And the winner is!

This was fun for me! I have picked a winner, but a few sweaters are going in my queue for sure! The Honeybee Cardigan was tough to turn down. The one that looks the best in the Ravely collection is the one I highlighted below. Thing is, she made it out of worsted. I'm afraid that even with the delicate lace, it would be too much for late spring/early summer. Same goes for the Tall Flower Cardi. Love it! Probably will make it for fall, but I think it's too heavy for now.

I also LOVE Poplar and Elm! Oh my gosh! It's beautiful. But it would have to be the highlight of the outfit. I think I'll make it because it would be amazing!

And now for the winner....AMY! You win!

I love the way the geodesic cardi will be an accesory to a cute spring or summer outfit. Plus the suggested yarn is Malabrigo Lace which means it will be lightweight, but cozy. I may use some yarn already in my stash if I have enough. That said, I haven't picked a color winner yet. That will be announced later!

Thanks for all the fun suggestions! I think I'll have to have another contest soon!


Here are the last suggestions. Great sweaters to add to your queue!

Tall Flower Cardi by Cecily Glowic

Myrtle cardigan by Snowden Becker

Old Mill Hoodie by Cecily Glowic

Today is the last day!

Today is the last day for suggested patterns/colors for a spring sweater for me to knit. Here's the most recent suggestion! Winner will be announced tomorrow if I remember! If I don't remember, the winner will be announced as soon as I remember. How's that for a fabulous contest hostess!?!?!

Geodesic Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio

Ideas Suggested So Far...

In no particular order here are the patterns that have been suggested so far...
Keep the ideas coming!

Mr. Greenjeans by Amy Swenson




Poplar and Elm by Carol Sunday

Honeybee Cardigan by Laura Chau

(this one is knit by Jettshin)

Barb Wire by Grace Mcewen

It's My First Blog Contest!

I'm heading to Europe (more specifically I'll be going to various places in the Netherlands, Brugge, Belgium and Bergamo, Italy) in May and I'd like to knit an all purpose cardigan to wear while I'm there. This is going to be a contest and I just decided that it will be a 2 part contest.

Part 1:
Suggest a cardigan pattern for me to knit. I'm thinking 3/4 sleeves, feminine, size 6 needles or smaller and some lace detail.
The person who suggests the winning pattern will receive a skein of sock yarn from my stash

Part2:
What color?!?!?!?! Needs to be all-purpose, but who said purple can't be all purpose? Suggest a color and/or a yarn for me to use.
The person who suggests the winning color will get some cute stitch markers.

Post your ideas in the comments and I'll try to cleverly post pictures of the patterns as they are suggested! Contest will end on Friday, April 9th at midnight EST. Yay for a fun contest!

The fine print:
*if the pattern or color is suggested more than once, the first person to have suggested that pattern or color will be the winner.
**if the pattern is in a book or magazine that I don't have and that is not available at the library, you will be responsible for providing me with a copy of the pattern. I am willing to pay for a Ravelry pattern, but not more than $5 or $6.

Shopping Spree!

Tonight I'm going shopping with a few girl friends, one of whom would like some wardrobe encouragement in efforts to impress a certain boy. So exciting! I've had a bit of a wardrobe overhaul myself. A few weeks ago it became blatantly obvious that my wardrobe is boring. I only have a few tops that are cute enough for wearing out on the social scene and my jeans are way too boxy to be terribly cute. In the last couple of weeks I've managed to spruce up the ol' wardrobe!

Jeans are a problem for everyone. They are made to fit no one. I tried on 8 pair at Macy's, 8 pair at GAP and didn't even bother at The Limited.
Dear Clothes Buyer at The Limited,
I didn't bother to try on jeans at your store. First, they were $70 a pair which was discouraging enough. But really...did you have to put a giant button on the butt pockets? No matter the size of a girl's tush, did you really think it was a good idea to draw attention to it with a button? Really?
Sincerely,
A jeans shopper speaking out for all women shopping for jeans


So just when I was about to give up, Old Navy pulled through! Old Navy of all places! I haven't had Old Navy jeans since high school. Mostly because their jeans have notoriously been made for girls in high school. So now I am happy with some jeans and cute tops. Missing from this picture is a pair of shoes. Ballet flats just don't seem to cut it in a club or a bar. I need some shoes that say, "this girl means business!" I need shoes I can walk in, but just barely. I don't want blisters, but I do want shoes that look like they might give me blisters.

Tonight will be all about my friend dressing to impress a certain boy. She wants cute jeans. Not sure what else, but I'm sure we'll manage to find a few hot items for her. Maybe just maybe I'll find a pair of shoes while we're out too! This is going to be fun!

A mild distraaction from Christmas knitting...

I'm knitting fingerless gloves for someone and I don't know if I like them. They seem so bulky. I suppose that one option would be to continue on as the pattern says and hope for the best. The other option would be to rip out the fingers in a not so violent way and turn them into convertible mittens. So while I think about that for a while I've decided to distract myself with another Hannah Fettig sweater! I loved the yellow featherweight cardigan I made this summer and now I will make a lightweight pullover. If it's done for Christmas Eve Mass I'll be a happy camper!

I've been hoping for a great way to use this yarn for a while now. It's kind of vintage. At least the label is!

The yarn is 50% virgin wool and 50% crimpset nylon. I don't really know what crimpset nylon is, but the label implies that it's for super strength and delux softness! Ooh la la! The pattern calls for for sport weight, but I'm getting gauge with fingering. I think the fabric will have more drape to it. That's kind of what I'm looking for. So I'm off to the races. Row after row after mundane row of stockingnet in the round. So far, I have an inch. This could take a while.

Shalom My Friend!

I finally finished my Shalom Cardigan!


And this is why I love living with mom...
Shhh....she doesn't know I stole the buttons yet!

Or you could just knit it...

I’ve had some time to drool over some fun catalogs yesterday and today! I would like to report that the following are hot items! Maybe this will help inspire your Christmas knitting.

The Limited is featuring “infinity scarves”. $40 for a chunky knit cowl in a bold color. Or you could just make one!

Sundance catalog is one of my all-time favorites! Some day I will do more than droll over the catalog! Here are some links with super cute knits that we could all knit before Christmas!

This little sweater vest is remarkably similar to several I’ve seen on Ravelry! Actually there are lots of sleeveless sweaters with big collars being worn over plan long sleeve shirts or longer sleeveless sweaters over simple dresses! Looks cozy and elegant for sitting around a fire! I saw a lot of that look in Athleta. Of course everything looks good on the uber athletic, yoga doing, skiing, surfing super women models in Athlete. &%(#)@#!!!

