Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

So, you know how when you have a final coming up, or a deadline, or anything else you absolutely HAVE to do, but really, really, really don't want to....

You know how you'll find all sorts of other things to do - things that you would typically NEVER do, because you would normally think that was tedious work - things like scrubbing the baseboards in your house, organizing your junk drawer, cleaning the grout in the bathroom - anything, anything but that one thing that you absolutely have to do.

Well, that's where I am now. It's amazing how many people there are in this office I've never even spoken to that I now find absolutely fascinating - simply because I'm really burned out on my current task.

I think Dilbert sums it up nicely here.

anyway - that's my rant for the day.

Brazil

Quick post to catch up.

Yes, I went to Brazil. That now makes 6 of the 7 continents of the world that I can check off my map. Antartica is all that's left.

No doubt you're asking "Wow! Brazil! Where? Rio? Sao Paulo? Iguazu Falls? How Exciting!"

To which I will reply "Erm, nope. Brasilia."

That's right. Brasilia. Capital of Brazil. Planned city. No beach. No rain forest. No jungle (except the concrete type). No aboriginal natives (except the ones demonstrating outside the federal government trying to get their land back.) Just Brasilia.

Not exactly the resort destination most people head to when they go to Brazil.

Still, the people there were unbelievably wonderful. You've heard about how friendly Texans are? Well, take it from someone born and raised in Texas, they're downright aloof compared to Brazilians! These were the most welcoming people I've ever met.
So, while we didn't really have any sight-seeing activities (we were there to work), the nights were a lot of fun spent with some really awesome people.

Don't get me wrong. There were some nice sights. For example, the cathedral there is designed to resemble the crown of thorns,

and the inside is gorgeous, with angels hanging from the ceiling

and a stained glass egg to represent the trinity.

Also, this bridge was designed to represent a stone being skipped across the water. But, we, naturally all believe it looks like a DNA Helix, so we have dubbed it the CODIS Bridge, or, in portuguese: Ponte CODIS.

Other than Brazil, not much news. We went to Vintage Virginia with my peeps from work. That was a lot of fun. I was in bed by 8PM from too much wine and too much sun.

I finally finished my Beachcomber tunic. It was a work in progress for 2 years, and was ripped back at least 10 times, but I did, definitely, get plenty of crochet practice, and I feel a little more confident that I have a clue what I'm doing now when I crochet.

I celebrated my birthday.

Lots of good presents. I pretty much just asked for money for yarn since I'm on a yarn-diet all year long - trying to pay down my debt. I scored pretty great yarn, but then, when I got it home and started adding it to my stash, I realized I had lots of yarn that I had originally purchased with a project in mind, and now couldn't remember what the project was. So, I spent several days re-organizing the stash, and creating a queue on Ravelry to try to categorize as much as possible. That was a lot of fun - in a sick, twisted way.

And really, that's the sum total of my news. You'd think there'd be more, considering how long it's been since I posted, but what can I say. Times are tight.

Something to Blog Home About

It's not just the fact that I've been working ridiculous hours, and the idea of sitting one second more in front of a computer was repulsive, but there just really hasn't been enough for me to blog about - why? - well, duh - cuz I've been working ridiculous hours.

Still, it hasn't been all work and no play- we have gone out and done some fun things - so, to catch up:


1. Over President's Day Weekend, we did our traditional trip to Canaan Valley, where they had record snow falls.

We went cross-country skiing at White Grass

- it snowed on us the whole time - and we were pretty fried after the morning session - not that we were that sore, but we were that cold. The next day we went snow shoeing at Blackwater Falls State Park - we shoed out to a gorgeous overlook,

well worth the trip. Before we launched out on that trek, however, we slushed down to the minor falls, which were completely frozen over - so much so, that we were able to climb up behind them and play on the ice.

The third day, we headed home. We had planned to go air-boarding again, but our fun meters were pegged...are we getting old?

2. Well, if so, we're celebrating it.

3. Because of all the snow, we couldn't celebrate our anniversary until later in March - but we did the traditional Foti's with Pierre as our waiter - of course.

The SigO likes this dress a lot...I wonder why?

4. I finally took the time to go to a happy hour with some of my co-workers - and got to experience C's first time! At a bar that is. Unbelievable. For someone with a German heritage, it sure took her long enough.

