My journal is Friends Only.

( ...a bit about me. )

All that said, please comment if you'd like to be added. I may or may not choose to add you back. It helps to mention how you found me, if we have any interests in common, etc. I typically won't add someone who doesn't introduce themselves in some way.

Decided to start a list of books I read this year.

Read -

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Currently reading -

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Recommended to me -

Perfume
Gormenghast trilogy

Baked from this recipe on Allrecipes.com with the following modifications:

- doubled the cinnamon
- doubled the clove
- didn't double the ground ginger but added an additional 6tsp of freshly grated ginger root
- baked in a loaf pan instead of the 9x9 square

Sorry, another Regina post. I was watching another Lallapalooza recording where she's singing "The Flowers". She's halfway through her song and just stops and points out a sick person in the audience, calls for security, asks the crowd to separate and make a "road" for the people to help this sick girl. Then she finishes her song.

That's about the sweetest thing I've ever seen a performer do on stage, and she just looks and sounds so very concerned for this one person in a crowd of thousands.

My first try at cooking spaghetti squash:

I am SO addicted to Regina Spektor lately. I really wish we could go see her in St. Louis next month.

Anyway, finding some really good live performances on Youtube.


Apres Moi - very strange song, but I've always loveloveloved it. I adore the part where she sings in Russian for a while.


On the Radio - my favorite Regina song! I nearly always choke up when she sings the lines I posted below. I like this live performance. She slows the song down a bit from the album version, but it sounds nice that way.

Here's the album version w/ official video. Embedding disabled, so just a link.

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

Can I do the whole anniversary thing right or what?

Dinner was fabulous as well. We were going to get sake but it was really pricey and we decided it was more sentimental to get a bottle of the sparkling wine that they served to us at the Bed & Breakfast last year.

Quick video of Nile and I playing in the sun on the back porch.

My roses are blooming again! I should have some nice pink ones open soon to photograph, too.

There's 3 roses in one giant pot together and I have room to put about 2-3 inches of mulch around them at the top to insulate them through the winter. The back porch is really bright and sunny and warm, so that should help too.

ETA: Just moments after I posted this, Paul came home from having to spend a few hours at work and he'd bought me a single red rose just for no reason at all. Awwww!

I'm happy with the way the camera portrayed the yarn color this time. Check out the closeup! This yarn is so interesting. It has tons of little flecks of colors all mixed in. I've never been to the Oregon Coast, but the color really does make me think of sand and sea and shells and sky.

My swatch blocked out to be a bit bigger than the pattern writer suggests. She says it should block to be 10cm square. Mine blocked to be about 11 1/2 x 12 1/2. By her measurements, the stole is already going to be a decently large stole: 65cm width and 2 meter length. I'm reluctant to try smaller needles because my smaller needles are the bamboo straights that I have and I am really enjoying the Knitpicks Options for lace. I used the smallest of the Options tips, so I can't go any smaller if I want to stick with them. So, I'm thinking this will just end up being a rather large, snuggly stole.

Tacos consist of: beef cooked with taco seasoning (Paul added finely chopped pickled jalapenos while it was cooking so it was decently spicy), shredded mexican cheeses, romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, and medium salsa.

Also, my tea and snacks spread from this afternoon. I made tea from Adagio.com's looseleaf blueberry black tea, and I served a variety of store-bought snacks.



Pepperidge Farms cookies; Chessmen and Verona Apricot Raspberry.
Snack mix.
....and yes...those are wasabi peas.



Decorated the spread with some geraniums and purple alyssum from my hanging baskets and a couple sprigs from my lavender plant.

I can't decide if I want to choose between the two bead colors or use a combination of the two at random. Thoughts?

edit: The super-close shot seems to be closest to the true colors.

For the record, assuming my computer screen is fairly true to life, the colors are a bit less yellow than the extreme close up (no flash, yellowish lighting) and a bit less blue than the zoomed out photos (flash, tends to cause things to be blueish with my camera). I did try to tweak the colors a bit in the closeups, but it only helped a little.

The Oregon Coast is probably the hardest to photograph. I would describe the color as a mixture of grayish sandy color and reddish sandy color with flecks that are slightly darker reds and grayblues.

So, while packing away my (3 boxes of) yarn, I left out a handful of various yarns in case I wanted to do a bit of quick knitting. Ever since, I've been thinking about which small project I should do if I did want to do any knitting. I finally settled on Branching Out, which you may remember, I've tried making before (several times). It seems like every time I try to make this scarf, it frustrates the hell out of me and I give up. The yarn I got is perfect for it (Knitpicks Shadow, Lost Lake), so every time I give up I tell myself I'll try it again later.

I think part of my problem is the yarn, since it's a true laceweight and the pattern technically calls for a slightly heavier yarn (not because it requires it, but it's meant to be a beginner lace pattern, so a slightly heavier yarn makes that more beginner I guess). My Knitpicks Options set came in the mail, but I didn't think to start it on those, even though they're pointier and would handle the laceweight better.

In any case, I started it again on my #7 bamboo straights and it's going well so far. I think one huge improvement is my attempt at reading charts instead of written pattern instructions. Every time I'd try to knit it by reading the written directions, I'd lose my place somewhere and have to rip back. Now, it's been pretty rare for me to lose my spot and I've got two repeats finished without a single mistake.

I am using a lifeline. It holds my place somewhere further down the pattern so that if I do have to rip back, I can just rip back to the line and start again from there instead of trying to figure out where my stitches should be. I've always done this when trying this pattern, so that's not the reason for my success this time. I really do think it's the charts that have improved my chances for this pattern.

So, I'm very happy about that. It's a lovely pattern and I've always thought I would probably use it as a shelf runner instead of a scarf. It would look great running across the top of our secretary desk with some pretty things sitting on top.

I guess it's safe to say that my roses appreciate being rescued from their fate in the debris pile. They didn't look so hot after the ice storm and the late freeze we had this Spring, so we replaced them with new ones for a client. Chris didn't want them and just planned on throwing them away, so I planted them in a large pot.

Does anyone want a $5 gift certficiate to Adagio? It looks like they let me email them to anyone (at no cost to me). Also, $5 could almost completely cover a sample tin. Many of their sample tins are only $2 and shipping is $3.75. Or, if you buy a more expensive sample tin, you'd just have to pay shipping.

If you want one, reply with your email address and first and last name and I'll input that into the form and have them send it over. I'll screen comments so nobody has to worry about their personal information.