Here’s a cowl neck sweater that reminds me of Francis Revisited.

If only I had made my Shalom with sleeves! Check this out!

How about a pistal headwarmer? Can you say Calorimetry? $28!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out the other accessories! Norweigan Woods? Hooded mittens? Get yourself some alpaca with a twist and make these!

Well, that’s knitted fashion for October 30th brought to you by the quarantined girl who has too much time on her hands! Hope you are inspired to knit something fun for Christmas!

Early to bed and early to rise

I've been trying to be diligent. Parking on campus is a bear if you arrive after 7:32. Thankfully I have a garage pass and always have a parking spot waiting for me. The garage is further away and I have to park on floors 5-7. That's kind of a lot of stairs. Soooo, I'd rather park in a gravel lot, but I can't seem to get here before 7:43. Today was a new day. I set my alarm a little earlier and woke up to music blasting in my ears. (new iphone docking station is awesome, but a little loud!) I made it here by 7:32 and was able to park in a gravel lot. Very proud of that! There were some BIG yawns on my way from the prized parking spot to my office and I know I'll be really tired around 2:30 when I'm supposed to be awake for class. This early to bed, early to rise thing has it's ups and downs!

Travel Knitting

Now I know why people just knit socks on vacation! Oh well. I'm having
fun knitting this scarf out of Malabrigo silky merino. I pretty much
knit a few inches and the rip an inch back. It's about 7 inches or so.
I found one yarn shop today. I want to say it's called Northern Lights
Yarn Shop, but it's not. I'll have to make a seperate post about that
experience. Gorgeous shop for sure!

We're off to Seward. Tomorrow we'll find out if I get sea sick. Let's
hope I don't! Speaking of gettig sick...today I learned never to eat
pot stickers for breakfast. For the record, I didn't order them!!!!!!
I sure felt the reprocuasions of eating them though!

How much does the tomato cost?

I've been kind of amused watching my one little tomato grow in my red neck hanging planter thing. I figure it's about a $15 tomato. Here is is...cute little lonely tomato.

From Summer2009

But look! It's not going to be a lonely tomato for long! There are a few more little flowers.

From Summer2009

So maybe I will have a total of 4 tomatoes! That would mean they are less than $4 a piece. Crazy. There better be some more tomatoes by the end of the summer or I'm going to be really bummed.

I'm trying to pack for my trip and it's difficult. I really hate to check a bag. Eight days of unpredictable weather makes it tough though. Right now I have to consider the 10 day forecast calls for rain every day, we'll be on ice half the time doing whacky crazy stuff and who knows if I'll need to dress up ever. Polar fleece and jeans and hiking boots takes up way more room than sun dresses and flip flops. Humpf. I'm still going to be stubbern and try to make it fit in my carry on bag. I'll take my favorite hydration pack for extra little things. Maybe I'll treat myself to a new hydration bladder thingy. Not sure if I'll need it, but it might be nice. Sounds like a trip to Hodson's Bay!

Sunrise...Sunset

GOOD MORNING!GOOD NIGHT!

Thanks COURT1KATHY !

I got home from Indy this afternoon and had a package waiting for me! The package was from my Ravelry slipper swap pal COURT1KATHY. She sent me not 1, but 2 pair of fantastic slippers! I'm kind of on a purple kick right now, so I have to say the purple ones are my favorite, but it's hard to say because the other ones are super. I'm wearing them now! Plus I got a lovely little crochet rose pin and big stitch markers (that I needed!) and some yummy grape juice mix to add to water bottles. I didn't grow up having grape anything because mom gets sick just smelling it, so it never occurs to me to buy grape anything. I like it though and so it's fun to have these little individual servings of grape drink. I hope COURT1KATHY doesn't mind that I'm poster the picture she took. I'll try to get some action shots of me wearing the slippers soon.

From socks

One down, two to go

I finished Mom's socks this morning. Yay!

From socks

I'm working on the orange sweater now, but I think I will have to redo the sleeve I already knit. I'm afraid it's going to be too tight and uncomfortable. No point in having an uncomfortable sweater!

Can they get done?

There are a few knitting projects looming over me. All are really close to being done, but just haven't gotten done for one reason or another. The main reason being that I always seem to start a new project! I really want to get a few of these done ASAP.

My little red summer sweater is pretty stinkin close. This is the sweater that needed major repair last spring and I never did it. i started it, but never really got finished. I have just about an inch on the front and back plus a lot of kitchener stitching. Might take a total of 5 hours if I sat down and did it in one go.
Here is is all ripped out and ready to go...

From The Stash

Project number 2 that seriously needs to get done are mom's socks. Probably another 5 hours of steady knitting on those. They are going to matching mismatched socks. One pooled (photo) the other is striping. I wish they had both stripped, but I'm not in the business of ripping out an entire sock just to see if maybe possibly it will stripe the second time I knit it.

From socks

On to project number 3. My Remember Sweater! It would be perfect to wear as a jacket in Alaska, but it's not done! Only one sleeve, the collar and the piecing. Maybe I should multi-task tonight. I could block the pieces are are done while I knit one of the other projects. Here's the cool smocking pattern on the top of the sweater.

From socks

Those are the three projects that are really looming over my head. Trust me there are others that I'd like to start, but I really want to get these done first. It can be done. Especially now that it's been made public, I will race to get them done and post progress as soon as possible!

5 reasons I probably won't be getting tan this summer

1. school

2. hospital

3. vacation in Alaska

4. i have yet to wear a swim suit this summer

5. I do dumb things like wear jeans or long sleeves on a perfectly warm sunny day.

Finished Featherweight

Good thing the weather cooled off! Gives me a good excuse to wear my new sweater! I just finished it the other night at the hospital. Couldn't get mom to wake up, so I had to go out to the nurses' station to show it to someone. A friend at knitting group who would prefer not to be named on the internet took a picture and emailed it to me, so here it is...me knitting another sweater while wearing a sweater I knit.

Dumb blog Design

Let's talk about how dumb my blog looks right now. Real dumb. Real, real dumb. For some reason I remember there being so many more blog designs to choose from on blogspot, but there aren't. Don't get me wrong. I'm ever so grateful for the simplicity offered by blogspot. Not like I know how to design a webpage and besides it's budget friendly! But doesn't anyone else think it's time to update the background options. There are like two that allow for full screen photos like I posted yesterday or whenever that was. And they are dumb. So for now I will pout.

Now this is what I call summer!

From Summer2009

My Day In Pictures

Shouldn't take long to figure out that I had an AWESOME day with my friend Dana and her parents!