5. Early April, the SigO and I went to Longwood.

We went by Kennett Square first to go to one of my favorite yarn shops - SigO was going to buy me a skein of cashmere - yeah, I got it like that - just sit there and turn green, I'll wait - anyway, unfortunately, Wool Gatherings is closed now. The owner sold the shop so she could spend more time with her kids. I can understand the necessity of that, although, I'm really glad I don't have to choose between yarn and children - that would be tough. Anyway, he was disappointed in Longwood Gardens, because the fountains aren't on yet, but had we waited til May to go, we would have missed out on all the tulips,

and they really were gorgeous.

Not to mention this weeping cherry tree -

which isn't what it's called, but i hereby dub it such.

6. Finally, this past weekend, we got down to Middleburg for a ride I've wanted to do for some time now.

It's off-road, but nothing single track - just a nice wide dirt/gravel road that is supposed to take you to three wineries. The scenery was gorgeous, but, of course, we got lost several times, so by the time we got to the "first winery", we had already ridden close to 20 miles, and the whole trip was only supposed to be 23. The SigO was hurting, and to add insult to injury, the "first winery" hadn't been a winery for over 10 years - talk about an out of date map - I really need to quit using trails.com. Anyway, we took a shortcut back after that little let down, but I still enjoyed the ride - it was nice to be able to go on a decent length ride without having to dodge traffic. And, as I said - the scenery was very nice.

So, that's all my news. I've not gotten as much knitting done as usual, since hours have been long at work - I'm still working on that same color-block cardigan I started last year. I'm kinda tired of it right now, so even though it's very close to being finished, I've picked up the cashmere afghan recently and have been working on some squares for that. Man, that stuff is nice to touch!

I'd like to say I'll keep up with this more frequently, but, don't count on it. Things at work have only marginally slowed - not enough to be noticeable.

The winter of our disbelief

Well, let's face it - I've been having too much fun to blog.

First, there was New Years Eve - and it was everything we hoped it would be. Beautiful food, wonderful atmosphere, good music,

and spectacular company.

Of course, I mean the SigO, but also we sat next to a small group who were very fun to talk to.

If you're interested, here is the menu: Ten courses.

A selection of canapes

Demitasse of White Bean Soup

with a Sliver of Black Truffle Pizza

A Tin of Sin: American Ossetra Caviar

with a Crab and Cucumber Rillette

A Melange of Spicy Big Eye Tuna

with Mango, Avocado, Crispy Shallots and Sake-Yuzu Sorbet

Maine Diver's Scallop Sauteed with Capers, Brown Butter

and Lemon with Tiny Tomato Gnocchi

Pan Roasted Maine Lobster with Braised Baby Bok Choy

in a Fragrant Coconut Sauce Perfumed with Lemongrass

Pan Seared Four Story Hill Farm's Pekin Duck Breast

on Butternut Squash Risotto with Caramelized Endive

Vacherin Crostini with Pomegranate

xxx

Panna Cotta Parfait with Cranberry Jelly

A Duet of Souffles

Butter Hot Chocolate and Frozen Raspberry

At the start of all this, they handed us an encyclopedia they claimed was their wine list. Very funny - like I'm going to sit there and pick out a wine that would go with all those courses. So, I asked if they had a wine pairing - which, of course, they did. I expressed my concerns about so many courses paired with wine. The sommelier assured me it wouldn't be that much wine. "We don't fill your glass, of course." says he. Silly man. I didn't get so tanked as to not remember everything, but I was definitely feeling no pain at the end of the meal. Neither of us were.

Then there's been all the snow. Most snow I've ever seen - and I even lived in Korea for a year, so trust me - that's a lot of snow. In fact, I'm snowed in as I write this. This picture is from this past weekend, and it is currently dumping about 9 more inches on top of that. I think it will be somewhere near 32" when it's all done. We have plans to go X-Country skiing in Canaan this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed, cuz the SigO is on a business trip right now, and we really need the airports to stay open so we can finally ski White Grass.

