Thursday, December 31

Wednesday, December 30

I can't believe tomorrow

is the last day of the year. Of the decade. Crazy. I also can't get over the fact that I will be starting a new decade of age as I turn 40 in 2010. I know, I know, it's 9 months off, but it's on my mind. FORTY. It doesn't upset me, it is just strange. I remember when my dad turned 40 and my mom threw him a surprise birthday party. They were grown ups. I still don't really feel like a grown up. Which is okay, I guess.

Anyway, I'm not really good at end of the year posts. Last year I wrote that I felt pretty neutral about 2008 and I guess I feel the same about 2009. It wasn't a bad year by any means, but it doesn't stand out as a great year either. (And sadly, I only accomplished one thing on the list I made at the beginning of the year, the knitting one. Didn't even manage to get my ass to the eye doctor.) I feel pretty good about what I've accomplished with my little knitting business, but I also regret not doing a whole lot more. My approach to having a craft business is way too timid. I need to work on that. That said, I'm also really surprised that so many things sold at the shop over the course of the year. That feels really good.

I don't know, I guess I spent most of 2009 at home. Knitting. And watching A LOT of crime shows. We didn't travel enough and we hardly hiked at all. But the trip we did take was loads of fun. I'm glad we got to drive to the beach. It was a nice adventure.

And oh oh oh! We had lots of visitors throughout the year which was a lot of fun. We had a blast with CC and Dana in July and while we didn't have enough time with Sheryl and Rebby, the Earthship experience was amazing. So maybe not enough vacations, but definitely some great staycations!

So the highlights of 2009? Winning the SuperBowl! Our anniversary dinner at Terra. Caroline's high school graduation. CC and Dana coming out to Santa Fe. Mom's 70th birthday party. Sheryl and Rebby (and sisters) visiting and taking us to the Phoenix Earthship. Road trip to South Carolina with a stop in Winston along the way. And knitting. Knitting all the time and getting excited about new ideas and selling things.

We're spending New Year's Eve with my sister and boyfriend. I'm really looking forward to it. I couldn't tell you the last time I was with my sister on NYE. I've racked my brain and I seriously can't remember a NYE with my sister. I guess it must have been back when she still lived at home. (She's almost 10 years older than me.) So it's been awhile. Tomorrow is going to be fun.

Happy New Year to all! Have fun and be safe in your celebrations.

Monday, December 28

Tuesday, December 22

I do like poinsettias.



My dad always buys my mom the most gorgeous poinsettias for the holidays. So very red and lovely.

My funny little poinsettias didn't bloom until the spring. I don't know what they'll do this season. One has a few red leaves, but it's not really in bloom. They're just confused.

Monday, December 21

Woo-hoo and Phew!

We won, we won, we finally won! But good lord, it was so heartbreaking to watch the Steelers lose the lead in the fourth quarter. Please, no, not again. And our defense? Still not happy with them. At all. But Ben looked good. (Imagine how much better he would look with a stronger offensive line!) And after that unbelievable on sides kick, I actually still had hope since there were a little over two minutes left and we all know what Ben is capable of doing in that situation. And it all worked out. That catch by Mike Wallace was the SuperBowl all over again. He reminds me so much of Holmes as a rookie and, well, with the catch last night, methinks he is going to definitely be a great asset for the Steelers in years to come. I know our play off chances are super slim, but I'm just happy to have a win.

Today I had to run some errands for Santa. It went pretty smoothly, but I couldn't believe the amount of traffic. Ugh. Makes me glad that I do most of my shopping from home. Later, after lunch and some laundry, I started yet another bag. My favorite thing to do. Now I am taking a break for this, some banking and dinner making. Tomorrow I have to get groceries and then there will be more knitting. Wednesday I have to make natillas and scalloped potatoes for Christmas festivities. And Thursday we'll head on over to my folks' house for the usual farolitos and what not. I can't believe that Christmas is Friday. And that the end of the year is so near. The end of a decade no less.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Words To Shoot By.

Tradition.

Recently my friend Steph Parke asked me to be a part of her photo collaboration blog Words To Shoot By. Steph is an awesome photographer (check out her Flickr stream) and I was delighted to be invited to participate. All of the photographers involved are incredibly talented and you should definitely check out the blog as well as the links. The word for today is "tradition" and you can see my submission above. I actually haven't been taking many photographs lately so this project is definitely a bit of inspiration and a kick in the pants. Yay!