From Fiddler

From Fiddler

From Fiddler

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From Fiddler

A day in the life of a nerd

Today I was up to my ears in data. Well, actually this morning I wasn't. We had training on doing doubly labeled water studies. I won't bore you with the details, but like most of my research...it involves diet records and urine collection. I really have it good! I felt like a dork though because i started day dreaming about other mini-studies we could do during the big study. It's sad to think that only one year into this PhD think I'm already starting to see how much data we can milk out of a study. About 2 weeks ago I was at a conference in DC and was inspired to look into portion size estimation a lot more. To make a long story short, we know people can't estimate how much they eat but we don't know why. Today I thought of an easy study that could give some insight on that.

It was really the afternoon that I was up to my ears in data. We kind of designed our own cheeseburger and it doesn't have a food code. Everything MUST have a food code. So now I have to do tons of math...er uh...arithmetic to figure out how to deal with it compared to existing food codes. I'm not a fan of math and was easily distracted by Pioneer Woman. Everything she does is disgustingly exquisite. So that made me think of all my pretty dishes. And...since I'm getting to be a wiz kid with databases I thought to myself...I should catalog my dishes in a giant database! Sadly I don't use my dishes right now, so I thought I could put the catalog on my blog and when people need massive amounts of awesome dishes for a dinner or a party they can kind of rent them from me.

Knitting is still going. I'll probably just keep knitting and catalog dishes in another life time. I don't feel like taking a picture right now, so sorry for the photoless post.

Queen of Kitchener

I finally got up the nerve to do the tubular bind off on the collar part of my sweater. It's basically kitchener stitch, but crazier because there are about 300 stitches. I'm cheating a little bit. You're supposed to do 2 rows of double knitting (it's in the video). I pretty much just started slipping the knit stitches onto one really long double pointed needle and the purl stitches on another. So here's the picture...You can see my double pointed needles, the rediculously long piece of yarn on the darning needle, the circular needle I used to knit the dang thing and about 20 stitches cast off. Since taking the picture I have 80 stitches bound off and it's looking much nicer. I actually think doing it more like kitchener is easier than trying to follow the instructions for the tubular bind off. Theoretically I'm getting the same effect. It's really stretchy and looks nice! Although it's tempting to stay up and knit, I have to get some sleep. I'm way too tired lately.

Ha! I beat Annie!

After yoga today I had way too much fun chatting and laughing with my friend Sarah. We're both too scatter brained and into school stuff to hang out very often which turns out to be perfect. We were supposed to have lunch today, but we both forgot. I saw her old roommates over by stone hall when I was on my way home to let the dogs out which is what tipped me off that I had forgotten. Crap! So I called Sarah and left a message hoping she had forgotten too. She called me a little while later to apologize for forgetting. It was really funny. So we had coffee instead. Laughing with a friend is the best kind of workout.

Annie is awesome and gave me a friendship bread start. I hope I don't ruin it! I've never been the best at making bread, but I'll sure give it a try! The thing is, when I got to her house there was an odd van that said "Mobile Command Unit" on the front. There was even a camera on the dashboard. We watched it for a while and tried to figure out why it was parked there. I figured they had a bugged informant in a house nearby and the police were going to get some big drug bust. Annie seemed to think something along the same lines. Just as I was about to leave, an old man in a suit came up to the van and opened it and out hopped a little dog! What?!?!? Annie and I nearly died. Here we had imagined up some drama and it was just an old man and his camper van. He asked me where the nearest Wal-Mart is and explained that he's allowed to stay in Wal-Mart parking lots. He figures "Mobile Command Unit" sounds better than "Little Old Man With Cash." What a character! It looked for all the world like a police detective van. Well, except that it wasn't too subtle. Guess the joke is on us!

For the record I beat Annie to posting that storie. She'll probably tell it better though! Please tell your version of the story Annie!

Conundrum

It's Tuesday, so that means knitting night at Barnes and Nobles. 7-9 PM. Sad plug, but come on. It's the best entertainment in town on a Tuesday night! I'm having problems with the sweater I'm knitting. There is a chance that when it's all done, it's going to be huge. Other people on Ravelry have had this problem. Makes me nervous. My biggest problem right now is the bindoff around the neckline. There are about 300 stitches or so and I can't decide if I want to do the tubular bindoff or the normal one. Decisions, decisions. On the bright side, I think I convinced a girl to knit herself a sweater. She's in highschool and makes an impressive number of blankets for the Linus project. Yay for her! I am still admittedly a not-so-charitable knitter. Hopefully I can convince her that sweaters are the best thing to knit!

Seriously, i will post pictures soon.

My Big Fat Greek Windex

Last summer I spent hours upon hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the silt off the wood floors in the recovering river house with a stif bristle brush. For anyone who has experienced a flood, the silty dirt residue does NOT come off with water. When wet, it becomes clay and just smears around. So the other day mom accidentally found out that Windex miraculously makes silt cling to the cleaning object of choice! I don't know what the accident was, but let me tell ya...it's a lot easier with a bottle of Windex! Maye it really is the cure for everything!
Before Windex After Windex

maybe i will try again

I suppose I could try to blog again. Some days it seems like life is too busy and not interesting enough to blog. It's summer now and that brings a new air of optimism for starting anew. I don't really know why we make new year's resolutions in January. Seems like spring or summer would be a much better time. This is a way better time to start exercising, being more environmentally friendly, blogging, etc. Not that I'm doing those things very well, but this would be the time! I did sign up for PiYo at the co-rec. Monday we mostly do pilates and Wednesday we mostly do yoga. Either way I can barely walk the next morning. The co-rec charges for classes like PiYo, so I feel obliged to go. It's not that big a deal since I enjoy it, but it's nice to be half-forced to go. Although I've embraced the fact that I don't enjoy running I'm running anyway. If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to buy cute Nike running shorts! I ran with Baxter yesterday. It's more like interval training than endurance training. Maybe sprinting from tree to tree will make me a stonger runner! Who knows!

Today had wasn't such a bad Saturday. Slept in for the first time in ages. Can't complain about that! Did some laundry...not so exciting. Went to TJ Maxx for the irst time in ages and bought some cute Nike running shorst and a Father's day gift for John. Props to me for getting a Father's day gift a week early! And it's not even related to golf! This afternoon I got to hang out with my niece for a while. She's pretty hilarious. Her songs are the best. Well actually, her fashion sense is the best. Annie has pictures on her blog that will keep you amused for a while. Plus stories to humor you for a while! Mostly Anja wanted to read books and shout at squirrells. I tried to help teach her to jump on the couch, but that was only mildly successful. I also tried to get her to say Auntie, but that didn't really work either. She just pointed to me and laughed every time I said "auntie." Little bug! We had fun though and that's all that really matters! It will be more fun when we can fingerpaint!

