perfect sunday

Yesterday was one of those perfect weekend days that you just don't want to end. It started early (for me) I woke up at 7am, and didn't go back to sleep! That was great, because I love wakign up early, I just also love *not having to* - so I watched the new episode of The Office (my personal addition), and hung around with Adam, did laundry, dishes, etc. Then I went over to a friend's house, where I used to live in Seal Beach (while my parent's house was being rebuilt after the fire), and we headed over to Long Beach to go to the farmer's market! I am madly, deeply, ridiculously in love with farmer's markets, and have been meaning to go to this one for ages and just keep missing it (it's over at 1pm and somehow I never get there on time). I bought green beans, snap peas, apples, corn, bok choi, onions, carrots, etc. etc. etc. Then we headed over to Sunset Beach and went for a bike ride with a friend of hers.

The weather was beautiful - clear, bright blue sky - and a WIND like you would not believe. Riding south towards huntington beach, we didn't even need to peddle. Unfortunately, on the way back to sunset, we sure made up for it. I think I am still getting sand out of my teeth. :P

Theennn we headed to 2nd street to meet up with some of her old friends at Legends, then went to Alamitos Bay Yarn company - our local yummy yarn store. We spent a huge amount of time in there watching a lady do some needle felting, which I can feel in my bones is going to be a new obsession one day soon. Then we headed to Michaels to buy some cheaper yarn, and stopped at the store to buy kool aid packets, got back to my house, and..

dyed yarn with kool aid! It was AWESOME. The colors turned out really amazingly bright - we used a few packets of the ice blue lemonade for blue, fruit punch for red, the limeade for the green, lemonade for yellow, and half grape half strawberry for the purple. Each color turned out really vibrant - we mixed it in the various pots, added the yarn, then turned up the heat. The yarn totally soaked up all the color, and by the time we poured out the leftover water, it was devoid of all color and poured out clear. We rinsed the yarn, and hung it up on hangers in the backyard to dry. I will try to post some of those photos soon.

Afterwards I made a stirfry with all the veggies I bought at the farmers market, we ate food, she went home, and Adam and I cuddled and watched our sunday night ritual tv shows. I didn't sleep til about midnight - so it was a long, satisfying, wonderful day, full of good food, good company, art, and physical activity. Hoo-rah.

of course, my kitchen is a mess because I didn't feel like cleaning it up last night, but... ah well. That's what tonight is for.
Tonight I also need to do some reading for my abnormal psychology class. I am taking it online, which is useful, but I am fascinated by this subject and wish I had a teacher and classroom full of students to discuss it all with. The chapters I just read were about anxiety disorders, phobias, obsessive compulsiveness, and PTSD. So now every time my heartrate accelerates I end up thinking about panic attacks, but such is the nature of this class.

I am almost finished with week 3 of tracking my points, a la weight watchers. I haven't lost any significant weight, but I know I am eating better and I am proud of myself for it. The key to my success this time does seem to be making sure I write everything down once a day - no skipping days! Also, I have collected a variety of websites which have done all the point calculating for me, so it makes it easier. It's lunchtime, which is why I am now starting to think FOOD FOOD FOOD. I have leftover stirfry and some tomato soup, and new Manos del Uruguay I am going to knit on my break.

Idyllwild

Yesterday after work I drove up to Idyllwild where Adam was working (doing National Forest Visitor Use Surveys), and surprised him there! I love that drive - once you get to the 243, anyway - and it seems like such a fairytale to be driving up these curvy mountain roads surrounded by hills with no trees, just tall grass and boulders that look like they were just randomly tossed there. Then, once I got up into the oaks and pines the light was getting ready to disappear and it was one of the nicest drives I've ever had. The directions I had actually got me to Adam's jeep and the look on his face as I came up the trail made it all worth it!

We ate dinner at the Good Times cafe (yum, yum, yum - and every single person who went through that door KNEW the owners. I want to live somewhere like that), and then set up our tent at the county site. We lit a fire, I drew with charcoal and sang for a few hours, then when we realized we were falling asleep, we headed for the tent. Sometime in the middle of the night we woke up and after some confusion, realized that our tent was *SIDEWAYS* and we were looking straight out of the top. We had half an hour of giggling madly pretending like we were in a spaceshuttle. Turns out our tent is so little and flimsy, when Rommel scooches up against the side, he can actually turn the whole thing. The light was amazing when we finally woke up again this morning.

My overwhelming feeling since hitting the 243 yesterday was an increase in my desire to live in a mountain town. It made me so sad to head home today - thinking that I had to get in my car and drive two hours just to see trees. Everything was golden and red and crunchy, and the air was - well, you know, the air that you get at 7000 feet, and I couldn't help it but the whole time we were driving through trying to pick out which cabin I would want to live in.

Anyhoo - I am babysitting tonight, and will hopefully get a lot of knitting on Alex's scarf done. Tomorrow Amber comes over, and I'd like to go to the farmer's market.

Friday morning

Today I apparently have allergies. I have never had allergies before. I am not sure what to do about it, other than just sneeze and sniffle a lot. Maybe it's not really allergies and I am getting sick. I don't know which would be better. :P I need to drink a lot of water today.

It's a hard day to be at work - the sky puts crayola cerulean to shame - *leaves* are actually falling. It's warm outside and so cold in my office. It's Friday, and there are very few people here.

