8aLExj1iYX0kaMOQpwdYzsXpPny-9Cfv_C70uki1ETtaj8-4tAVQOWXeHV/s1600/IMG_0485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeO35ewu-ZSZQGvOi_0nyjP60VjKHDTSv2wCncwuE6xvN8sBnSLXvrfL16zyFlN39cIVAtF5vx0YTKLXJ6G8aLExj1iYX0kaMOQpwdYzsXpPny-9Cfv_C70uki1ETtaj8-4tAVQOWXeHV/s1600/IMG_0485.JPG" height="400" width="298" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeO35ewu-ZSZQGvOi_0nyjP60VjKHDTSv2wCncwuE6xvN8sBnSLXvrfL16zyFlN39cIVAtF5vx0YTKLXJ6G8aLExj1iYX0kaMOQpwdYzsXpPny-9Cfv_C70uki1ETtaj8-4tAVQOWXeHV/s1600/IMG_0485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeO35ewu-ZSZQGvOi_0nyjP60VjKHDTSv2wCncwuE6xvN8sBnSLXvrfL16zyFlN39cIVAtF5vx0YTKLXJ6G8aLExj1iYX0kaMOQpwdYzsXpPny-9Cfv_C70uki1ETtaj8-4tAVQOWXeHV/s1600/IMG_0485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">I had almost gotten finished and decided I could do 10 more rows, so took out the eyelet band and redid it. I was thinking of living dangerously and seeing how high I could get, but figured this was the safer bet. The original pattern stopped at 8.5 inches, so all of the rest I calculated myself, the details of which are in the notes on the Ravelry page. I</span>’<span style="color: black;">m going to cleanse my palette with Hitofude for a day or so before I plow into the second one.</span></a> This glove goes right up to the elbow and used 35 grams of fingering weight yarn.</span><br />
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My iPhone 5 is refusing to start up, which is horrible. It’s everything to me, including my camera. I’m able to model and photograph at the same time, which doesn’t work so well with the iPad. It ran out of juice last night and that was that. When I press the top button I get an Apple for a few seconds and then nada. It was showing up on the computer today when I tried to sync, but not anymore, so I can't even reset it. We've been waiting till our AT&T contracts were up because they are the worst, so now I decided to go with T-Mobile. If we go tomorrow I think I can avoid a trip to the Genius Bar. This phone was really on its last legs for a long time. iPhone 6, here we come!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5uy4u6IjQKadKi4Ou1BnAVaWweb5dIhPR95SaQvd4pfWOHlBHUKPhWjblIYeZAqcV4J24riLVtAVU9aK5naJOEvBvKwYAyF0JBxGL2hcyJeUNuurzt0g9dAeUlQHVVfIDn4YBsA-s5GE/s1600/7f449618-a532-4c3c-ade4-0246180bad3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5uy4u6IjQKadKi4Ou1BnAVaWweb5dIhPR95SaQvd4pfWOHlBHUKPhWjblIYeZAqcV4J24riLVtAVU9aK5naJOEvBvKwYAyF0JBxGL2hcyJeUNuurzt0g9dAeUlQHVVfIDn4YBsA-s5GE/s1600/7f449618-a532-4c3c-ade4-0246180bad3b.jpg" height="400" width="343" /></a></div>
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Tuesday night I went to see a staged reading of The Latest Mrs. Schiller at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/track16gallery">The Track 16 Gallery</a> Loading Dock Stage. This was in an industrial section of Culver City I'd never been to, right near the Tennis Channel offices (I have a dream of working there). A loading dock is actually a pretty cool, industrial theatre stage. I took mercy on the boys and let them stay home, which was smart. A staged reading in a loading dock is for die-hard theatre fans. The actors were on book but the performances were full-on and they were a joy to watch. The writing was sharp and funny, in the end the plot didn't make much sense, but all in all I was glad I dragged myself out of the house. They're doing a series of these readings on Tuesdays, so they're worth checking out, and free.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIOpmMujnxdK65SagcPnWgt1PZk2Xw9rl8EtmRYnvuXwSuS6r7P2mIDs8jtElU1QiMf019gRAGkZDT2XhW_ZpuSuV7YHhhnpKwRkK4zs-_TWOK0yQcQZS917yHZHJfZTPNTGIziciCAb78/s1600/tabloid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIOpmMujnxdK65SagcPnWgt1PZk2Xw9rl8EtmRYnvuXwSuS6r7P2mIDs8jtElU1QiMf019gRAGkZDT2XhW_ZpuSuV7YHhhnpKwRkK4zs-_TWOK0yQcQZS917yHZHJfZTPNTGIziciCAb78/s1600/tabloid.jpg" height="400" width="285" /></a></div>
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I watched a movie on Netflix called <a href="http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/tabloid">Tabloid</a>. It was a documentary about a young woman who fell in love with a young Mormon man in the late 70s who was pressured to leave before their wedding to go out on his mission. She was convinced he had been kidnapped, so put together this hare-brained scheme to go to England with a bunch of hired guns to rescue him. There is a question of whether she kidnapped him or he went willingly, but they ended up spending days together engaging in B&D before he fled back to his mission with second thoughts. She was arrested and it became a tabloid sensation in the UK. I cannot resist anything about Mormons, so this was right up my alley. It was really more about her though, a loopy, crazy character who never got over this guy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CA6O1bY2Ds1kx8cMaORv7ZTCI8UIDDdr1tN6gVulWDJKo44h5NozdH3yFlXsTdlWIGwGT7MleYwpwwqDt2cGZ7iM8MhDqMI0Ilpfz-dmE5aBXIvkybhKF-fYjQzTShZjUadcV5gImepW/s1600/sq_better_call_saul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CA6O1bY2Ds1kx8cMaORv7ZTCI8UIDDdr1tN6gVulWDJKo44h5NozdH3yFlXsTdlWIGwGT7MleYwpwwqDt2cGZ7iM8MhDqMI0Ilpfz-dmE5aBXIvkybhKF-fYjQzTShZjUadcV5gImepW/s1600/sq_better_call_saul.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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Our Favorite new TV show is <a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/better-call-saul">Better Call Saul</a>. If you're a fan of Breaking Bad, this is a prequel, and shot in the same style and with the same sensibility. We weren't expecting a lot because the reviews were just okay, but we were pleasantly surprised and are looking forward to it every week.<br />
It's a fun little puzzle when new characters pop up, and you try to figure out how they fit into the BB narrative in the future. I actually just booked the flights for our Spring break trip to New Mexico. We'll be staying in Santa Fe most of the time, but I think we may have to take a detour to Albuquerque for one of those location tours. Another thing we are definitely doing is one of the <a href="http://www.nmfiberarts.org/">NM Fiber Arts Trails</a>. This was the concession I got from letting them skip the play, and they better not complain. I definitely want to hit <a href="http://www.victoryranch.com/">Victory Ranch</a>. I just bought some dryer balls from them and they have a large retail store. The rest of the time we plan to do plenty of hiking and hot springs. Our son is turing 13 on the trip and we promised him a spa day. We also want to take in the art and cuisine that Santa Fe is famous for.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-66485679700822187572015-02-15T20:29:00.003-08:002015-02-17T15:35:13.813-08:00Love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uSAItrxfZM1x7JJuTlIxaDcr2JT21x9D0C6rk3oAvM-pXsEtiIWpGMCA6L9RdmrHDXBAL-A30NCvNKpS-K58qrpql6nGGT3_s1ux_m2QUpcX4p-nZVbu15FkEW4Hr7ADI9w1_tJywKuj/s1600/IMG_4490.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uSAItrxfZM1x7JJuTlIxaDcr2JT21x9D0C6rk3oAvM-pXsEtiIWpGMCA6L9RdmrHDXBAL-A30NCvNKpS-K58qrpql6nGGT3_s1ux_m2QUpcX4p-nZVbu15FkEW4Hr7ADI9w1_tJywKuj/s1600/IMG_4490.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. I received way too much <a href="http://www.sees.com/">See's Candy</a> These are absolutely my favorite chocolates and there are stores all over CA in in some other states. If you don't have one around you and have never seen them in the airport, they have an online store. My favorites are the dark chocolate caramels.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hEg_gheD_37Zo7eRe85tlE_G8uQH1ACctJCTBK5VKzVC1ScXMSkPuW4Ecb3HExhRB4_nZ_aWFbjJdWn-NJT7U7mFJBFdd_Y-JfvueliwKFl0Q4o9Q9EfmRYIlSmVSLzhUi1lW3tb7TiX/s1600/IMG_4491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hEg_gheD_37Zo7eRe85tlE_G8uQH1ACctJCTBK5VKzVC1ScXMSkPuW4Ecb3HExhRB4_nZ_aWFbjJdWn-NJT7U7mFJBFdd_Y-JfvueliwKFl0Q4o9Q9EfmRYIlSmVSLzhUi1lW3tb7TiX/s1600/IMG_4491.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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At this point my husband knows what I like, and throws a few other things in just for fun. He also knows that cut flowers make me sad, but orchids are forever.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHblOtpJKi2wOptVrc_AkR7sCWKsK4A9rtxbzbWAtkLgRls46GhFFpzKT95xbdZLbbSL0eqY8ocaWZ-vkZp3yM50qEG8GDdT0s0SG4W27itxokvFutbRwGw2Y1MvGZe-nHXON33LwNo7Ks/s1600/IMG_4489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHblOtpJKi2wOptVrc_AkR7sCWKsK4A9rtxbzbWAtkLgRls46GhFFpzKT95xbdZLbbSL0eqY8ocaWZ-vkZp3yM50qEG8GDdT0s0SG4W27itxokvFutbRwGw2Y1MvGZe-nHXON33LwNo7Ks/s1600/IMG_4489.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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These are Cymbidiums in a lovely planter. I have another Cymbidium that I bought a few years ago and leave outside. I almost never water it, never feed it, and it is bursting out of its pot but gives me gorgeous blooms season after season. Orchids are pretty much the only plants I can be trusted with because they're murder-proof.<br />
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Our son was on a sleepover, so we had an actual Valentine's date night. We had an early dinner at <a href="http://www.thehuntleyhotel.com/penthouse-restaurant.php">The Penthouse</a> at the Huntley Hotel. It was sunset and the views were spectacular all around.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdIFkZ-xLKVSFNLqPeUVod02Dl847DQ_BESPIat7KtEESPUTnM6d1MEe4s5ci0G0G2bEmuOBdxh4MTntWjD5YPUrG7k0dzvjMmw14Ht3oVKY5QwKoZMG7vV6KrcMWatYgjR1OXiiIbhVOl/s1600/Penthouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdIFkZ-xLKVSFNLqPeUVod02Dl847DQ_BESPIat7KtEESPUTnM6d1MEe4s5ci0G0G2bEmuOBdxh4MTntWjD5YPUrG7k0dzvjMmw14Ht3oVKY5QwKoZMG7vV6KrcMWatYgjR1OXiiIbhVOl/s1600/Penthouse.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
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It was a prix fixe with 4 courses, plus I had a really nice wine pairing. I had the oysters, a lemony risotto and a branzino to die for. The wine pairing was perfect - 3 (generous) ounces per course, and 1 oz. of dessert wine. We were stuffed. Thinking we had plenty of time, we had to make our way to the Edgarmar Center a few miles away for a 7:30 curtain. I know I've bitched about the rampant development around here before, but between getting to this restaurant and then to the theatre, you would have thought we were going into midtown Manhattan from Jersey, and it's all just a few miles from our house. It was a perfect storm - Saturday, Valentine's, and a rather glorious and unseasonable beach day made for gridlock in downtown Santa Monica.<br />