I'm trying to get 2 sweaters done. Well, actually I'm trying to get one sweater done and then I'll try to get the other done. I've been working on one since last week. There were a lot of meetings during that time, so it's just one sleeve short of being done. The other sweater is a sleeve and a collar and a lot of piecing together away from being done. If I weren't so lazy I'd get off my lazy bum and take some pictures. Maybe later. Hopefully the summer sweater will be done in the next day or two so I can wear it on cool summer nights!

Frenzy!

So first... Boiler up!!! Congrats to the Purdue men's basketball team! I'm proud to be a Boilermaker!

Not so much of a surprise that I haven't been blogging. By the time I'm done at school I don't want to spend more time at the computer. Some people live pay check to pay check...I live dead line to dead line! The nice thing is that when I'm stressed out, I knit so fast! I'm having a bit of a knitting frenzy. There are pictures up on Ravelry, but I'll have to add them to the blog later. Hard to do from the phone blogs. I finished my first fair isle project- the fake isle hat. Next time I'll keep the stings even looser! Still turned out not so shabby! (Picture would be great here!)
I've also been knitting socks like crazy. I finished a pair of cute bamboo socks, knit one self-striping sock, knit a pair of Monet inspired socks for my sister, and just started the 2nd self-striping sock! (More pictures would help here!)
I also started a sweater. I think it's the Berocco Remember sweater. Too bad I can't actually remember. I was afraid that socks would be a problem and that I'd never finish a pair. To combat second sock syndrome, I decided to reward myself with a pair of nice clogs (Birkenstocks most likely) if I knit 3 pair. Shouldn't be a problem since I'm on sock #4. I have enough yarn to make 3 more pair. Most skeins are generous, so I have all this left over sock yarn that I don't know what to do with. There's enough of some that if I knit a different color heal and toe, I think I can get another pair. We'll see. It's fun to dream!

I've gotten great deals on Araucania yarn lately. I got my sweater yarn from the River Knits bargain bin. It's Araucania nature wool in a burnt orange color. Then, one of my Purdue knitting friends told me about a sale at Tuesday Mornings. I was better off not knowing about that store! It's a bit like TJ Maxx, but smaller and basically no clothes. Mom and I got a bunch of Araucania sport weight alpaca yarn for $3 a skein! Talk about a bargain! I also got some cotton that will make a nice spring scarf.

Hopefully I'll have some free time this week to knit a bunch! It's spring break, but I still have to go to school. At least I don't have classes. I do have a huge to do list and need to have most of it checked off by next Sunday. Yowzers! It'll all work out eventually, but I don't want to think about it right now. Time for bed.

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Knitting with toothpicks

I'm headed to Washington DC next week and know I'll have some dead time in the airport and such. Mom gave me really cute sock yarn for 12th night, so I figure I'll knit socks on the trip. Of course I have a million other projects I could work on, but socks seem really travel friendly. I got bamboo sock needles today at River Knits and they are size 1 (2.25mm)!!!!! Toothpicks! I wonder if anyone has tested the size of toothpicks. Hmmmm...I think I'll try that! Luckily I looked in the bargain bin, because there was only one skein of yarn left like what mom got me. It's Regia bamboo sock yarn. Very short color ways, so it looks like confetti when it's all knitted up. Cute, but makes choosing a pattern tough. The patterns that looked cool on Ravelry were lacy and I'm not ready for any serious lace sock stuff. I thought about a fancy ribbed pattern, but I don't want to have to count rows and the simple patterns don't show up with this yarn. Now I'm debating if I want to do a simple stocking knit or a slipped stitch rib like I did with Martin's socks. Seems like the elasticity of ribbing would be nice. Then again, it would be so quick to do plain sticking knit. Maybe I'll go to the library for more ideas.

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Risking it all

I'm about to make the snip. My little red sweater is about to undergo serious surgery. I'm nervous, but it's the right thing to do. Here we go!
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'Tis the season

It's the time of year when I have to check to make sure I don't have pointy ears. I feel like an elf. Mom and I have been through her closet full of stuff she's forgotten about and divied it up for everyone. She has me wrap all the presents and send me out shopping for everything she thinks people want. I realized that my wrapping skills have gone to pot. It used to be important to use a variety of wrapping paper and bows. Every present was meticulously wrapped with no raw edges showing. This year...not so much. Not sure what happened, but I used one roll till it was gone and there aren't many bows. Maybe I'll tidy up the packages when right before they go under the tree. On the bright side, I haven't lost the tape or the scissors! Practically a miracle!

You'd think last year I would have learned my lesson about Christmas knitting. Alas, here I am, frantically trying to finish truly last minute knitted gifts! Take that Ms. Hoverson! Maybe I'll write my own book! (Doubt it) Better get back to knitting.
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So many exciting things!

I'm excited about a lot of things today! We're having a Christmas lunch for our lab group. Being in a lab full of nutrition types pays of at dinner parties. I made Aiken's cold corn and goat cheese salad. There should be a slew of really delicious foods and most will be nutritious so there's no guilt in pigging out! Another thing to be excited about, I discovered techknitting! This knitter has her act together. I was looking for instructions to line a hat with fleece and found so much more. Probably the very best thing is that she has instructions for lengthening sweaters, sleeves, etc. I knit that little red sweater this summer and it's so short I can't wear it. Annie suggested getting my belly button pierced and just wearing the sweater anyway. Um...maybe not! With the help of TechKnitting the sweater can be fixed! Talk about exciting!

Time to kick into high gear as far as Christmas presents go. I've been slacking in that department. I have a few things, but that's not really enough now is it? At least I have ideas for everyone. That's a start.

Purdue maintenance crew busted out the snow polishers. We're fortunate here because rather than salt the side walks when it snows, Purdue takes a little tracker with a giant metal brush and polishes the snow on the sidewalks into miles of a nice slick liability. Seriously, it's horrible! I nearly fell twice on my way from the garage to my building. Why don't they get a zamboni and properly ice the walk ways? It'd be faster to skate across campus anyway. Sometimes I wonder how such a big university with so many logical people can make such a stupid decision to use the snow polishers year after year after year.

Facebook amazes me...