Sunday, December 20

Oh yeah, and I got a hair cut too!

Nothing but sunshine in Santa Fe.

I'm rather jealous of all the snow that the eastern part of the country got. I like big snowstorms! But here it's all sunshine. There's not even any snow in the forecast for the week. (And don't get me wrong, I'm all about sunshine too, but this time of year a good snow day is nice too.)

I had hoped to sleep in a bit this weekend, so of course I was up at six both mornings. Sigh. Oh well, at least I have more time to get stuff done.

The week sort of flew by, as usual. I was mostly busy with knitting, although I did do some running around as well. And I worked at the shop one day. I've been having a hard time getting anything done at home because all I want to do is knit. Knit, knit, knit. I'm still obsessed with stripes which is fun. I like finding colors to mix and trying to use all my leftover bits for a bag. I'm down to the last dregs of the huge yarn order I made in October. Only a few colors left. But no worries, I just made another huge order. HUGE. It's going to be crazy, I think. It's a little overwhelming to have so many choices, but it'll be good. Lots more stripes and new colors to use. And Rocky is going to be able to burrow in for awhile. I keep telling myself that I am going to take a week off of knitting so that I can work on some other projects, but it just ain't happening. Maybe after Christmas. I have some books that I need to study so I can learn some new techniques. And I still have to get the damn Etsy up. I am kicking myself for missing the holiday season, but oh well, it'll happen when it happens. I'm excited about getting it going and selling some things directly.

I haven't played with the Wii in over a week. There's just no time. And it kind of messes me up which is a drag. Last Saturday night we went out with a good friend of mine who was in town for a few days, and after some beers and pizza, we came back here to Wii it up. The bowling is great fun, but something about the way I throw causes me to get this weird hip pain so I'm not so keen to have it happen again. Last night my folks came over for dinner so my dad could watch the Cowboys game. (Still can't believe they beat the Saints!) They got a bowling game going before dinner and I stayed out of it. No fun. But I love that my parents actually like playing the games! My mom LOVES the bowling. And she rocks at it. I haven't even been back on the WiiFit since I've just been running outside. I am sure it is going to scold me next time I turn it on.

Today I plan to do a bit of cleaning, felt some bags and then it'll be time for Steelers football. Which sadly I am not that excited about. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fair weather fan. I know one has to take the bad with the good. I love the Steelers and will always love the Steelers, but I am kind of done with them this season. It'd be nice if they would at least win out the rest of the season, but I'm not going to hold my breath. It sort of seems like they don't care which I guess makes me not care. At this point I am looking forward to off-season changes and what not and a fresh start in fall 2010.

Well, enough of my babble! I'm off to shower and get things going. Happy Sunday!

Saturday, December 19

flickr faves

It's been awhile since I've posted Friday flickr faves. Here are some for Saturday!

12/19/2009

1. Untitled, 2. 52/365, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. Offenbach, 10. swan, 11. sunlit, 12. A Lone Tree, 13. spruce, 14. sunday night football, 15. I'm Not Done, 16. Lazy Days of Summer, 17. Untitled, 18. time to go out, 19. Untitled, 20. Crocodile, 21. the mind is restless and difficult to restrain, but it is subdued by practice. ~bhagavad gita, 22. Untitled, 23. IMG_2057, 24. IMG_2138, 25. IMG_2224

Created with fds flickr toys.

Tuesday, December 15

Stripes and more stripes.









Okay, one with no stripes. I know I owe you a bit more of an update, but I'm just super busy right now. Knitting and running errands and taking care of holiday related things. There just isn't enough time in a day.

Thursday, December 10

I fought back today.

Okay, so I should have gone running today, but I decided to tackle the WiiFit again. It went better than yesterday, although my balance still kind of sucks and I seriously have no coordination. Nonetheless, I do the stretches and what not so it is still a work out whether the sensor thinks I am doing well or not. And now I am so incredibly sore, it hurts to do just about anything. Apparently one should do these things in moderation. But not me, I pushed it to 59 minutes today. Those strengthening stretches seem so innocent, but man, they have a painful aftermath. But it's good. Running is great for me, but I think it's good for me to be stretching and strengthening some new areas. We'll see how long it lasts though.