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I have to give my husband credit for taking me to the theatre - that's pretty advanced masculinity. We had been here years before to see a friend in a play, and I used to know the theatre's director as our kids went to school together. <a href="http://www.edgemarcenter.org/theater-and-film-events-in-los-angeles/current/train-to-zakopane/">Train to Zakopane</a>, written by indie film director Henry Jaglom is set in 1928 in the border region of Poland near the Soviet Union, and deals with war, shifting borders and the history and realities of pervasive anti-Semitism that were giving rise to the Third Reich at the time. The play was based on the author's father's recollections of events at that time. My husband, whose parents were from this region found the subject matter fascinating. Also, after 15 years of attending almost nothing but <a href="http://www.citygarage.org/">City Garage</a> plays, he appreciated it's straight-forward, linear quality. I was focusing more on the production and of course the acting, which I found ranged from mostly fine to distractingly bad. It's also a love story, but in the end, it didn't bring the feels, and with subject matter like this it really should have.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Don't try these at home</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzY1i9W3hrz3aF7LQMo8BiVNuZaH8mLRoE8AD0JJFi_C1VaGyjVgluu8mZRWR4VGkGjzCxoSOc7KBmKEnoCLi0Envd31-fc-oSima6s8bAa8tnfJEa8CnodpmuroXOlD7TkvIOcNsAbth0/s1600/standing-forward-bend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzY1i9W3hrz3aF7LQMo8BiVNuZaH8mLRoE8AD0JJFi_C1VaGyjVgluu8mZRWR4VGkGjzCxoSOc7KBmKEnoCLi0Envd31-fc-oSima6s8bAa8tnfJEa8CnodpmuroXOlD7TkvIOcNsAbth0/s1600/standing-forward-bend.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uttanasana</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJbmhO_BQ_0AKEHNpRHQTYcSE-ZQvt6XisYXq35w0MaKklt51Vc-6dLS1i_J6Y9WZlqdEIQR2ZOfZHxzPCuzZb5JPauh3zzjedPNLpGITKreLesxDE4gqqrZ8cqd_aG5Jn6uPSV-vqzV0/s1600/oo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJbmhO_BQ_0AKEHNpRHQTYcSE-ZQvt6XisYXq35w0MaKklt51Vc-6dLS1i_J6Y9WZlqdEIQR2ZOfZHxzPCuzZb5JPauh3zzjedPNLpGITKreLesxDE4gqqrZ8cqd_aG5Jn6uPSV-vqzV0/s1600/oo.png" height="320" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paschimottanasana</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I finally felt ready to take my first yoga class of the year, which was at </span><a href="https://www.yogaglo.com/" style="text-align: left;">YogaGlo</a><span style="text-align: left;"> with Darren Rhodes</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">of </span><a href="http://www.yogaoasis.com/home.html" style="text-align: left;">Yoga Oasis</a><span style="text-align: left;"> in Tuscon. I had never taken class with Darren, but it was just what I needed. It was only a one hour class but was core intensive because of some innovative adjustments to plank, like doing it with the tops of your feet on the floor. You have to hold your core especially tight to prevent your lower back from sagging. It's clear that he is of the therapuetic mindset and/or is used to giving lots of adjustments. His default instruction for </span><a href="http://www.yogajournal.com.au/pose/standing-forward-bend/" style="text-align: left;">uttanasana</a><span style="text-align: left;"> is with bent knees, which is how I have to do any forward stretch. I have the flexibility, but the stretch itself is murder on my lower back symptoms. Most people with low back issues should tend to avoid these intense stretches. This is especially true for me in </span><a href="http://yoganga.com/articles/paschimottanasana/" style="text-align: left;">paschimottanasana</a><span style="text-align: left;">, which I usually avoid like the plague. I had never seen an adequate adjustment for this, but he had everyone start curving over bent legs with soles of feet on the floor, and then extending out from there if it felt right. At this point I really trusted whatever he was doing. He did some great happy baby variations and quad stretches and thread the needle, showing how to go deeper in a safe way. Like most of the wonderful teachers who come through there, I wish I could study with him all the time. My strongest endorsement is that since class on Thursday I've hardly taken any Advil, and I usually eat them like candy.</span></div>
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An interesting thing happens when I'm in that studio and it's getting kind of freaky. I go to the mat before class starts, sometimes never having studied with the teacher, and get into an asana that my body needs that day. It could be anything, sometimes it's something unusual and specific, and it almost always comes up in the class, sometimes as the <i>theme</i> of the class. Before Darren's class I was just sitting in Virasana, which I never do, just watching and listen to other students. Sure enough, we end up sitting in Virasana. In Amy Ipolitti's class I started doing these wide circular stretches, and that was what the whole class was about - circles instead of lines. It only seems to happen there so it must be the vibe of the studio - lots of energy bouncing around that loft.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbXOl4NrXpkHG1futtxoNHBUQRb8GYwNz_TVkbfbHwMZxzQBxwdqfEZbknvUty92Z_eiV7p3opcNqolmFKLH6sRpTw8m8arsCVARn1HbESKf3fMQhX-NDUp_4nKZSD8STFljG25YK6xlc/s1600/IMG_4486-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbXOl4NrXpkHG1futtxoNHBUQRb8GYwNz_TVkbfbHwMZxzQBxwdqfEZbknvUty92Z_eiV7p3opcNqolmFKLH6sRpTw8m8arsCVARn1HbESKf3fMQhX-NDUp_4nKZSD8STFljG25YK6xlc/s1600/IMG_4486-2.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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After yoga I made my first smoothie of the year. It was my first because I finally fixed the blade mechanism on my bar blender. Along with the TV, it's part of our trying our best to repair what we have instead of just replacing things. This is my go-to smoothie. I have a freaky ability to eyeball everything and have it come out to the exact top of the glass, maybe left over from some long-ago bartending days. Here's the recipe - the amounts are guesstimates:<br />
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1 cup non-fat plain yogurt<br />
1/4 cup orange juice, or amount needed for blending<br />
Sweetener of choice - Truvia, honey, agave nectar, etc<br />
1/2 cup frozen mango<br />
1/4 cup frozen raspberries<br />
1 tsp coconut flakes (optional)<br />
3 ice cubes<br />
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Place yogurt, juice, sweetener and coconut in blender. Gradually add in frozen fruit and ice. Add more juice if needed.<br />
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I use whatever fruit I have, but it's usually a mix of 2, with a basis of mango, peaches or pineapple with some berries in smaller amounts. A lot of people like bananas in smoothies, so try that too. It's super simple, healthy, clean and organic if you wish.<br />
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Finally there's knitting. I have not done a lot of it this weekend, but am almost done with my first <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/gathering-of-the-clouds">Aegean Sea Mitt</a>. There was a lot of futsing with the increases and how long to make it. I really want to use all the yarn and I could do it if I wore them slouchy, but I do want to have the option to pull them up. I don't think there's enough to round the elbow (plus that means more measuring and math). I did a decrease on the last knit row from 68 down to 60, then did the eyelet edging. The edging was still a bit too wide for me, so I have to decide it I want to live with it or tink the last 4 rows and try again, decreasing to 56. Maybe a decision for tomorrow.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-87318125128645427662015-02-11T21:43:00.001-08:002015-02-11T21:43:50.816-08:00Math<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYq_iQvBC__zZBvr9bQG-tEPQwmnMfvygvePgx2nQGi-Y2ZfM4Yh7ElvySOND9vIIMYieg9Y9B7Ixwn-5EqmXKh4Oh1rytArejLifcm_JkxwnKUNq8ACPbrgdtoxIUn3pgrVuYYxygeQxN/s1600/IMG_4477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYq_iQvBC__zZBvr9bQG-tEPQwmnMfvygvePgx2nQGi-Y2ZfM4Yh7ElvySOND9vIIMYieg9Y9B7Ixwn-5EqmXKh4Oh1rytArejLifcm_JkxwnKUNq8ACPbrgdtoxIUn3pgrVuYYxygeQxN/s1600/IMG_4477.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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I came to a conundrum with what I am now calling my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/gathering-of-the-clouds">Aegean Sea Mitts</a>. I requested the larger skein of yarn because I thought I would need it and wanted the option of long gloves. The gloves are now almost 10 inches long, 1.5 inches longer than the pattern, and I still have quite a bit of yarn. Since I started with the dark color, it's also the lightest and prettiest part. In order to use up every last bit I realized that I would have to do some increases. Now, I'm not math-adverse in the least. I love solving equations, but coming up with your own equations to solve, that's a different story. I put them aside for a day, but that didn't solve anything. Finally I sat down with a pencil and paper and a ruler and tape measure, measuring the mitt and my arm in various places and figuring out how many stitches I would need to increase, and when. I also had to carefully wiggle the mitt on and off of my arm without dropping any stitches of a 9" circular, needle, my preferred method of working mitts and socks. I'm doing paired M1 increases facing each other on either side of the stitch marker every 7 rows. This will get me a 20 stitch increase by the time I estimate the yarn running out. We'll see how it goes!<br />
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While I was mulling this over I worked a few rows on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/hitofude-cardigan">Hitofude</a>. It's such a treat to go to the relatively large size 5s after working on toothpicks for so long. I'm looking forward to finishing that sleeve section (finally) and grafting the ends together.<br />
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Look what came in the mail today!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVepACnPISUcp7lKvOzR8gNycQvv3wvmJTQXY6x9VoHF3GBxn06-IblqMtdPqdAZ-OkwhZRRMHKrJYIfYFCfgNYpL-b7YL03H3-MXC5nk7gLVl_81wQv2JEnnqah0rsG9y8AMlboIcKYyF/s1600/IMG_4482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVepACnPISUcp7lKvOzR8gNycQvv3wvmJTQXY6x9VoHF3GBxn06-IblqMtdPqdAZ-OkwhZRRMHKrJYIfYFCfgNYpL-b7YL03H3-MXC5nk7gLVl_81wQv2JEnnqah0rsG9y8AMlboIcKYyF/s1600/IMG_4482.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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6 luscious balls of Aunt Lydia's size 3 crochet thread. I was perusing the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/crochet-today-sept-oct-2008">Crochet Today</a> from 2008 I got at a yard sale. Not much that interested me, until I saw the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sunburst-bowl">Sunburst Bowl</a>. It was a technique I had never heard of called tapestry crochet, where the colors are floated across the top of the work and trapped there by the working yarn. It looked fascinating and I knew I had to try it. I figured I could pick up this stuff at Joann's, but they mostly had size 10. After searching around the internets I found some at <a href="http://www.knitting-warehouse.com/">Knitting Warehouse</a> for $2.04, which is quite a bargain. I came up with my own palette which differs a lot from the original.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2hCCWLnBB3cts1ULvcEfQY8dTvWZloY8C8kbUrOdR4AcGHDy4w9Zvy7yMW_2akgSzIMP6SPJxTk3JcStROZ63L-QXg2X3YB-_t3h4ZZlfnuaqaWsIq9TbFo9AClTPs9HU8b-4BAynQCa/s1600/sunburst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe2hCCWLnBB3cts1ULvcEfQY8dTvWZloY8C8kbUrOdR4AcGHDy4w9Zvy7yMW_2akgSzIMP6SPJxTk3JcStROZ63L-QXg2X3YB-_t3h4ZZlfnuaqaWsIq9TbFo9AClTPs9HU8b-4BAynQCa/s1600/sunburst.jpg" height="395" width="400" /></a></div>
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In reading the project notes on Rav, yarn management does seems to be a pretty big problem with this technique, especially when working with 6 colors. I have to try and constrain my self from starting this until the mitts are done, because there is a deadline there. This will definitely be an at-home only project.<br />
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The whole family seems to be in a Mindfulness Meditation phase. Besides taking my son to <a href="http://unplugmeditation.com/">UnPlug</a>, I listened to <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Meditation-Pain-Relief-Reclaiming/dp/B0035YCZNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423718283&sr=8-1&keywords=Mindfulness+Meditation+for+Pain+Relief">Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief</a> which was a nice introduction but rather short at just 2 hours. Through Unplug I learned about the <a href="http://marc.ucla.edu/">Mindful Awareness Research Center </a>at UCLA. While I have little formal training in meditation per se, my 20+ years of yoga practice has exposed to me to various forms of meditation and mindfulness. My husband was aware of this as an established part of medicine and can receive CME credits for it. We decided to take the Mindful Awareness practices class together this Spring. Now if I could only get him into the yoga studio...<br />