Is anyone else amazed that people who you've barely met can find you on Facebook so fast? Granted, I have a fairly unusual first name, but still last night I was introduced to someone and that person friended me 2 hours later. I'm not creeped out, just amazed that people can friend you so fast. I don't even think to friend people unless I really know them. I bet I'm not friends on Facebook with half my real life friends. What do you do to all the people who friend you, but you're not really friends? People from high school who you never ate lunch with or even had class with? I feel like a big jerk if I don't accept people as friends, but then they just sit there in Facebook and I never read their wall or write them little notes. Maybe I'm just not up to speed on my web-based social networking skills.

Getting buff...

A few girls in my lab group had the brilliant idea for us all to run a marathon. I don't really enjoy running. It always seems like a good idea and I get all motivated and go for a run and then remember very quickly that I don't enjoy it at all. Problem is, everyone is on board for this lab group marathon team. Fortunately, most of us decided to just to a half marathon. Our professor is going to walk a 5-k and one girl will run the who marathon. I'm just smart enough to know my competitive side is going to take a blow if I don't actually train, so alas...here I am starting to train for a 13 mile race that's going to make me hurt for days and days. Actually, it's probably going to make me hurt for the next several months. 5K races are always fun. Especially when Martin runs them with me. So, last Saturday we ran the YMCA Sleigh Run. Turned out to be a great race! What's better than 200 people with bells on their shoes running in the snow? The best part is that the volunteers misdirected us and cut 1/4 mile off the course! Makes it look like I ran a 5k in less than 30 minutes, but actually I ran 2.7 miles in less than 30 minutes. I'm going to the gym a couple times a week now. Last night I "ran" on the eliptical machine and lifted weights. Definately a humbling experience. Hopefully Baxter and I can start going on runs in the mornings before I come to school a few days a week. Might have to get him some boots to protect his little paws from the cold snow and ice.

Aunt Anna May to the rescue!

A while back I saw a pattern for a hat that was lace on top and solid underneath. It was called Peek a Boo Hat or something like that. Ravelry totally let me down. I searched through hundreds of hat patterns and never found what I was looking for. Doesn't anyone other than me think it's a brilliant idea!?!?! Well, Nike does and so does SmartWool! But not the rest of the knitting world. I was looking for something in my room tonight and found a book Anna May let me borrow. I feel bad that I've kept it so long! Guess where I saw that pattern? Yup...it's in her book! The book is Lace Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd and it's even Interweave Press. The pattern is Peek-A-Boo Cloche. I can't believe the pattern didn't come up on Ravelry. I can't believe no one else is knitting this hat! Especially since there are similar commercially made hats by expensive brands like Nike and SmartWool! Come on people! Jump on the band wagon! Mine is going to be black on the outside and gold on the inside. Boiler up! I want to have a little school spirit next time I end up at a Purdue basketball game.

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Procrastinating

I've got Thanksgivingitis. I dont' know what grad students have to be at school today. It's kind of stupid. No one else is here and brain is pretty checked out.

There is a chance that knitting productivity is directly proportional to my stress levels. So, convenienly I'm knitting like crazy! I finally finished My So Called Scarf. I finished one sleeve for my Gathered Pulloever Sweater, but then I ran out of yarn. I know I have more, but a big chunk of my stash has disappeared. I probably tried to put it some place safe, but now it's just out of sight. I'd be better off just having a huge pile of wool in the corner of my room to scramble through every time I needed something. Whoever inspired me to organize my stash was an idiot! I've never done any serious cable work, so I took on the challenge of the Estes Vest. The challenge isn't the cabling, it's reading the stinkin' pattern! It's just not real clear and the charts are whacko. From what I hear the i-cord edging is a pain. I'm not looking forward to that. Maybe I'll get to wear it before summer hits. There are some other works in progress, but since they are for other people I'll keep them secret for now. Let's clarify that I am NOT committing to any Christmas knitting!

Last night was knitting night at Barnes and Nobles. We had a nice group. There was a new lady who kept talking about her "Arian" knitting pattern. Cracked me up! What do you do in a situation like that? I wanted to correct her and tell her that I was pretty sure it was "Aran" not "Arian" and that peole might get the wrong idea. Then again she really got on my nerves, so I ended up letting her continue to call it "Arian" and snickered to myself a little more each time.

With all my projects I've run out of stitch markers and today is payday, so I think I'll head to River Knits and splurge on a pack of stitch markers. It's good to be back in the blogging world.

Taking it handy

This birthday weekend has been really amazing. I am currently blogging
from a hammock in the shade near the river. Yesterday my dear friend
Dana hosted the lovliest of birthday bbqs. All the Irish girls from my
department were there along with several college friends of mine. John
manned the grill (as men do!) and made really awesome burgers! After
the party a bunch of us spent some time at 9 Irish Brothers. The owner
is hilarious! He really made it fun! So now I'm up at the river in a
hammock half napping...half blogging...definitely relaxing!

So big news for anyone in Dublin! I'm coming back!!! I'll only be
there one night though. Sept. 4th. Maybe it will work out to see some
of you friendly knitters out there!

School starts up again tomorrow. Last week was nice. Well, sort of
nice. I had orientation all week, so I didn't have to work very hard.
That will all change tomorrow. It's going to be long days from here on
out. The routine will be nice I suppose.

Too bad this isn't a resort! I need more iced tea.

--
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One toe away...

I started socks for my brother for Christmas. They didn't get done for Christmas by any means. I didn't really work on them for several months after Christmas, and now they are almost...so very close to done. I totally finished one today. Grafted the toe and the whole nine yards. Now I'm just hoping I Have enough yards of yarn left to finish the second sock! It's going to be close, but I think it can be done! Martin tried them on last night though and they're going to fit really well! They'll be done for his birthday, but won't be his birthday present. I will be celebrating three holidays with him though on Tuesday. Christmas, Father's Day, and his birthday! Very exciting!

photo to follow!

Only one more week of intro stat. This week will includes lots of studying I hope. There's a lot to review before the final exam on Friday. Yikes! I better finish my homework before I get too excited about the exam!

Sitting in the window...

Today is the first day I've had to breath in a while and I'm enjoying it to the fullest! Today is just a beautiful day! Not too hot and wonderfully sunny! The new grad student, Bethany, started the other day and she's a lovely addition to our lab group. We sat outside by the fountain and read for a while. She's a super cute farm girl from west-central Illinois. Now I'm happy sitting in the window at Grey House watching the world go by. It's so nice here! The free refills might be dangerous!