As for the rest of the day, I did a bit of cleaning and then finished up a bag and knit up some bowls. We watched Julie & Julia which was cute. I particularly enjoyed the Julia parts with Meryl Streep. She rocks. On the other side, I think I vaguely remember coming across the Julie/Julia Project blog back in 2002, but I never followed it. I don't think I could ever cook that much. Unlike Julie & Julia, I love to eat but do not like to cook. I would much rather have someone cook for me. And luckily, I have someone who doesn't mind cooking for me. I told him he needs to try some of Julia's recipes. I don't think he appreciated that suggestion.

And tonight, football. Which I am halfway dreading because three days is not long enough to recover from the anger over the last loss. I probably shouldn't admit this, but I am halfway embarrassed to even wear my Steelers gear to the bar. (We're going out tonight.) I mean, four losses in a row? Two of them to two of the worst teams in the league? Ugggghhhh. Let's get a win tonight and salvage a tiny bit of dignity. Please.

Wednesday, December 9

The Wii kicked my ass.

Things are busy around here. If we're not busy being busy, we're busy slacking off.

Last week we started talking about getting a Wii. I got it in my head that it might be a good way to exercise indoors when it is too cold to run. So after deciding that we should think about it until after the holidays, we went out and bought one yesterday.

We had a hard time getting the remotes to work at first and I was ready to take the damn thing back to the store. But we got it worked out eventually. Then I set up the WiiFit which I was pretty excited about until it told me that I have a WiiFit age of 55. 55? Come on! But it's all about balance on that damn board thing and I don't have very good balance. At all. Or coordination. Which is why I have never liked aerobics and things like that. Which is why I run. Outside.

The weight/BMI results seem pretty right on though. We added the cats too, of course, and their weight results matched the results from the vet. Sadly they are not allowed to do training with WiiFit. They are both bored to tears from being inside so much lately and could do with some extra stimulation.

Next up, bowling! Loads of fun, but good god, I can't even lift my right arm today. Apparently I am a little too realistic when throwing the ball. But it's fun. I'm not really a video game kind of gal, but the sports stuff is entertaining. And my one video game love is Super Mario Brothers and so that's the one I got and yes, it is addictive. I spent a good part of the evening playing it. And while I was drinking my tea this morning.

So yeah, it's great to have this thing that is a total time suck in our living room. It was 9 degrees this morning so I decided to work out with WiiFit and it took 90 minutes to do a 45 minute work out because they have so much damn crap to tell you and press "A" and on and on. Annoying. I did quite a few of the strength exercises, a few yoga things and a lot of the aerobics stuff. My favorite by far. The hula hoop thing is great, but of course I can't catch any of the hoops they throw at me. I love the running. Big surprise there. And the boxing was fun too. I suck at the step thing though. And some of the results are frustrating. For example, on one stretch I finished too quickly and put my foot down before I was supposed to and it said I hadn't done anything at all. Yeah, right. All in all it is not as satisfying as running outside, but let me tell you, I have been crippled for a good part of the day. Apparently I have a lot of muscles that I never use!

I would love to get into the yoga stuff, but it's hard to concentrate and breathe when you are trying to see what you are supposed to be doing while balancing on a stupid board. I'll keep trying, but I don't have much hope in that department. I'm kind of interested in the other work out thing they have, Active, or something like that, because it doesn't involve the balance board. We'll see though. I have to remember that this is something I will only do when I can't run outside.

I did knit all day today and finished up another bag. I have four ready to felt. I feel like a dumb ass for not having an Etsy up yet as I keep getting inquiries about my work. Must get that done. Too late for holiday shopping, but still. Get it done.

Anyway, it's Wii and knitting and movies. Come on over and bowl with us sometime!

Sunday, December 6

And a few more.







I have three more ready to felt and lots more new ideas! Productivity is pretty good these days, although I did play hooky yesterday and went over to my mom and dad's house to check out the new computer. Sales are picking up a little bit too. Three bags sold at the shop, two special orders are done and there was one surprise sale via the internet. Yay!

Wednesday, December 2

A little showcase of what I've been doing.



Bright red.

Bright yellow.



Rainbow.

Lattice.

And there's lots more! I'm thisclose to being ready to put some bowls up on Etsy, just need to work on my photos. I am not good at merchandising type photos. Really into stripes lately, as you might notice. Stripes are fun.

I almost bought a fish today. But then I didn't.