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In this same vein, I'm taking a break from dystopia and crime and reading <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Life-Worth-Breathing-Handbook-Strength-ebook/dp/B004ULMX9G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423718994&sr=1-1&keywords=a+life+worth+breathing">A Life Worth Breathing</a> by Max Strom. I've never had the pleasure of taking a class with Max but I know that he's quite a rockstar in the yoga world. I also started listening to <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-effective-clutter-ebook/dp/B00KK0PICK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423719530&sr=1-1&keywords=tidying+up">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</a> by Marie Kondo. This book is getting a lot of buzz for it's power to transform your behaviors and your life. Change and transformation seems to be in the air all around me these days. The key seems to be going with whatever is manifesting itself for you. These things do seems to arrive on their own timeline and in their own way.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-56201309908173939622015-02-08T20:43:00.001-08:002015-02-08T20:43:47.808-08:00Everything takes forever<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Back in January I made a list of some things that I intended to do this year, and of them was to finally put the blackout liner on the shade in the bedroom. For the last year or so I had 3 yards of fabric clipped onto it - I had enough for the 3 shades in the room. Finally I just got sick of looking at it, unclipped it, and unscrewed the shade from the sill.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjLzj4dTaqJo-pZ2jeLGd-5ahm9LM-uhGmmHTTpB0k1unT19gzTxdR_YqfEJ0-l6BXsD_bgQ5etovGp3UW2u8tgKd6c2uNlOXUP7keyR6IhLQJRsrEpy8U3dZsyL6k15Zv7eOhoOPEn2j/s1600/IMG_4468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjLzj4dTaqJo-pZ2jeLGd-5ahm9LM-uhGmmHTTpB0k1unT19gzTxdR_YqfEJ0-l6BXsD_bgQ5etovGp3UW2u8tgKd6c2uNlOXUP7keyR6IhLQJRsrEpy8U3dZsyL6k15Zv7eOhoOPEn2j/s1600/IMG_4468.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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This is some kind of rattan roman shade that was here when we moved in. The sun really only is a problem on this one window, so it's the only one I'm doing. It's such a simple thing but it took, like, 4 hours. I had to cut the shade precisely with a rotary cutter, press and tack down the seams with tape, thread everything under the rings, staple it to the frame, and then take all the rings out and reposition them through both layers. Finally I had to put it back up by myself which was awkward. This is why when I look around this house I think "do I really want to get into this now"? But it's done and it looks great. The same thing happened a few days ago when I decided to finally reframe some watercolor paintings I've had for, I don't know, 10 years? This was another all-afternoon project.<br />
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I framed up a bunch of my son's artwork about 2 years ago which I was very happy to get done, but they've been sitting just like that on the floor of the dining room ever since. Just like in our old house, I'm sure we'll get it just the way we like it, then we'll move. <div>
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Yesterday was actually a great day for this project because it was one of those rare, wonderful, drizzly days in LA. Here's the view of my jungly front yard. </div>
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<br /> I absolutely love it. I probably wouldn't love it all the time, but more than we've been getting for sure.<br />
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I decided to take a break from the DVR and watched Silver Linings Playbook on Netflix. I know, I'm 2 years behind. It was really a cute movie, but I'm a little perplexed why Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar. I really like her but okay, no better than Bradley Cooper who was really quite good. I'm never one of those people who catches up on all the nominees before the ceremony and I'm even less likely to do that now that there's some insanely good stuff on TV. Beside the return of John Oliver and The Walking Dead, there's Better Call Saul and a new docuseries on HBO called <a href="http://www.hbo.com/the-jinx-the-life-and-deaths-of-robert-durst#/">The Jinx</a>. It's a true crime story in the vein of <a href="http://serialpodcast.org/">Serial</a> and <a href="http://documentarystorm.com/the-staircase/">The Staircase</a>. The Staircase is about the trail of author Michael Peterson for his wife's murder. You can watch it online or download from iTunes. You are watching a trial as it unfolds and it's riveting and very binge-able.<br />
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I finally finished Apple Tree Yard. I'll be putting up a review on Goodreads which I'll link to, because I'm dead-set against spoilers. I gave it 3 stars. While it was diverting it was also upsetting, but more than anything, it didn't bring the feels. This was the same problem I had with Life After Life and On Such a Full Sea and quite a few others lately. If I don't get an emotional wallop then it just doesn't make it into 4 star territory.<br />
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I look my son to <a href="http://unplugmeditation.com/">Unplug Meditation</a> for a 3 week series for kids. It was a nice space and there was another knitting mom there so we got to share projects. It was hard to tell how he liked it because he's 12 and anything without electronics is boring, but I know that just the act of taking the time to clear your mind can have powerful effects. There was a lot of press on the walls, and it was being described as the Drybar of meditation, as in come in when you want, get it done and be on your way. I thought that was pretty funny, but it's very appealing for today's lifestyle. There were tons of kids there so the demand is definitely there.<br />
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Finally I was going through my bookmarks today and came across a website that I'd joined a while back called <a href="http://www.flightmemory.com/signin/?go=menu">Flight Memory</a>. It lets you track all the flights you've ever taken and it calculates how many miles you've flown. It's one of those wonderful time-wasters for travel nerds, like <a href="http://www.gogobot.com/">Gogobot</a>, which lets you track everyplace you've been and post pictures. You would think it would be impossible to track all your flights and you might be right, but for some reason I've kept a record of every one I've taken going back 20+ years, and I remember all the ones before that. Nerd me up.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-33911836004851222682015-02-06T21:11:00.002-08:002015-02-06T21:12:51.939-08:00Home stretch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> The thumb on my mitts is finally finished! From what I can tell so far, it's pretty good and fits pretty well. Here's a few angles</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OhFkJJGONFvOixaPjcMTSdOmm93urFcg5i3tc2ilUDQYrGv_FJQ3OuyhOZH89AKUeCtMDi99gi9OEvso4bTdHMTKA8yGT1aSnz6dr8gTA5DN23BfoBpv_vv6Gu8kWrmoQ1w_jlfS98EC/s1600/IMG_4463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OhFkJJGONFvOixaPjcMTSdOmm93urFcg5i3tc2ilUDQYrGv_FJQ3OuyhOZH89AKUeCtMDi99gi9OEvso4bTdHMTKA8yGT1aSnz6dr8gTA5DN23BfoBpv_vv6Gu8kWrmoQ1w_jlfS98EC/s1600/IMG_4463.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw_BfWa5nEKih34Gi5QXlBAIgRRUCjEtB6vzJP7hZTvCDQ-7Cv8NFMmM6Xw8fEo08i7CEaXQ02M4qx5bH_ZaHCyqF5uxgyadbFv9NOZCIAkoILPRIph4Sr44dnrAdpjqEJTEzL5q7zjdM/s1600/IMG_4462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw_BfWa5nEKih34Gi5QXlBAIgRRUCjEtB6vzJP7hZTvCDQ-7Cv8NFMmM6Xw8fEo08i7CEaXQ02M4qx5bH_ZaHCyqF5uxgyadbFv9NOZCIAkoILPRIph4Sr44dnrAdpjqEJTEzL5q7zjdM/s1600/IMG_4462.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I wanted to put the images all together but Blogger is not cooperating. I am actually really awesome at layout so this is quite distressing. Here's more</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kgsh3hedl5yOCd6VdFKNAzyWnPRD3gj929_qZH7IR-UiN577zbH3dgP27ADbwQvugunxXogZQB3eIf6PorAgGjwpLWcN2WiqIgMzG9TXjJegmgvuEE3ZyL0qZiMfsIwTbYSTdTGSONR_/s1600/IMG_4466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kgsh3hedl5yOCd6VdFKNAzyWnPRD3gj929_qZH7IR-UiN577zbH3dgP27ADbwQvugunxXogZQB3eIf6PorAgGjwpLWcN2WiqIgMzG9TXjJegmgvuEE3ZyL0qZiMfsIwTbYSTdTGSONR_/s1600/IMG_4466.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSXXhyOXu5TJIWdlAlQ76LXfmZeo1szx3OrwdCRATBGYLT-JGZHmV4J7Mm6y5fwqcFhvSEtvKJ9QvfQYLPY4bz5gCX6XX5xMspXPwMJdqhf0zFuKO2ho26cgGswjPRU8wiphn9i5X_AMSU/s1600/IMG_4467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSXXhyOXu5TJIWdlAlQ76LXfmZeo1szx3OrwdCRATBGYLT-JGZHmV4J7Mm6y5fwqcFhvSEtvKJ9QvfQYLPY4bz5gCX6XX5xMspXPwMJdqhf0zFuKO2ho26cgGswjPRU8wiphn9i5X_AMSU/s1600/IMG_4467.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Not too shabby and they fit pretty well, but perhaps not quite too a T. I haven't blogged for 3 days because I wanted to have this figured out. While still reading Apple Tree Yard, I needed a little breaky because of the rather heavy subject matter, so I finally started reading <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Knitting-Without-Tears-Easy---Follow/dp/0684135051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423281318&sr=8-1&keywords=knitting+without+tears">Knitting Without Tears</a>. I realized that maybe EZ had something to say about thumbs, and indeed she did, describing the very thumb I was doing. Well, if it's good enough for her. There was a difference, however. In the pattern and in most knitting that we do, when it says pick up it means pick up and knit. EZ says to pick up the stitches that were on the waste yarn and a stitch on each side (mine was 3) and <i>then</i> knit them on the next round, knitting the picked up stitches through the back loop to eliminate those pesky holes. Even though I had to do some tinking, I thought it was worth a try on an academic level. The stitches look pretty smooth, but we'll see what we have when the ends are woven in. I managed to get a pretty smooth transition with the gradient, even with having to break the yarn 5 rows after the thumb then rejoining. This is what I have after the decreases, so now it's just knitting straight till I run out of yarn. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> As I've mentioned, my hands are rather large. The challenges of fitting are why I don't own a dozen of these, because they are my favorite things and so appropriate for LA. It occurs to me that I may want to invest the time in creating the perfect plain vanilla mitts for myself in each weight of yarn, so that I have easy adjustments for any pattern, and also a blank canvas for creating my own designs. It's probably a good idea to do this for socks as well, although there seem to be so many different ways you can do a plain sock. Once you've knit them every way you can figure out your preferred heel and toe and whatnot and go from there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It's Friday (yay) and so I get to enjoy some Pinot a little earlier than usual (my own rules). I was in the mood for something sweet to go along with it, but a particular kind of sweet thing, you know how that is? I try to be good and healthy and not go overboard, and then it came to me:<a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/maple-glazed-walnuts-recipe.html"> maple walnuts</a> like the kind you get at Whole Foods at $10.00 a pound. Turns out I had the ingredients and it couldn't be easier</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> 2 cups walnuts, 1/3 cup maple syrup and some salt in a non-stick pan, and 3 minutes later you are in heaven. Warning - these are very addictive. Also, don't put them on wax paper because they stick. I added extra salt and could have even added more. Yum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> I've been struggling with some chronic pain issues in my lower back for many years. It's the kind of thing that I've managed to control quite well through yoga, but sometimes things get aggravated to the point where certain exercises can be counter-productive. This unfortunately puts you in a spiral of inactivity, which aggravates the condition, you see where I'm going. I decided to take a proactive approach and listen to <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Meditation-Pain-Relief-Reclaiming/dp/B0035YCZNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423282990&sr=8-1&keywords=mindfullness+meditation+for+pain" style="line-height: 1.2;">Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief</a><span style="line-height: 1.2;"> by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">layed</span><span style="line-height: 1.2;"> out on a Pilates mat with a </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">bolster under</span><span style="line-height: 1.2;"> my legs and a pillow, but since the first part was explaining the </span></span><span style="line-height: 19px;">program, I eventually felt good enough to move into some pretty aggressive stretches which I haven't been in for a few months. It seems like something really worth exploring in depth, with the end result for me being a return to a full and regular yoga practice. His focus in the introduction was being in the present moment and using it to see what it can teach us, either good or bad. For whatever reason, I feel that I'm now in a place of opening, pushing past resistance, and embracing the now in everything.