Tonight is So You Think You Can Dance night!!!!!!! There are a bunch of us crazy girls who are way too into the show! Last week was controversial. Comfort is a hip-hop dancer who got voted off the previous week. Jessica got to stay, but then she had broken ribs, so she dropped out and Comfort came back. THEN, Kherigan had a bad night and got voted off and Comfort got to stay. It was a real pity! So this week Comfort better get voted off or I'm gonna be really annoyed. At this point the guys are all pretty awesome, so it's hard to see any of them go. Will is my favorite and if you saw him with his shirt off, you'd know why! Sigh. He's dreamy! Even dreamier than that electrician in Dublin! After all, Will can dance!

Birthday Week

It's birthday week in our house. My big brother's birthday is today,
mom's birthday is Friday and Martin's birthday is next Tuesday. Very
exciting!

Every Wednesday, we have a lab meeting. Lately we've been brain
storming for my current project. Today is going to be different. I'm
giving a presentation to propose a new study that we can do later. I'm
a little nervous since I don't know what to expect. Should be
interesting.

Given that I have this presentation, I probably shouldn't have gone
knitting last night, but I did. Just needed the mental break and I'm
glad we went. Martin's socks are nearly done! Ok, not really. They're
about 75% done though. He needs to try them on. I really don't want
them to be too small! That would be horrible!!! I'd say there's a
small chance I can get them done this weekend. It's only a very small
chance though. So no one should go getting hopes up!!

--
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Cheap and Free!

I'm quickly becoming a true PhD student! Saving money being one of the key things. In our department supposedly we all get enough funding to live. I'm thinking they should say we get enough funding to exsist! To really live, one must have the funds to go out with friends on the weekend, to buy a pair of Tevas on sale for $15 and to buy an occasional magazine. Not to mention pay for gas and random things like behavior therapy for oddly aggressive wheaten terriers. That said, part of truely living as a grad student involves the continuing quest for cheap and free! Free brunch yesterday meant testing 4 types of french toast and several egg casseroles for Mrs. Mayfield who is designing new breakfast ideas for day cares. Note: french toast made with orange juice was not a good thing. Cheap morning coffee means a slight detour to Beering Hall on my way back from stat class. There, is the holy grail of vending machines. I can get a so-so mocha or a pretty good cappucino for 75 cents! Bad coffee in the HTM cafe is $1.25. That's 50 cents towards I can put towards living! Anyone want to go find a gum ball machine with me?

Happy Birthday Harriet!

Today is my dear friend Harriet's birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day! Wish I could be there to help celebrate!

Fried Crispy!

Well, multiple applications of SPF 45 is no match for 5 hours at the
water park on a clear sunny day. Unlike the horrible sunburns of my
youth, some parts of my body were spared. Still, I'm in a wee bit of
pain. My little sister seemed to have a blast though, so I suppose it
was worth it. Maybe. Thankfully I mostly sleep on my side!

Last night I watered the back garden and then forgot to turn off the
hose! Oops! Mom called and distracted me, so I'm blaming her!

Knitting group is always a riot. In some ways, I'd love to write about
all the personalities, but anyone who attends any knitting group
already knows. It's safe to say our knitting group fits the norm! I
really enjoy going. Almost skipped tonight, but I'm glad I didn't.
It's good therapy!

Tomorrow's a new day. Hopefully some of my red will fade to brown by then.

--
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Something beautiful!

For those of you who have never used SAS, this may seem trivial. For those of you who have suffered through the initial learning of SAS code, this is a beautiful thing. In fact I'm doing a little SAS dance in my chair! Woohoo!

Here is the code I used to get this.

title 'educational data for 78 seventh-grade students';
data students;
input obs gpa iq gender concept;
datalines;
1 7.94 111 2 67
2 8.292 107 2 43
3 4.643 100 2 52
4 7.47 107 2 66
5 8.882 114 1 58
6 7.585 115 2 51
7 7.65 111 2 71
8 2.412 97 2 51
9 6 100 1 49
10 8.833 112 2 51
11 7.47 104 1 35
12 5.528 89 1 54
13 7.167 104 2 54
14 7.571 102 1 64
15 4.7 91 1 56
16 8.167 114 1 69
17 7.822 114 1 55
18 7.598 103 1 65
19 4 106 2 40
20 6.231 105 1 66
21 7.643 113 2 55
22 1.76 109 2 20
24 6.419 108 1 56
26 9.648 113 2 68
27 10.7 130 1 69
28 10.58 128 2 70
29 9.429 128 2 80
30 8 118 2 53
31 9.585 113 2 65
32 9.571 120 1 67
33 8.998 132 1 62
34 8.333 111 1 39
35 8.175 124 2 71
36 8 127 2 59
37 9.333 128 1 60
38 9.5 136 2 64
39 9.167 106 2 71
40 10.14 118 1 72
41 9.999 119 1 54
43 10.76 123 2 64
44 9.763 124 2 58
45 9.41 126 2 70
46 9.167 116 2 72
47 9.348 127 2 70
48 8.167 119 2 47
50 3.647 97 2 52
51 3.408 86 1 46
52 3.936 102 2 66
53 7.167 110 2 67
54 7.647 120 2 63
55 0.53 103 2 53
56 6.173 115 2 67
57 7.295 93 2 61
58 7.295 72 1 54
59 8.938 111 1 60
60 7.882 103 1 60
61 8.353 123 2 63
62 5.062 79 2 30
63 8.175 119 2 54
64 8.235 110 2 66
65 7.588 110 2 44
68 7.647 107 2 49
69 5.237 74 1 44
71 7.825 105 2 67
72 7.333 112 1 64
74 9.167 105 2 73
76 7.996 110 2 59
77 8.714 107 1 37
78 7.833 103 1 63
79 4.885 77 2 36
80 7.998 98 1 64
83 3.82 90 2 42
84 5.936 96 1 28
85 9 112 1 60
86 9.5 112 1 70
87 6.057 114 2 51
88 6.057 93 1 21
89 6.938 106 2 56
;
run;
PROC SORT data=students out=nsort;
by gender;
RUN;
PROC BOXPLOT data=nsort;
plot gpa * gender /boxstyle=schematic;
RUN;

Can I get an honorary computer science degree for this? Maybe not, but seriously this is my biggest acheivement of the day. I can think of about a million things I'd rather acheive today, but whatever...I'll take it.

What a day!

Today I got to hang out with my little sister. I signed up to be a big
sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters. If there are any guys reading
this...you should go sign up to be a big brother! Now! So anyway, my
little sister just turned 8. I've never really known an 8 year old.
It's all new and exciting. She still little in ways, like last week we
got ice cream cones and hers was down to her elbows, all over her face
and half of it dripped on the table. She's wants to be cool like her
13 year old sister though. So she talks like a teenager. It's
hilarious! Today we went to Columbian Park Zoo. That was kind of a
bust. I'm not sure they even had animals. So I suggested we go play
Putt-Putt (crazy golf for you Irish folks). She stopped in her tracks,
held up her finger and said, "ok, but first I think we need ice
cream!" How can I argue with that? Well, except that I've seen her eat
ice cream and know that it's a major ordeal in the clean up
department! We ended up with snow cones. Hers was blue...so were her
lips and tongue! She's great! We're going to have lots of adventures.