Before this round of snow hit, we did manage to test my new disk brakes on a ride around Burke Lake. I need to figure out how to adjust them, because they were dragging a little bit. Between that and the mud, I definitely got a nice workout that day.
And, of course, I've been knitting. Finally finished the clapotis - which, as you can see, goes nicely with the beret I made while in Acadia last year.
And this is the last round of the traveling scarf I got to do. The most recent one, that I'm supposed to be working on right now was reported delivered to my door, but I never received it. I think we're going to have to do another round for that poor lady, but I'm still holding out hope that a neighbor will step up or something.
So, that's it. I know it doesn't sound like enough to keep me from blogging for so long, but then, there's also been that pesky job keeping me busy. Unbelievable how they expect me to earn my pay. *Sigh*

Someone slap me awake

I totally forgot I had really fun pictures from TWO weekends ago. One of my oldest friends - no - she's not my oldest friend in that she's old - she's my oldest friend in that I've known her longest - now behave yourself - came to visit me before deploying to Afghanistan/Kuwait/Iraq for a year. And seeing as how I didn't think it likely for her to get a whole lot of pampering while over there, it only made sense that we go do it before she left.

So, we went to Yvonne's Day spa and splurged.

She had the Dr. Fish Pedicure.

I had the Jello Pedicure.

Then we both had the spa Manicure and pedicure. It was a very nice, relaxing day.

As a point of interest, I'm knitting the top I was going to wear for New Year's Eve, until I changed my mind and decided I was going to wear a halter top and skirt - so I started knitting a beaded silk shrug for that. Until the SigO changed my mind because he's stuck on a red dress I modeled for him that doesn't require any knitted items at all. None. How weird is that? So, the gorgeous lace top, and the luscious silk shrug are both hibernating while I work on a cashmere beret - that feels awesome - can't wait for that to finish. The only thing that's interuppted that is the traveling scarf - which I almost completely forgot about until the last minute, and just got that knit up and ready to send today.

So, that's it. That's the excitement in my life - for now - stay tuned - New Years Eve is less than 2 weeks away. Woo Hoo!!!

Gobble *shiver* Gobble

Happy Belated T-day to everyone. Boy do I have some fun stories.

First, let me catch you up on my knitting retreat. As usual, I spent a weekend in Nov with my buds at Clara Parke's knitting retreat. Still being dedicated to the whole P90X gig, I ran and hid every time we had a meal, which meant I ended up spending a lot less time with everyone than I would have liked. Not that mealtimes are all that long, but since I ran and hid, I ended up driving to other locations (OK, OK - yes! Yarn shops!!!), which reduced the amount of time I had at the retreat. Seriously, it wasn't nearly enough time, so next year, I plan on meeting a couple of buds in Boston a few days before the retreat so I can get my fix. I did have a good time though. Spent too much on yarn (what a shocker, huh?), and on one of my escapes, I got to check out a Rowan exhibit that was on display at the Lenox Library. Personally, I liked the quilts the best, but I loved this jacket. Very nice. And I had to take a shot of this dress, as I actually know someone who made it. The end of the retreat came all too soon and I had to wish my gals farewell, but I'm looking forward to next year already. Also looking forward to spending a weekend with them down in Georgia in summer 2010, and, spending a week doing BRAG in June. I need something to keep me going after New Years Eve, and I figure this is the ticket.

So, on to this past weekend. The SigO and I went to Garrett County, MD, which is the far west part of Maryland - almost to WV. It's a very scenic area, with lots to do, all of which we got skunked out of. But, before I get to that, let me tell you about Art's Market. Oh yeah, SigO - I'm going there! And I'm taking my readers with me!! So, here's the deal. Tuesday, 24 Nov, we still don't have plans for the weekend. All the ideas I'd come up with had fallen through and I was plumb out of ideas. So, I called the SigO and dropped it in his lap. He googled Mid Atlantic Resorts, and came up with Yellowstone Village Cabin rentals in Maryland. I checked it out on line and thought it looked pretty great, so he called their office and reserved a cabin for us for the weekend. Yay SigO, right? Showing great initiative, and all that. Now, had he only shown enough initiative to get an address...that would have really been something - but then, how humdrum would our thanksgiving have been if he'd been so normal, right? See, the rental agency informed him they would be closed on thanksgiving, and he would need to pick up the keys at a location near the cabin. He listened very carefully to the instructions and wrote down "Art's Market" as the place to get the keys. No address. No intersection. Nope. Just Art's Market. But how hard can that be, right? I mean, we're talking a small little town here - surely all we need to do is ask a local where Art's Market is...and so we did. Many, many, many times. We even stopped at the Maryland State Police - nobody had ever heard of Art's Market. We even stopped at Arrowhead Market and asked them. No dice. Three hours later, after driving all over Garrett County, with the turkey sitting in the ice chest in the back seat, we're still trying to find who might have our key - and, oh yeah - where our cabin might be. Finally, we find a sign that says Yellowstone Village Cabins (I'll give him the props - he saw the sign), and hooray - that's where we're supposed to be staying - now which cabin - oh, and yeah - still no key. So, the SigO started knocking on doors. One by one. Undeterred by the fact that everyone would be sitting down to Thanksgiving meals, he was not to be defeated (no surprise there - he was imagining the weekend back home, had he failed - not a pretty picture). Finally, he found someone who knew where to go. You guessed it. Arrowhead Market (sound's just like Art's, right?), back where we'd looked almost three hours prior.