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"> On a lighter note, I started listening to a hilarious audiobook called </span><a href="http://smile.amazon.com/People-Want-Punch-Throat-Competitive-ebook/dp/B00EGMHJQ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423283618&sr=1-1&keywords=people+i+want+to+punch+in+the+throat" style="line-height: 19px;">People I Want to Punch in the Throat</a> by Jen Mann<span style="line-height: 19px;">. I just love the light-hearted and irreverent tone of this book. The narrator is fantastic. I've been on such a podcast kick and it's been too long since I've listened to a good audiobook. Last year I listened to </span><a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Whered-You-Bernadette-Maria-Semple-ebook/dp/B006L8942U/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423283821&sr=1-1&keywords=where%27s+you+go+bernadette" style="line-height: 19px;">Where'd You Go, Bernadette</a><span style="line-height: 19px;"> and I just loved it. It's a novel, but in the same vein. I checked out Jen Mann's blog, too. She's been at it for a few years and has a very informative blogging FAQ which I skimmed but seems very helpful. I need all the help I can get at this point.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"> The hubs was off for a few days so we got to do some intensive and collaborative TV viewing. On the DVR: The Middle (one of the few we all watch as a family), Cougar Town (I love it, he's over it), and we finally watched the series finale of The Killing on Netflix. We loved all 3 seasons of it and don't know why it had such a hard time. BTW, Mariel Enos is gorgeous.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHZtyx-rMqn2hsV8EAN4xj8MFPTb0khCf5hcBxQlAUtBJKV_gM3gkxQkco-OkhuE69LXYLzQ-n7xVCi8djdJ0hpfjRAE3twCbzzQHpQfdzI25fpA3zRigIGFapyJBdADXvHSDJ7gXVhJZa/s1600/mariel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHZtyx-rMqn2hsV8EAN4xj8MFPTb0khCf5hcBxQlAUtBJKV_gM3gkxQkco-OkhuE69LXYLzQ-n7xVCi8djdJ0hpfjRAE3twCbzzQHpQfdzI25fpA3zRigIGFapyJBdADXvHSDJ7gXVhJZa/s1600/mariel.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">She's always cast in these very unglamorous roles, like the fundamentalist wife in Big Love, but as you can see she's stunning.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"> I've been on a real Tom Waits kick lately. He is one of my favorites of all time, and I mean for the last 30 years, but weirdly, I haven't listened to his whole oeuvre, even the ones I own. It's totally weird. I'm the same way with Haruki Murakami, but it's more understandable because he writes rather long books and we've only been together 15 years or so. When I read a Murakami, it takes about 3 years for it to sink in till I'm ready for the next one. Also, I'm saving them so that I will never run out. Last year I read 1Q84 which is really 3 books and as long as War and Peace, so I'm good for a while. But with music, there's no such time constraint. Again, I think I'm just spacing it out because it blows my mind so hard. This week I listened to <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Orphans-Fold-out-Digipak-24-page-booklet/dp/B000L43AN4/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_17">Orphans</a> which is a 3 CD set, but there were things on disc 2 and 3 I'd never heard before. This came out when my son was a toddler, so it explains why I wasn't able to spend long, luxurious hours absorbing it. So I'm doing it now. It even makes scouring the bathroom seem like a cool thing to be doing.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-88441058273280365212015-02-03T18:27:00.002-08:002015-02-03T18:32:56.364-08:00Peasant thumb it is<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtw6QRUD7ySeyMOv4NaYJWmC6xu6V-HwY-MN2blZfEYQCeccdQoRtCVRY4OgmYxgzHB-Rm2_bv_jLl2nMu8ymFwZylSQK-uEDOPQX_9DVnwkYIdgKrtTRo2xBkPZd2BJduqguHN91-mQZ/s1600/IMG_4457.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtw6QRUD7ySeyMOv4NaYJWmC6xu6V-HwY-MN2blZfEYQCeccdQoRtCVRY4OgmYxgzHB-Rm2_bv_jLl2nMu8ymFwZylSQK-uEDOPQX_9DVnwkYIdgKrtTRo2xBkPZd2BJduqguHN91-mQZ/s1600/IMG_4457.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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I decided to try out the peasant thumb before I went much further into the project. In the pattern it says that after taking out 8 stitches I should have 15 on the needles. Not sure why this should be. I wasn’t about to just unzip the waste yarn, so I carefully picked up the right leg of the stitches above and below it and ended up with 17. This was just as well because I needed to increase to 21 anyway. I used the inside of the ball, which is the lightest part of the gradient because I didn’t want to cut the yarn just yet, and I also wanted to see how it looked. I picked up 4 stitches on each side, and proceeded to get to almost the end of the thumb before trying it on. It’s much better than I thought it would be, although a gusset works better for my hand. It’s a little hard to tell because the rest of the glove isn’t finished yet, but I decided to forge ahead with the peasant thumb in the interest of expediency, perhaps picking up and extra stitch or 2. What I’ve already done is cut the yarn so that the whole hand will be the dark color. I have to do the thumb before going much further so that I can make that work. After that it’s smooth sailing. Can’t wait to see the color changes, they should really be pretty, and this way I can just keep going till the ball runs out. I’ve very excited to wear these mitts. My only other pair of fingerless mitts are the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/maine-morning-mitts">Maine Morning Mitts</a> done in a thick, tweedy yarn and while cozy, are a little less than fashionable.<br />
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Today I was on the Ravelry boards and was looking under local events and discovered something at <a href="http://urbanhomestead.org/">The Urban Homestead</a>. Intrigued, I went to their website. All I can say is, wow. I had never heard of this place, but it’s a family in Pasadena that has turned their house on 1/4 acre into a model of sustainability and urban farming, growing 6 tons of food a year. They’ve been doing this for 30 years and have wonderful website and blog. They have a monthly craft circle, as well as other classes, workshop and get-togethers. Getting over to Pasadena during the week is pretty much impossible for me, but hopefully sometime on a weekend I can make my way over there. They have an occasional Hootenanny, so maybe I’ll drag my son and his fiddle too.<br />
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Over on TV, we’ve been enjoying the return of <a href="http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation">Parks and Recreation</a>. So sorry to see this one go after this season. We’re almost done with this season of <a href="http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/american-horror-story/episodes">American Horror Story - Freak Show</a>. This season is not one of my favorites, I think that would be Asylum, though my husband really loves it. It’s fun seeing how the seasons are interconnected. This is going to be picked up for another season, but without Jessica Lange. As an actor, I think about how great it must be to work on a show like this, like a repertory company but on TV. I think it’s kind of unprecedented.<br />
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Finally, it’s time to announce the winner for the Manos del Uruguay giveaway. I used a random number generator and the winner is Marilyn, or wahoomerry on Ravelry. Congratulations Marilyn, I’ll be messaging you. Thank you to everyone for visiting and leaving comments, I really appreciate it.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-25447687459032785022015-02-01T22:39:00.001-08:002015-02-01T22:46:38.694-08:00Tennis spoilers ahead<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today was another sick day. My Fitbit tells me that last night I slept 2 hours and 16 minutes, was awake 19 times and restless 32 times. Now, I've had some bad nights in the past but I thought last night was pretty good. I did have one of those endless scratches in my throat and could not stop coughing, so maybe that explains it. Aside from a brief trip to Whole Foods, the day was given over to sports, and by that I mean the <a href="http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/kitten-bowl">Kitten Bowl</a><br />
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and the <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/index.html">Australian Open</a> Mens's Final<br />
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As you can tell, I don't give a fig about football, but with action like this, who cares. First off, the Kitten Bowl is freaking adorable. Last year I actually watched some of what my mom calls "the stupid bowl", and the kittens were way more exciting to watch. This year did not disappoint. I especially loved the appearance of the "FFL Commissioner" and the smack-meowing cat video put out by the eventual winners before the game. And Mary Carillo. It occurred to me that MC is my favorite. My favorite what, you might ask? My favorite person, place or thing of all time, that's what. She could do color commentary on the phone book and I would watch it. I wish she were my best friend. Watching her and her co-hosts trying to keep a straight face was priceless. Lest we forget, it's all for a good cause - getting people to spay and neuter and to adopt, don't shop.<br />
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The players I was rooting for in the Aussie finals - Sharapova and Murray - didn't come through in the end, but it was amazing to see Serena make history yesterday and Djokovic play such a great match today. And he named his son Stefan, like mine! I was thrilled to find that out. He said the name has great symbolism to Serbs, which I knew about, but I also love the name because how auspicious and ancient it is. Now time to head over to SI.com for Jon Wertheim's indispensable <a href="http://www.si.com/tennis/2015/02/01/wertheim-50-parting-thoughts-australian-open">50 Parting Thoughts</a> which he does after every slam.<br />
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On the way home tonight my husband picked up some Indian food from our stand-by take out place <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/hurry-curry-los-angeles">Hurry Curry</a>. We've been going here for 20 years. It was the first Indian I ever had and to this day I still offer Saag Paneer wherever I go. To me, it's a litmus test for Indian food. It's like spaghetti and meatballs at an Italian place for my husband. If they do those things well, the rest of the menu's probably good, too. Last night I was clearing out some email and came across a video on America's Test Kitchen for <a href="http://www.americastestkitchen.com/videos/2475-indian-style-spinach-with-fresh-cheese-saag-paneer?incode=MASAZ00L0&ref=search_results_2">Saag Paneer</a>. I listen to their podcast but haven't spent much time on the site, mainly because there's a paywall for a lot of the content. This recipe was not exception, but the video was free to watch and detailed all the ingredients and techniques, including making homemade cheese. It actually looks pretty easy. Making Indian or Chinese at home can seem pretty intimidating, but someone's making it somewhere, so why not you, right? It reminds me of when we went to our favorite local Sushi place <a href="http://sushihanashi.com/">Sushi Hanashi</a> recently. They had a Korean dish I've seen often called Bibimbap which I'd never tried. Looking at it I realized there was no reason I couldn't make it, I just needed the recipe for the sauce. This led me to the adorable Korean food blogger <a href="http://www.maangchi.com/blog">Maangchi</a>. I followed her recipe, and now this is go-to staple in our house. So easy! I even took a picture.<br />