--
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Time to get serious...

I have been a horrible blogger lately. Exciting things are happening! Last Thursday I hit the road before the sun was up and drove all the way to Knoxville by myself. It was fabulous. I visited my dear friends, the Burkholders. We went camping in the Smokey Mountains and Friday morning we all went climbing! Even the kids! Talk about a fantastic trip! Friday night I got to chill out with my Euro-travel buddy, John in Louisville. Getting home was...well...frustrating. Between a speeding ticket (I was seriously NOT speeding...I just didn't know I was still in a construction zone) and all the major roads and interstates being flooded, it was quite an adventure. Got home all the same though.

Monday was my first day of school. Yeah! The research project is going well. My first day was 10.5 hours, but yesterday was a normal day. Well, not exactly. I had to be on campus by 7am. Today I don't have any research-related responsibilities which is nice. My statistics homework is nearly done! Good thing since it's due tomorrow! I have a meeting with Dr. Boushey in a few minutes. Hopefully some of my lingering questions will be answered!

Martin's socks are still a work in progress. Sock one is about 2/3 done. I don't know if I can do the other sock strait away. Might have to work on a sweater for a while. I'd much rather knit sweaters than socks! Of course, someday...some sweet day...I'd like to knit my self a pair! My next sweater pattern comes from the summer Interweaves Knits magazine; the Apres Surf Hoodie. Won't that be fabulous in cashmere? I have 51% cashmere 49% wool in a neutral color. I think it will be perfect for that sweater. The pattern has several concepts I'm not familiar with though, so I might go crazy. Step one: provisional cast on. How hard can it be, right?

Ok...meeting time!

So close...

My sweater will be done as soon as I finish sewing up the side seam, tucking in the loose threads and then sewing on the buttons. As little as there is to do, you'd think I would have found the time to finish it up in the last day or two, but I haven't. Maybe tomorrow!

Tonight I'm going to a fancy dinner. My hair has been looking pretty scraggly the last week or so, but I've been putting off getting it cut. This dinner seemed like a good excuse for a little sprucing up, so I went to the salon yesterday. I even splurged on a manicure! It was heavenly! My hair is a little shorter this time...a little longer than chin length. I was hoping it would curl like it did last time, but it didn't. Oh well. I'll be wearing my favorite little black dress and shoes which both miraculously survived the flood! The only thing is, I don't have the perfect wrap. It's a real pity! So I suppose my next big project, after I finish my brother's Christmas socks, will be to knit a lacy wrap.

Only three weeks till school starts. I think I have everything ready. I looked up the text book I'll need and it was rediculously priced as usual. Over $100 new and $87 if I bought it used. I had a moment of brilliance and looked up the text on amazon.com and found it new for less than $10! With shipping it was $12! Talk about a bargain! I'll be learning SPSS (statistics program for social sciences) all over again. I don't know that I really learned it when I was in Ireland. Basically I just learned how to set up a data sheet and run simple stats. Nothing intricate though. I have a feeling this time I'll know it like the back of my hand!

Enough rambling for now!

Gone amuck...

Last ngiht Lacy and I headed over to Barnes & Noble for a chat and we brought yarn and sticks. She worked on a chrochet hat and I was able to finished all the actual knitting on my sweater. I hemmed the first sleeve and sewed it in. Here's the thing...I totally don't understand the pattern. First of all, I started from the center of the shoulder and worked down towards the front and then towards the back. Seemed like the best way to make sure it was centered. Well, except that the sleeve doesn't exactly fit between the markers placed. Dang it! So then, if I had gotten all that right...which I didn't...there would be about an inch and a half or so of raw edging under my armpit. That reduces the bulk, but it's still not very pretty. To make matters worse, when I got home, I realized that I managed to pick up a stitch on the back when I was tacking down the button placket. I gently pulled and tugged and found the right strnig to snip. WRONG. I know damn well that you never ever cut anything when you're knitting. So now I clipped the stitch in the back and I have to figure out how to manipulate the situation so I don't end up with a flippin hole in my sweater. I was so pissed. Still am actually! Pisses me off even more that the pattern - which was sooooooo detailed in the beginning ended up soooooooooooooooo not detailed in the end. I hate it when people do that. It happens all the time. On the simple stuff like joining in the round, they all remind you not to twist your stitches. Who doesn't know you'll end up with a freakin mobius if you twist your stitches? But by the end of a simple sweater pattern, the designer figures any idiot can place the sleeves in a sweater. Maybe any idiot can and I'm lower than an idiot. Guess I'll have to humble myself and go to the yarn store for help. I hate asking for help.

Wait! I forgot!

I forgot to tell about my new dishes!!! I have some super cute summer dishes that are brown and yellow and have black eyed susan flowers on them. Perfect for summer! I only have the plates and maybe the dessert plates. Well, the other day I was walking past Jan's Alley and she had some in the window! There was a sugar bowl, butter keeper and plates on the table. I just thought it was funny to see them. Didn't really think about buying them. I'll be darned if mom didn't buy the entire set! The entire set of dishes, serving bowls, etc. All for a whopping $15!!! Can you believe it? They're a bit retro and although I think they're adorable I can see why most people might not want brown and golden yellow dishes. Still, mom and I were still surprised at the bargain bin pricing. So there you go...more dishes for me! Let me remind you that I have no furniture and I'm homeless, but I have something like 8 entire sets of dishes. I might start renting them out. Dinner party anyone?

Another sweater nearly done...

I'm so close to being done with my summer sweater! Should it even be called a sweater? I don't know? It's more like a golf shirt minus the collar. Anyway, it's almost done! I have to knit 4 more rows on the neck band, sew in the sleaves and then sew up the sides. Well, and hem it. Still, it's kind of almost done!

Our knitting group might be famous today. Haven't seen the paper yet, but a journalist (Laura Anthrop) came to take pictures the other night. I looked like a grub, but that's ok. Annie and Anja looked adorable (as always). There's a new lady who just moved here from raliegh. I hope she gets her picture in the paper! She's only lived here for about three weeks and it would be so cool if she would tell her friends that she's already been in the paper! I should have grabbed the paper on the way to work.