I am making some progress with Alex's scarf - it's very cool. After this one I am excited to use my new intarsia skills and do all sorts of images and patterns. Although I do think my first order of business after this scarf is to knit myself some fingerless gloves. Holy moly it's cold in here.

Yesterday my big afternoon project was cleaning out The Closet of Doom and organizing my desk to make it more ergnomically friendly. My intern and I did great things - she tackled The Closet of Doom with a verociousness that I lack when cleaning, and I timidly approached my desk drawers. I have to admit, that it was all worth it this morning when I got to my office and was surprised all over again by how nice and uncluttered it was. Just another reminder for me that I really do work better when I am organized and uncluttered - the physical clutter feels like it messes up my brain. Sadly, being organized/not messy does not come naturally to me, but it's definitly worth being conscious of it and making it happen anyway.

I really like my job, but I am looking forward to the day when I don't have to work fulltime. This is a huge motivator for me to get my master's - I want to do what my mom did, which was be at home with her kids during the day, and teach nights. That sounds just about right.

It's time for me and my puffy eyes to go do some work - yesterday I mailed the first notice regarding our next big trip - the 2009 Walt Disney World Resort and Cruise! I am anticipating many a call for that today. I'm excited - this will be my first big trip that I orchestrate from start to finish, and I feel really good about it. We've got a year to plan (we'll be going Nov. 2009) and I learned a lot from the Alaska cruise.

I also have a newsletter to finish, so that's what I am going to go do now. (the photo is one I took of a bald eagle in Sitka, AK when I was there on the Cruise.)

It's only 4:20 and it's starting to get dark outside. Tonight my plan is to stay here and read my psychology book until about 7:15, then I'll head to karate. After karate I will go out for a little while with folks - but not eat - just knit - and work on Alex's scarf. Then home, and sleep, and tomorrow - take the quiz and work and do the discussion questions/activity.

Amber is coming over tomorrow night to knit, and between work and that would be a good chance to get caught up on sweeping, dishes, cleaning the bathroom and laundry.

Adam will be in the San Jacinto mountains friday and saturday and invited me...I'd have to drive up by myself Friday night and then drive home by myself Saturday. I can't decide if I want to. It'd be nice to have a leisurely day at home alone - bake a cake with diet soda and maybe go running by myself at the beach.

Who knows. I'd go in a second if I didn't have to drive. :P

it feels like fall!

Oh my gosh, this morning it feels like fall. I need to knit myself some fingerless gloves so I can sit in my freezing office at work and actually type. I love mornings like this morning - I woke up so warm and in blanket-nest, and there was pastel sunshine like only fall can have, and I knew as soon as I got out of bed it'd be chilly, but I got to snooze for ten minutes and just scrunch down in the warm and sunshine.

Last night (this morning, technically) around 1:00am Adam and I went running again - this time in the park. We were visited by all three coyotes again - they are getting incredibly bold. Adam now runs with a large stick just in case. I tried for a while, but it's annoying, so I gave up any pretense of badassedness.

We did a 3 minute run then a 5 minute run, twice. Adam says he feels improvement, but I just feel tired. I guess mentally there is an improvement - five minutes does not seem like the end of the world the way it felt the first time we did this set. We made the mistake of looking ahead to next week - the first day are 3 5 minute runs, then there are two 8 minute runs, and then 1 TWENTY MINUTE RUN. Yikes. I am afraid, but also looking forward to the challenge. I am liking the idea of being able to just run and run, even if I am cursing under my breath while we do it.

My coworker just came in while I was writing this and put in an order for an African Kufi for black history month. I am excited. He's been such a huge supporter of my work - has bought 1 birthday present and 3 christmas presents so far from me.

I now need to make a to do list for all my orders:

1. Finish JW's bag - which means

going to the fabric store and buying nice black liner, sewing liner

2. Wrapping JW's bag, SC's scarf and KG's scarf in christmas wrapping

3. Wrapping EL's picture frame in christmas wrapping

4. Take a photo of JW's bag to put on alchemy

5. Take a picture of all of them wrapped for appreciation pictures

6. Make Alex's Andrea's scarf - finish by Nov. 12th!! (I am so proud of this scarf - I taught myself how to do intarsia on this one. I had a picture of a hat to go by, and it's WORKING. It's just going slower than I'd like.)

7. Make Noemi's sister's coin purse with a crown (since she's a "princess") in pink, black, and gold.

8. Finish the 5 bags and 4 makeup bags I have in progress (buy liner, sew liner, attach handles, put in zippers, etc.)

9. List them!

10. Voila.

Meanwhile, I have an abnormal psychology class I NEED to catch up on today, (quiz tomorrow), work, and dishes like you wouldn't believe. Also - my cabbage and lettuce is getting eaten by something and I want it to stop. My tomatoes and strawberries are doing good, but I am afraid for the rest of my garden.

Tomorrow evening Amber will be coming over to knit with me, so I hope to get a lot of Alex's scarf done then.

I have so many things I want to do that I can't decide so I am running around in circles it feels like! Guess it's time to quit dreaming about the things I will do when I get home and get to work.

Today Adam and I tried something new and went to the gym to run instead of going to the park. I am all for the gym - but not for this. I miss the cold air and coyotes following us and it just being the two of us (and Rommel) (and a few coyotes) in the entire world.

I am so excited about the election. Excited/nervous. I think which one it is depends on how it goes.

Please oh please, no on Prop 8.

one more day, one day more!

Any fans of Les Miserables in the hizouse? This made me laugh, and then it made me sing.