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This was sashimi bibimbap with salmon and brown rice. You really can put whatever vegetables you want in it. The secret is the spicy sauce which you can find on her site or any number of other places. Here's to a year of homemade, exotic noms!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-73886713235987420092015-01-31T22:24:00.000-08:002015-01-31T22:26:07.448-08:00To gusset or not to gusset<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm cranking along with my mitts and loving them, then I get to the thumbs. The pattern states that it calls for a peasant thumb, which I didn't give much thought to, just "whatever, I'll follow the pattern". It turns out though that a peasant thumb has no gusset. I've only made 2 pair of gloves and both have had the gusset, so I don't know how I feel about this. Ordinarily it wouldn't be a problem to get one from another pattern, but these are top down and so it makes things more complicated. The other confusing thing was the instructions for putting in the waste yarn for the thumb. It took me quite a bit of Googling before realizing that you had to knit the stitches on waste yarn, then <i>put those stitches back on the left needle </i>and knit them again. That part was omitted. I decided that I'm going to do a few rows, then put the thumb in and see if I like it. Otherwise it's back to the internets to try and put a gusset in going the wrong way. I found a site called <a href="http://knitfreedom.com/">Knit Freedom with Liat</a> which has great tutorials, including breaking down the different types of thumbs.<br />
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It was another sick day around here, but I did force myself to get out and take a walk. I went down to Main St. in Santa Monica to the <a href="http://www.muji.com/us/">Muji</a> store. I first went into one of these in JFK airport with my son and we were smitten - adorable Japanese office supplies! Well, we were walking in our own neighborhood and, lo and behold, there's an enormous Muji there I never knew about. It's amazing what you find when you walk around, and new stuff is opening around here all the time so I don't always notice it. The have all kinds of stuff in this store and my husband noticed me oogling over the <a href="http://www.muji.us/store/fragrances/aroma/ultrasonic-aroma-diffuser-large.html">aroma diffusers</a>, so he ended up getting me one for Christmas. It's the big one though, so I went over to see if maybe I should trade it in for a smaller one. I studied aromatherapy in massage school and have a pretty good collection, and these diffusers are great, super quiet and have LED lights.<br />
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Other than that I got nothing done today besides one load of laundry, making a rather strange Hungarian dish called <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cabbage-balushka-or-cabbage-and-noodles/">balushka</a>, and watching a mini Revenge marathon - my last guilty network TV pleasure.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-30349582297486282782015-01-30T21:50:00.000-08:002015-01-31T21:51:46.493-08:00On my way...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Everyone's been sick around here for a few days. My husband works in the ER and is usually immune to everything and so are we, but he managed to bring home a bug and we all got it. Between taking care of a sick kid, I've been trying to solve the puzzle of the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gathering-of-the-clouds">Gathering of the Clouds</a> that I've been having. It turns out that the version I was doing with all knit stitches was curling too much, so I decided to try it as written in the pattern, with purl rows on either side of the eyelets. This was very pretty, but much too large compared to the stockinette section. I looked around Ravelry for the second or third time trying to find another pattern, but nothing was clicking. I really wanted to let the colors shine and didn't want anything too textured. I also liked the idea of top down, because then I could use every bit of the yarn. I was tempted to just change to a ribbed edge, but that would take away the defining feature of the pattern. I finally decided that I would cast on 52 stitches instead of 58, then increase 6 stitches evenly on the first row of stockinette. Success! I really think that this is going to work. I'm looking forward to watching the colors transform on these mitts. So far the fabric is gorgeous, and the plied yarn has held up beautifully after being worked over several times.<br />
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The other day I as listening to my favorite podcast <a href="http://2knitlitchicks.blogspot.com/">2 Knit Lit Chicks</a>. Not just my favorite knitting podcast, but favorite of <i>all</i> podcasts. Episode 84 was their year in review. Hearing what they've managed to accomplish in both knit and lit over the last year is beyond belief. It adds up to about 1.5 projects and 1.5 books <i>per week</i>. Some of these projects are sweaters and shawls! I am just in awe. Total fangirl. Personally, I'm a slow reader and an even slower knitter. Not that I do these things slowly but I just don't spend that many hours doing them. I've always been a little antsy and hyperkinetic and my body starts to feel weird if I don't move often. This means I spend a lot more time obsessing over yarn and books that actually being able to use them. So I'm giving a shout-out to the super inspiring chicks. My current knitting project <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/hitofude-cardigan">Hitofude</a> and current book <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Apple-Tree-Yard-Louise-Doughty/dp/1250062039/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422682427&sr=1-1&keywords=apple+tree+yard">Apple Tree Yard</a> are straight out of their podcast.<br />
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While our TV still is not repaired, our repairman did give us a loaner, so we're back in business trying to clear out the build-up on the DVR. Last night we watched the season premiere of <a href="http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/the-americans/episodes">The Americans</a>. This was one of our favorite shows of last year. Great performances, production design, music, and eerily relevant to current issues. It's also got a strong nostalgia element for those of us who remember this time and what was going on. I'm also loving the final season of <a href="http://www.tbs.com/shows/cougar-town.html?SR=cougar_town">Cougar Town</a>, which has moved to TBS. This is a show that has really flown under the radar because of it's terrible name (which they're always making self-depricating reference to) and silly initial premise, but quickly became a charming and warm family/friend comedy. I'm glad to see that they'll be able to get to 100 episodes and go into syndication.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-44572459611560208782015-01-28T17:32:00.002-08:002015-01-28T17:44:59.967-08:00Decisions, decisions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last night I cast on the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gathering-of-the-clouds">Gathering of Clouds</a> mitts. Since I’m working with a gradient, I had to decide whether I wanted the darker color on the wrist or the hand. At first I thought it was a no-brainer to have the darker color on the wrist, but after looking around at various projects, the reverse is pretty cool looking, so I decided to go that way. These mitts are unusual because they start at the hand and move to the wrist. I was a little concerned that the purled edge would be a little too bulky but liked the eyelets, so just knit those rows instead of purling.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knitted rows on either side of eyelets</td></tr>
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The problem that came up was curling, which I didn’t think would be a problem because of the eyelets. I’m not sure if this would happen if I was knitting in the other direction or if it will block out. I’ll keep going for a little while and see how it looks. A curling edge on mitts would be pretty annoying and the gauge is so fine that maybe the purl ridges wouldn’t be that bad. The other problem I seem to be having is fit. I got stitch gauge perfectly (there was no row gauge) at 8st/in. Trying it on though, it feels very roomy, and I have <i>huge</i> hands. This might be another thing that I have to work more to see for sure. I’m knitting these on a US 1, but did a long-tail cast on with a 2 to give a little more stretch. It seems like getting going with a project is never easy because of all the decisions you have to make. The more I learn, the more perfectionist I get about all the little details.<br />
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Today my son got his music in the mail from LA Opera for their <a href="http://www.laopera.org/Community/Families/Community-Opera/">Community Opera Program</a>, which brings together student and adult performers from the community with professionals from the opera for free performances at <a href="http://www.olacathedral.org/">Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels</a> in Downtown LA. Performances will be March 6 and 7. The production is Noah’s Flood and he plays violin. It will be conducted by their music director James Conlon, so I’m sure it will be an inspiring experience. We’ll also get to check an LA landmark off our list. The cathedral has only been open since 2002 and has a striking, post-modernist design. Look at this interior</div>
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I’m usually pretty old-school when it comes to churches, but this is amazing. It reminds me of the Scandinavian design you sometimes find in Lutheran churches. I especially love the lighting. Speaking of the LA Opera, this is a world class experience in the gorgeous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. We went there a few years ago and saw Tosca, conducted by Placido Domingo. The productions have supertitles in English which brings your appreciation to a whole new level. One of the great joys of living in LA is being able to enjoy a rather laid-back lifestyle and enjoy culture that rivals almost any city in the world. </div>