I literally jumped for joy when we finally got to the cabin, and I saw how nice it was. Cathedral ceilings, with nice big windows. A fireplace in the living room, and another on the deck, next to the jacuzzi. A big den downstairs (where I would do my workouts), and a nice big kitchen. The turkey came out great - I'm sure it had plenty of time to get all nice and tenderized rolling around in the back of the car for all those hours, and that's why it turned out so great. The stuffing was yummy (I think so anyway - the SigO wouldn't even try it. I made it with Quinoa, so it wouldn't be so unhealthy, and upon hearing the stuffing would be healthy, he promptly jumped in the car and drove back to Arrowhead Market to get some cornbread stuffing - never even tasted mine!), the gravy was quite tasty, and so were the green beans. The only disappointment was the pumpkin pie. Some things shouldn't even be attempted to be healthy. That night it started to snow, and we got about 3-4" total for the next day. So, we scampered off to go X-Country skiing, only the rental lodge wasn't open, and we still don't have our own equipment. So, we went up to Wisp, hoping for some snow boarding, or air boarding. Skunked again - they don't open til Dec 4th. So, we went and saw 2012. Good CG affects. While driving around, we stopped at this little corner market that also had a corner dedicated to a U.S. Post Office. I still had my traveling scarf to mail, and this was the first post office I'd seen. This, without a doubt, is the coolest market (no - it wasn't called Art's by the way) I'd ever seen. They used an old coal-heater to warm the place, and it had been in the family for generations. I just loved this place. Anyway, we didn't do much Friday, so, we hoped for enough snow to go skiing Saturday.

Saturday, we woke up to the bulk of the snow being melted. All that was left was muddy, nasty trails. So we headed home.

Sounds like a bad weekend, but let me tell you, that was my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Don't You Wish Your Boyfriend Was Hot

Like Mine. Sing it now - you know he is!!!

But, this isn't just a gratuitous "look at my hot boyfriend" post - believe it or not, I took this picture, at least in part, for you to see the scarf I knit for him. When it was done, I told him I thought it would look good with a pea coat, and so he bought one. And now he's mega-hot. Just sayin.

And on the note of scarves, this is the latest in the traveling scarf saga.

I think it's the nicest one so far, although this is undoubtedly the worst picture I've taken. I put this off til the last minute (I know - whoa! shocker!!), and barely got it mailed out by the deadline - and then when I got to the post office, I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet, so I took a shot on the hood of my car, with the sun beaming down behind me, so yes - that's my shadow on the scarf. So, it may be difficult to tell, but you'll just have to take my word for it - it's definitely the best of the lot so far.

Otherwise, I've put all my other projects aside for now so I can get some chemo-caps knit up in time for Clara's retreat, which is now less than 2 weeks away. For those of you new to the blog, Clara Parkes is a knitter extraordinaire, who has published a few knitting books, and who has a "Knitters Review" newsletter she publishes monthly. And once a year, she has a retreat in Massachussets, and this will be my third year. I go, primarily, to hook up with friends that are also faithful to come every year. Anyway, we normally have some sort of charity we knit for, and this year (and last), it's hats for patients who have undergone chemotherapy. So, I knit one last night (in alpaca - i understand that the most important thing about the hats is that they be seamless, and in a nice, soft yarn), and I'd like to get 3 more knit up before I leave next Friday. Hats are such a nice, quickie project, it's not really a challenge to knit 4 in two weeks.
Actually, the challenge this year, will be staying on my diet at this retreat. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, and this last shot is for my family - cuz by now I'm sure they're missing all the fall color they got to see while they were here.