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I received an email yesterday from a place called <a href="http://unplugmeditation.com/">Unplug Meditation</a> in West LA, which was offering a 3 week series for children led by a UCLA Mindfulness facilitator. I had never heard of them before but the concept sounds intriguing. It’s a drop-in meditation studio, much like a yoga studio, and they have several different classes which they’ve developed which run either 30 or 45 minutes. I know there are many benefits to meditation, but as I’ve mentioned before have struggled with being able to clear my mind. These classes are guided, which is a big help when meditation feels like facing an empty page. There is an introductory offer of $40 for your first class/one month unlimited. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-34366844721744343832015-01-26T23:06:00.000-08:002015-02-10T23:52:03.606-08:00Gorgeous gradients!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I received my yarn from the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/groups/vivid-fiber-arts-testing-pool">Vivid Fiber Arts testing pool</a> on Ravelry. Amy is an indie dyer specializing in gradients and has put together a group of testers for her various colorways. I am in Group 3, round 2, and we are doing fingerless mitts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNW1JNqmtZdSvKdxyqEW5eqj6hBo6-0Zuu6aXOw-mXUSAA2ftZXWbk4kLjS3mqGmZ-2gnyft9ru__hWOoxCSggFxcZZwle4iSqO9MzeptwowoLmY5-PVdsMM8p0UXkcCUJq0xPzoqQk-1A/s1600/IMG_4445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNW1JNqmtZdSvKdxyqEW5eqj6hBo6-0Zuu6aXOw-mXUSAA2ftZXWbk4kLjS3mqGmZ-2gnyft9ru__hWOoxCSggFxcZZwle4iSqO9MzeptwowoLmY5-PVdsMM8p0UXkcCUJq0xPzoqQk-1A/s1600/IMG_4445.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This yarn is called </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Gemini XL MCN, which is<span style="background-color: white;"> fingering </span><span style="background-color: white;">weight, 80% SW Merino/10% Cashmere/10% Nylon, approx 33g/145y/133m. I was one of the lucky few who were sent the yarn free of charge, so I really have to do this project justice. I'm going to be doing <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gathering-of-the-clouds">Gathering of the Clouds</a> by Christina Cartwright. It's a simple, elegant design that I think will show off the yarn beautifully. I found another edging stitch that I prefer so I'll be using that instead. This is my first experience with test knitting and also with using </span>gradients, so it should be a fun fibery adventure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> The other adventure I embarked on recently was to sign up for the tech editing course at <a href="http://www.joeliskitchen.com/">Joeli's Kitchen</a>. I read through the course materials, but then the holidays happened and I put it aside. She is an experienced tech editor and offers an online course with optional email support. It's one of those things that I think I'd be good at because I'm mathematically inclined, have done lots of copy editing, proofreading and page layouts, and am all-out </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">grammar nazi. She only offers it every so often, so if it's something you're interested in you can get on her email list.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> On the media side of things, there is something going on that just might be the death of print magazines. Have you heard of <a href="http://www.zinio.com/www/index.jsp;jsessionid=FB7056586199FE3FB8CC5A747C70FDDA.prd-main-news1?_requestid=882930">Zinio?</a> It's a site and app where you can download magazines to your devices. Here's the thing - if you have a library card, you can do it for free. We are talking about Interweave Knits, Knitscene, Interweave Crochet. Cloth Paper Scissors, tons of </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">jewelry and quilting magazines, and so many others. I use the LA Public Library, and as far as I can tell, once you download them, they're on there for good. Another way to clear out the clutter in your life.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-30516997048680338002015-01-25T20:13:00.000-08:002015-01-26T14:32:58.207-08:00Arts & Crafts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: left;"> Tonight my son and I went to the opening of </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1591158444430974/?ref_notif_type=event_mall_comment&source=1" style="text-align: left;">City</a><span style="text-align: left;">, a solo exhibition by my college friend Ed Burgess, or "Edsy" at </span><a href="http://www.stonemalonegallery.com/" style="text-align: left;">Stone Malone Gallery</a><span style="text-align: left;"> on Melrose, running until February 5.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdIFpQ-noFiveolytWVs7SBst1I5hlYw2Y-FP_K_4Tpn3bIXxhL7uEz_K4jDDeQKlZ4T_NvOY4UjRvnpFk7F0d7d0WNCTZMuhO5WN-rzFPOgNU4eUDX4C3g09Zxg9xG-ZzTvRQtm5ETtG/s1600/city.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdIFpQ-noFiveolytWVs7SBst1I5hlYw2Y-FP_K_4Tpn3bIXxhL7uEz_K4jDDeQKlZ4T_NvOY4UjRvnpFk7F0d7d0WNCTZMuhO5WN-rzFPOgNU4eUDX4C3g09Zxg9xG-ZzTvRQtm5ETtG/s1600/city.png" /></a></div>
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This collection was mainly of his cityscapes. This is the one that my son picked out. It's painted on a small piece of wood<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wogalbuCGxf2iaPqejo2iaMNM8z4s9gO18RiKMXJu4u8cCckbVhIjrntd9cQ7oRko10Iv7lIoVW7lqYVCdDZKMJzCj3rBxzD-XQiSopUi-FFWlDLj5pEoK9j1qII2nVCZarcu7wNcT-5/s1600/IMG_4433+-+Version+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wogalbuCGxf2iaPqejo2iaMNM8z4s9gO18RiKMXJu4u8cCckbVhIjrntd9cQ7oRko10Iv7lIoVW7lqYVCdDZKMJzCj3rBxzD-XQiSopUi-FFWlDLj5pEoK9j1qII2nVCZarcu7wNcT-5/s1600/IMG_4433+-+Version+2.jpg" height="162" width="320" /></a></div>
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I liked that he chose this word among all the others. Ed explained to him that it's the most important word in improv, and I would say in life as well. I got to see Ed's studio a few months ago and it was very inspiring. He works a lot in mixed media which I'm obsessed with. You can see more of his work at Pastey Whyte on Instagram.</div>
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Ed invited my son, an aspiring cartoonist, to come visit some time. I know I'm biased but I think his art has a wickedly unique perspective. Here's one he did on vacation. </div>
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On the crafty side, while he was in ballet I made use of my Craigslist app and hit a yard sale promising yarn. Nothing good in that area, but I did score a stack of mostly crochet magazines. I don't usually read any of these but they're fun to look through. </div>
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I had just enough time to go to the <a href="http://www.copperwillow.com/"><span style="color: #551a8b;">Copper Willow Paper Studio</span></a> in Culver City that was having a relocating sale. They seem to do a lot of letterpress. I picked up a motley assortment of things as it was a "make an offer" kind of day. </div>
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I got the hemp cord because I used it for the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/23-wrap-cuff-2"><span style="color: #551a8b;">Vogue Wrap Cuff #1</span></a> and it was very easy and cool looking.</div>
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The scrapbook paper I collect but don't know why, because I think it will take a miracle to ever do any scrapbooking. I have <i>several decades</i> of pictures from traveling and living, plus my son's whole life, and I collect everything, all kinds of ephemera. Anyway, I still like to have it, and I was very excited by the Amy Butler, which I had never seen before. I'm very familiar with her fabrics as I spent weeks looking online for fabric for my aforementioned, still unmade bathroom curtains. I went with another brand, but I picked up a placemat kit of hers that I made for my mom for Mother's Day. It seems that I don't have any pictures of them but they turned out beautifully. I also got some of her fabric on sale when a local store was closing and used it to line my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/goygirrl/28-market-tote">Market Tote</a> with.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJtQ0ZBMpWest15Q0iSGyif_EeisdmUYisIvdv0QNyyfVc0v9qJ_BlwoNmVd_KP6EmO7GvNSNpPfwfVJ7rKWHq-EbJSDNlz3UCi733oC-PBb4iPDI-no0SaglXVOZAXJk6_HHIv2I5RaO/s1600/bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJtQ0ZBMpWest15Q0iSGyif_EeisdmUYisIvdv0QNyyfVc0v9qJ_BlwoNmVd_KP6EmO7GvNSNpPfwfVJ7rKWHq-EbJSDNlz3UCi733oC-PBb4iPDI-no0SaglXVOZAXJk6_HHIv2I5RaO/s1600/bag.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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Like all of her fabrics, it's gorgeous and brings a ray of sunshine into your life.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-15263335683876936982015-01-24T21:32:00.000-08:002015-01-25T11:27:55.240-08:00First theatre of the year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last night I went to see the opening night of the latest production at my old theatre company,<a href="http://citygarage.org/"> City Garage</a><br />
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This was a really entertaining play with wonderful performances all around. I first joined the company in 1999 and did several productions with them before motherhood made long hours of rehearsals...tricky. I've stayed to close to the company though and try to see every production. They've always had a very particular style in terms of visuals and movement, and both were on display in extraordinary fashion in this piece. Like many of their productions, I predict it will be in for some critical love. Congrats to everyone involved.<br />
I had gotten to <a href="http://www.bergamotstation.com/">Bergamot Station</a> early so that I could hang out and see some art at one of the many galleries there that always seems to be having an opening. To my surprise I couldn't find anything, though there is usually something on the schedule. This arts complex is in a state of transition, as half of it has been demolished in order to make room for the light rail line. I am all in favor of mass transit, but this is a really unique place and the future of it is in question. City Garage was pushed out of its long-time home, which was at one time an actual city garage located off the 3rd St. Promenade. I think it's some kind of storage facility now. Go figure. They then moved to a space at <a href="http://track16.com/specialevents/tuesday-reading-nights/index.php">Track 16</a> gallery, which was among those demolished, then moved across the way. Track 16 has moved to Culver City. I still get emails from them, and am planning to go to one of their Tuesday night play readings starting February 17. The first one up is a comedy called The Latest Mrs. Schiller. Tickets are free and can be reserved on their site. I will try to bring them men with me but they will probably balk.<br />
Speaking of men, I noticed that my 12 year old son is so blithely unconcerned about what others think of him that he has no problem walking around town in full-on ballet tights, which he does because he's so typically male that he's too lazy to change into pants before and after class.<br />
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On the crafty side of things, tomorrow starts spirit week over at the <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2015/01/2015-craftsy-spirit-week/">Craftsy</a> blog.<br />
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It looks like a week of giveaways and such. You can subscribe receive notifications about entries each day. Lots of fun stuff over on the blog.</div>
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In the spirit of this, I'd like to do my first giveaway! I have 3 skeins of lovely <a href="http://www.manosyarns.com/">Manos</a> burning hole in my stash. </div>
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It's Wool Classica in #37 brown. I've worked with Manos before and it's great, although I don't get to use a lot of these rustic wools in LA. If you'd like to win, please subscribe to my blog, follow me on Google+ or leave a comment to this post. The contest will close midnight PST on Jan. 31. Good luck!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-60709908745196935602015-01-23T17:00:00.000-08:002015-01-23T17:12:11.423-08:00Day blogging<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I missed posting last night for the first time this year. I thought it was time to change to day blogging for so many reasons. Writing at night about the day makes a lot of sense as long as you give yourself enough time to do it, which is not always the easiest thing to do. Today I think I'll post twice so that I end the year with 365 post. That's the goal anyway.<br />
My good friend Mary is always joking that I’m obsessed with kitchen gadgets. This is actually #54 in the list of <a href="http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/">Stuff White People Like</a>, which is also a <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Stuff-White-People-Like-Definitive/dp/0812979915/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422057915&sr=1-1&keywords=stuff+white+people+like">book</a>. According to these very amusing lists, I am very, very white. So it would come as no surprise to her that my latest acquisition is the incredible <a href="http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/kitchenaid-reg-5-speed-hand-blender/134899?Keyword=kitchenaid">Kitchenaid 5-Speed Hand Blender</a>. My son’s fencing club is right near Bed, Bath & Beyond, so I take that opportunity to trade in gas considers on my Sodastream. This day, however, I was armed with abundant 20% off coupons and some gift cards I picked up at his school. I wanted to replace the hand blender from my bridal shower in 1997 that recently died, but I saw this and could not resist.<br />
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Here it is with my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, Cuisinart Food Processor (also from wedding), water boiler and Waring Pro Blender (she is not kidding). It can pretty much do everything, even crush ice. The problem, or course, is where to put all this stuff. At least now I’ll be able to do something with all the butternut squash in my fridge. Ordinarily I wouldn’t buy squash coinciding with the breakdown of all my blending appliances, but I get a farm box delivered every other week from <a href="https://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/customer/account/myfarmstand">Farm Fresh to You</a>. The quality is really great and you can customize what comes in the box. The great thing is that it makes you eat more fruit & veg and forces you to be creative with it.<br />
Today I went down to <a href="http://craftedportla.com/last-call-for-restoration-hardware-warehouse-sale/">Crafted at the Port of LA</a> for the Restoration Hardware Warehouse Sale. Apparently this is a first of its kind. I’m a big fan of sample sales and there are no end to them here in LA. I get email blasts from <a href="http://www.warehouseweekends.com/">Warehouse Weekends</a> and <a href="http://www.bargainsla.com/">Bargains LA</a>. The stuff they had at Crafted was mainly furniture, which I wasn’t in the market for, but the rest of the sale was at their outlet store in Long Beach. I scored a set of 602 gram Turkish Cotton towels that I thought were a good bargain, but later realized they were another 40% off. I also got some sweet percale pillow cases. They had a ton of those super-luxe blankets for super cheap, but we already own a few of them. The sale is going on until this Sunday and I highly recommend it. If you go, you should really check out the Crafted part itself. If you haven’t been there it’s a handcrafted marketplace with individual vendors. It’s open Fri-Sun and usually has fun events, food trucks, and even <a href="http://yarnovertruck.com/">The Yarn Over Truck</a> visits from time to time.<br />
Over at the Australian my beloved Roger Federer lost in the 2nd round to Andreas Seppi. He was a few points away from taking the 4th set tie break, and I’m sure would have pulled out the match if he had. This was only the second time in more than a decade he’s been out of a slam so soon. I never count Roger out, but we never know how much more of him we’re going to get. We’re really going to try to see him live this year at <a href="http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/">Indian Wells</a> for that reason.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-59358779802670618782015-01-21T22:46:00.000-08:002015-01-24T23:03:40.192-08:00Undying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As I mentioned in a previous post, I want to start dying this year. My mom sent me this Jacquard dye kit from Knitpicks. As soon as Spring has sprung I'm going to try it in the backyard. In the meantime, however, I am more concerned with undying, my hair that is, because it's not working for me and it has me a little freaked out. For all my wild thing tendencies I'm actually on the conservative side when it comes to things like hair (natural looking) tattoos (none) and piercings (one in each ear). Having ruled out a drastic, do-it-yourself solution, I figure there has to be a way to tone this down. Sure enough, there's a whole <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Fade-Hair-Dye">Wikihow</a> on how to fade hair dye. That means I have to go jump in the shower and start scrubbing while they dye is still fresh. We'll see how it goes, but hopefully by tomorrow I'll be looking more humanoid.<br />
I went to listen to <a href="http://www.allfreeknitting.com/index.php/hct/fiber-hooligan-podcast">Fiberhooligan</a>, which of one of my favorite podcasts. I'm about 5 episodes behind and accidentally clicked on the latest one, only to hear that it's the <i>final</i> episode. I couldn't believe it. I haven't listened since the beginning but there's 70 episodes. Listening to Benjamin is like spending an hour with the nicest person you know. He has this very soothing, mid-west manner that really takes the edge off in LA traffic. I'm sure one I listen to these last episodes I'll find out the story, but it's one podcast I'll definitely miss.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-78336061874593764882015-01-20T23:09:00.003-08:002015-01-21T13:38:52.875-08:00Magenta<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I went to <a href="http://santamonica.toniguy.edu/">Toni & Guy</a> today to get highlights and a cut. These are beauty academies across the US and there's one right here in Santa Monica. They offer incredible value, especially for someone like me with out-of-control curly/frizzy hair for whom haircuts are not really a thing. Color has become a thing for me, though. I am a redhead. All my life I've had wild, fiery hair. This informs so much of your life and personality, you'd have to be a redhead to really understand it. In the last few years, however, my hair has gotten darker, so much that it's hardly not red anymore. Until a few years ago I had never died my hair, except for one film role. I mean, why would I? But maybe 10 years ago I discovered highlights and really came to like them. Just some blondes and reds here and there to punch things up. So a few months ago I bought a Groupon for Toni & Guy. If was $75 for <i>two</i> highlight/cut services. Highlights themselves are usually about $100. I got the first one in October and it was great, really lightened things up. This time I was going for sort of the same thing, maybe even lighter. I showed my stylist a photo for the cut, but we ended up going for the color as well, which was kind of dark with bright highlights in the picture. If there's one thing I'm really not going towards it's artificial looking color, like magenta or burgundy, or blue. In my younger days I was definitely one of those gothy, combat boot types. I’ve been trying to purge myself of all that and move into a more sophisticated, elegant style. But here we are. This is nothing against my perfectly lovely and devoted stylist, who spent <i>6 hours</i> with me. Just a lack of communication I guess. It really is pretty, I just don’t think I can pull it off. I'll have to see what my girlfriends think and take it from there.<br />
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On a positive note, I was in the chair so long that I was able to finish Life After Life, and get well into Apple Tree Yard. Life After Life was a really confounding book for me on several levels. I wanted to read it because it was on so many best-of lists last year. It was on the <i>top</i> of many lists. When you keep seeing something being held up as the best fiction of the year, there has to be something to it, but I just did not get it. First and foremost, it did not bring the feels. I mean, no feels for me. I'm always ready, willing and able to get emotionally swept up in a book, movie, situation, anything really, and this book was about war, and death. Nothing. And it was pretty boring. There were no compelling characters, or situations, or surprises, or life lessons. I gave it 3 stars because the writing was lovely, and it was pleasant enough, but it was <i>529 pages</i>. At that length you really need to be saying something, and packing an emotional wallop. I got through it because I didn't hate it, and I kept waiting for something to start happening. I was waiting up until the very end. I really don't know how to avoid this. I made this same mistake with two books I read recently, The Execution of Noah P. Singleton and Defending Jacob. I won't link to them because I don't want you to read them. They both got a lot of hype. The former was just bad and the latter was disturbing. I mostly get my book recommendations from reviews, podcasts, Amazon and Goodreads. I think I'm pretty discerning and I have to be because I am not a speed reader, and I already own a literal crap-load of wonderful books that I'll probably never get to, and there's new ones coming out all the time. When I spend so much time on something that leaves me cold, I just don't know what to do. I will however probably give this to my mom because I think she might like it. I pass a lot of books onto her. Some of my most cherished ones leave <i>her</i> confounded, but you know, everyone's different.<br />
Lastly, it's day 3 of the <a href="http://www.ausopen.com/index.html">Australian Open</a>. I don't know how this happened without me noticing, but it's probably because of all the traveling and the TV not working. I've been a tennis fan since 1991 and the first slam of the year is something that I usually greet with a lot of anticipation. There was time when I would watch every day of the 4 televised slams, each one lasting a fortnight, which if you do the math, is <i>2 months of TV</i> and it's on 10 hours a day. I can't do it anymore. I think it started changing with the advent of laptops, then mobil devices, and suddenly there's so much distraction. Also, the major part of my fandom was the days of the giants, The Sampras/Agassi 90s, Then the Federer/Nadal 00s. There's been a real changing of the guard in recent years and it's hard to keep up with it. Having said that, as always I will be pulling for my all-time favorite player Roger Federer to win his 18th slam, and my girl Maria Sharapova to win her 6th.</div>
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There are so many reasons why I love these 2 players. Hopefully they'll be playing till the end of the fortnight and I'll be able to expand on that.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-6585700666933339532015-01-19T23:47:00.001-08:002015-01-19T23:53:21.666-08:00Slug-tastic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I celebrated MLK Day in the traditional way - sitting in the Subaru dealership watching The Price is Right. What happened is, my husband threw a rod. For a second time. The first time it was under warranty and we had oil change records, so they replaced it. This time, not so lucky. Being the Italian-American that I am, and one of those who grew up with many cars in the driveway in various states of repair, I impressed upon him the importance of checking the oil. Being the professor's son that he is, he was indignant at this prospect and ignored me. Disaster ensued. He declared the car a lemon and that was that. When they brought the car in, I asked if there was oil in the engine and was informed that there was not. How do I know what throwing a rod is? By ignoring my dad's admonitions to "check the <i>earl</i>", of course. So I know from what I speak. DH feels that this routine maintenance is beneath him, so has no qualms about trashing a 5 year old car. It did have a lot of miles though. So I spent the morning waiting on the donation truck. We are donating it to <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/" target="_blank">KCRW</a>, my favorite radio station. We did this with another car and got a really great donation value for it. If you don't live in LA, KCRW is one of our local NPR stations that is very influential on a national level when it comes to music. Probably the reason I'm so out of the loop when it comes to music is that instead of listening to <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic" target="_blank">Morning Becomes Eclectic</a> I'm listening to podcasts. I do listen to the streaming channel at home a lot, but seems to blend into the background more. When I look at the music we've collected over the last 20 years, almost all of it has been influenced by this station. We've been to a lot of their events and have been members for along time, so we feel like this is a very worthy cause that improves the lives of people in LA and a lot of musicians here and beyond.<br />
We didn't do much today beyond our obligatory trip to <a href="http://www.rubys.com/" target="_blank">Ruby's</a> and <a href="http://tfyogurt.com/home/" target="_blank">Tutti Frutti</a>. I've been a pescatarian most of my life so I've had quite a few veggie burgers, but I think Ruby's are the best. I'm sure the regular burgers are pretty good too if that's your thing. Tutti Frutti is up there with <a href="http://www.pinkberry.com/" target="_blank">Pinkberry</a> as the best FroYo. Speaking of Pinkberry, they are having a 10 year anniversary, and on Jan. 30 from 7 - close you can get a small with toppings for 10 cents. You don't want to miss this one, though I'm sure the lines are going to be pretty long. Got home pretty quickly considering it was the end of a long weekend and that can sometimes be brutal. Watched some <a href="http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/kdtv_series_1400/home.aspx" target="_blank">Knitting Daily TV</a> which I've just gotten into recently. I knew about it from the web, but never could figure out how to get it, so I searched for it on FIOS and there it was. Learned a new technique I've never heard of called shaped intarsia. I'm not big on intarsia but it was pretty cool looking and easy to do. The only time I ever tried intarsia was with cotton, and that did not go well. In fact, I ended up ripping it out and doing the design with duplicate stitch.<br />
The ghetto birds are circling overhead, so I headed over to the <a href="https://twitter.com/venice311" target="_blank">Venice 311</a> Twitter feed. Apparently there was a guy a block away from my house with a rifle and some kind of domestic disturbance. Currently on the loose in my neighborhood, though the cops have the gun. You can Google/hipster/gentrify this place all you want, but Venice is still going to be Venice for the foreseeable future.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-68867488132456609922015-01-19T00:18:00.002-08:002015-01-19T20:54:06.967-08:00Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Palm Springs was in the 70’s today. A nice day here - a bit chilly and cloudy, but lovely if you’re taking a hike or playing tennis. I was doing none of those because my son is a slug and wants nothing but to spend all day on his computer. I think about all the things we used to do - <a href="http://cdmod.org/" target="_blank">Children's Museum of the Desert</a>, <a href="http://www.livingdesert.org/" target="_blank">The Living Desert</a>, <a href="http://Palm Springs Art Museum" target="_blank">Palm Springs Art Museum</a>, <a href="http://palmspringsairmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Palm Springs Air Museum</a>, libraries, parks, just walking around. Now? Forget about it. He didn’t even want to go to the pool, but I went, took a jacuzzi and called my poor mom in NY while I was there. She proceeded to tell me her tale of woe about the ice and rain and cold and misery. I felt a little bad, but that’s why we don’t live there anymore. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It was one of those days where I could not get off the computer no matter how I tried. Mostly, it was taken up with trying to put a downloaded library book onto my Kindle. The book is <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Apple-Tree-Yard-Louise-Doughty/dp/0374105677/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1421694018" target="_blank">Apple Tree Yard</a>, and the <a href="http://2knitlitchicks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">2 Knit Lit Chicks</a> were raving about it. This is usually a straightforward affair if it’s in Kindle format, but his one was in ePUB. You can read it on the computer but not Kindle. Through series of Google searches, I then went down the rabbit hole trying to figure out a way to Kindle it. First, I downloaded a program called Calibre which converts various file formats and imports them onto your devices. It supported everything but the weird extension this book had. So I had to get Adobe Digital Editions, which turns this format into an ePUB, but could not open it because it had DRM protection. So I downloaded ePUBDRMRemoval. That did the trick. I was then able to open the new, DRM-free file back into Calibre and voila, load it onto the Kindle. I’m not sure if it’s still a library book or if I own it, but I'm really looking forward to starting this one, if I ever finish Life After Life. I swear it gets longer the more I read. While I was on the library site I saw I book called <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/People-Want-Punch-Throat-Competitive/dp/034554983X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421728918&sr=1-1&keywords=people+i+want+to+punch+in+the+throat" target="_blank">People I Want to Punch in the Throat</a> by Jenn Mann. This is the best title ever. The subtitle is Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges. Being in the Pacific Palisades school track, I've encountered a few of those. I am not familiar with this writer's blog, but I am sure to be checking it out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> After that I decided to take a walk on the bike path that meanders through the golf course nearby. I wanted to try and get close to 10,000 steps. At the very least, the Fit Bit is a reminder of of much a slug you’ve been on any given day. Once my husband got home we went to an early dinner in town. We tried to go to a new place called <a href="http://www.birbaps.com/" target="_blank">Birba</a> but there was an hour wait. It looked pretty cool with lots of fire pits and outdoor tables. The desert is especially hopping right now. We fell back on an old favortite, <a href="http://matchboxpalmsprings.com/" target="_blank">Matchbox</a>, also very busy. The food was great and the waiter hooked me up with an extra glass of wine which is always much appreciated. We had wanted to go to the movies but DH had a short turn around between shifts so we decided to punt. They really wanted to see American Sniper, but I am really torn about if this is really appropriate for a 12 year old. I went on a website called <a href="http://kids-in-mind.com/" target="_blank">kids-in-mind.com</a> which really breaks it down for you, scene by scene. After reading it, I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. Violence is something I’m really sensitive to and I don’t believe in exposing kids to things that could be traumatic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> When we came home we thought we’d watch The Killing on Netflix. We’ve always liked this series and we only have 2 to go until the end. Could not get Google Chrome to work once again It was taking its sweet-ass time on some kind of upgrade, so we gave up. Watched a Dateline and did a few rows of knitting, though not the several repeats that I had planned. The other thing I’m always meaning to do out here is scanning the many books here onto Goodreads, and pulling out the CDs here that still need to be ripped. Maybe a dozen or so at a time this year and then I’ll have it done.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-9243751730937844202015-01-18T00:26:00.000-08:002015-01-18T23:53:37.277-08:00In the desert<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today my son and I took the drive out to Palm Springs to have our annual holiday dinner with our long-time faithful assistant. This was supposed to happen about a month ago but we had to put it off. It took 3 hours to get here, which is really unusual for a Saturday afternoon. Just more of what I was talking about with the traffic. It's always hectic when I need to leave the house because I really hate to pack. I just unpacked from our trip and I still had no clean clothes for us despite doing laundry all week. Anyway, I managed to get my self together in between taking my son to and from ballet. On the way to the freeway I stopped by <a href="http://www.jenniferknits.com/" target="_blank">Jennifer Knits</a> in Brentwood to check out their sale. This shop is known for their custom designs. Their sales feature many bags of yarn and kits. I know full well that I don't really need any yarn and I managed to get out of there without buying any. They did have a whole container of project bags and needle cases by Della Q and Chica. I have a collection of Della Q cases, and the one that I'm missing is the straight needle case. They had one for the 10" needles, but many of mine are longer than that. Even though I rarely use them, I still have quite a few and would love to corral them. I did nab 3 adorable project bags, though. I own exactly one project bag, so they will come in handy. They also threw in the red needle case which will handily hold quite a few straights and some notions. Very satisfying to make a non-yarn related score. The staff there are super friendly, plus there were mimosas and chocolate. Nuff said.<br />
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For dinner we finally went to <a href="http://lordfletcher.com/" target="_blank">Lord Fletcher</a> in Rancho Mirage. We've been passing by this place forever, every time saying "Lord Fletcher!" in a haughty British accent. It seemed like a goof to go there, but it was really impressive (and packed) inside. It was like being transported to the UK, with cozy furniture and amazing pictures and artifacts on the walls. The bar area features a collection of tobies, or ceramic mugs of famous faces. The food was really good and piping hot, just what you would expect of British comfort food. It was spendy but really nice for a special occasion.<span id="goog_1166481791"></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02966117571006842661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3593612948262303566.post-1411786045887758262015-01-16T22:49:00.000-08:002015-01-16T22:49:00.956-08:00Too much traffic, not enough knitting.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I live in Los Angles and it's Friday. That means I have to pick up my son, grab him something to eat and get him to his fencing studio and hour earlier than usual. This is in several miles of horrific traffic. I've lived here a long time but something is going on. It could be the never-ending construction of a light rail line that will be finished...maybe never. Whatever it is it's getting really bad around here, and it was never that good to begin with. They just keep building and the cars have to go somewhere. But what to do, I love LA. Once we're home it's all good.<br />
Maybe because it's Friday I just really wanted to get down to chilling early and was tired of the continued lack of TV (still broken), so I moved the little one from my DH's office in front of the big one. It looked like it had a baby. Not what I want to watch anything really good on, but it did the trick for a mini-marathon of Datelines and 48 hours while I got back on track with my Hitofude. I was not willing to do any research about that missed SSK, so I just tinked back maybe 200 stitches, fixed it and got on my way. 7 repeats done, 5 or 6 to go plus grafting and then I will have the sleeves and upper back. We are going to spend a few days in Palm Springs tomorrow for the long weekend, so that might be good for one or two more repeats.<br />
I finally put my Fitbit back on. I had worn it for a week but didn't want to take it on vacation because I knew I'd be in the water all the time. I was also concerned that the lights weren't lighting up, and finally wondering if maybe I should upgrade to the Charge because it shows the time and I've been wearing it on my watch hand. I went to Best Buy (in said horrific traffic) to try it on but it's way too big. It feels weird enough wearing the Flex at night. So I put it back on and will try to figure out the light situation tomorrow. I haven't been good about tracking diet and water intake but that kind of thing really does work.</div>
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