Today is just gross weather wise. It's cold and humid and just gross. I'd much rather be at home snuggled up watching movies and drinking coffee. Instead I'll be filing documents most of the day. Not my favorite thing to do, but then again it's better than working at McDonalds! I only have one more month of freedom before I start my voluntary slavery in the world of PhD. I'll have statistics every morning at 8:40am. That alone isn't much to look forward to! After that I'll spend the day running a lab-based experiment. It's a component of the bigger picture of the research project. Basically we'll be feeding people and then...lucky me...we'll take 24 hour urine collection and...even luckier me...I'll be analyzing the urine to see what nutrients were excreted and assume the rest of the nutrients were absorbed and used by the body. What a way to spend a summer, eh? Of course there's more to it than that, but I Don't know how much I'm allowed to tell and how much is a secret.

I'll post a picture of my sweater later today!

Things that are making this road trip great...

1. Good tunes
2. Sunshine
3. Blow Pops

All I need is a lottery ticket!

Long time...

It's not that I don't have anything to write about, I've just been
lazy. My job is oddly exhausting. The highlight of every day is going
to the courthouse and the post office. Not only do I get a bit of
fresh air, that least little bit of activity gets the blood moving
again. In the office I do normal office things...make copies, write
letters, talk to crazy people on the phone. Yesterday one of our
clients was particularly rude to me on the phone. It's extra annoying
because this client is probably about my age and already getting
divorced. She's probably tired of the ordeal and since I'm her
attorney's secretary - she feels like I'm someone she can boss around
and treat like dirt. Well, she's wrong! Lesson to the world...don't
treat secretaries like dirt! It's a bad idea!

Last night was fun. Lacy and I went shopping and she got some super
cute clothes at Target. We ate at McAllister's Deli. They have really
good sweet tea. It was the perfect evening to eat outside and sip iced
tea. Not to mention the perfect evening to celebrate Lacy's birthday!
After I got home, Baxter thought it was perfect timing for a walk. It
wasn't! A storm was threatening! Micah was already down town, so the
beast and I met him and we all strolled around the Levee Plaza area.
None of us seemed to mind the rain till there was the biggest thunder
and crack of lightening! We nearly passed out! By the time we got back
down town, we were soaked! Still, I liked being out in the warm spring
rain.

Today is full of little excitements. The attorney I work for is taking
us out to lunch and tonight is Village Fest! All kinds of fun!

Just things here and there...

Life has been fairly entertaining recently. I'm working for a lawyer as a secretary. Can't say I want to be a secretary for the rest of my life, but it's not too bad. It's been relaxed while the lawyer was on spring break. She'll be back tomorrow and I suspect things will be kicked up a notch.

I'm moving out of the guest bed (fondly referred to as my homeless shelter) and up to my old bedroom. I had to do quite a bit of cleaning and organizing before I could really settle in up there. The goal is to live at home for as long as possible. I figure every month that I live at home I save nearly $600 and although my Purdue assistantship is adequate, it is not extravegant. Money saved is a good good thing. My dad has been working on the plumbing in my bathroom. Pretty much everything up there was leaking. The faucets and the toilet ran and the shower leaks or something. Obviously I'm not plumbing expert! I love mom, but our morning schedules aren't meshing very well. She gets the bathroom first since she leaves the house first. If she's out of the bathroom by 7:30, I can get to work on time without any problems. This doesn't happen too often, so then I have to rush around and have been late a few times. It'll be so nice for us to have separate bathrooms. Plus, I still get free internet upstairs! Thank you Holiday Inn!

Tomorrow is knitting group at Barnes & Nobles. I'm half way done with a summer sweater from Knit Simple magazine. I guess technically it's called the Scallop Edge Pullover. Whatever. If you want to see a picture, click here. I'm knitting the plane yellow one, but mine will be red. Last week at the group, there were only 5 of us and 3 of us were Schaps. The other two were employees who had the night off. I guess they started the group. Annie won't be there this week, so I'm curious to see who shows up tomorrow

Wednesday starts some serious excitement. The Lafayette Police Department Citizens Academy! Mom and I are going. She did one in West Lafayette and had a blast! I don't know what all we get to learn here, but in W. Lafayette she was taught how to preserve a crime scene, gun safety, how to drive a police car really fast and stuff like that. I'm super excited!

That's all for now. Better finish up my lunch and get back to work.

National Nutrition Month is here and almost gone...

You might not know it, but March is National Nutrition Month. Very exciting, I know. But what is exciting is that the Western Indiana District Dietetic Association had their annual breakfast at Baja Peninsula. Talk about amazing food! I can't wait to go back. Their breakfast menu is to die for! The restaurant is a wee bit out of the way for most folks since it's on the way west side of town, but it's not really any further away than all the mediocre dining facilities on the way east side of town. I give it 5 stars! Lafayette has so many great restaurants that aren't chains, but people hardly think to go to them. I'm on a pseudo silent campaign to limit my chain dining experiences. Surely I can get a gang of people to do the same!

The other great thing about the National Nutrition Month breakfast is that I got to touch base with Dr. Boushey. As soon as I formally accept the offer, she can start registering me for classes for the summer. She's not been so bright about her conversations with me. She keeps telling me how busy I'm going to be and how much I'm going to have to do. I think she said "You're just going to be busy up to your eye balls all the time!" And she said it with such glee. Seems like maybe she should save those comments for AFTER I turn in my acceptance and I'm officially her slave! Ha ha ha! Today I got the nicest email from Dr. Fleet. He's basically the director of graduate studies and to get a personal email from him made my day! Despite the fact that I'm going to be busy up to my eye balls, I'm really looking forward to doing my PhD.

Big news. Martin and Annie got a puppy! Her name is Karenin or some spelling variation of that. I've already botched the spelling once today. I know it's not Caranan! Ha! Anyway, the puppy is half rhodesian ridge back and half black lab and 100% beautiful! It's like their little family is complete now! I love it! I can't wait until Karenin, Albert and Baxter can get together for play time. That should be hilarious.

It's all coming together...

The first week home was a wee bit discouraging. Happy as I was to be home I was dying to hear from Purdue about the PhD stuff and I couldn't find a car to buy either. But so many happy things happened! Thursday I got a package from my sock pal! She knit me gorgeous rusty orange socks! They're so cool. Plus everything else she sent was super cheerful. (I'll post about everything later so I can give her justice!) Then, on Friday I drove a sweet rental car up to Chicago and got to hang out with AnnLaura and Aurelio in Chicago for the day. We had a blast. Aurelio loved the Art Institute. Every time he saw a boat in a painting he'd say "row row row" and there were animal noises for dogs and cows. Plus we got to swing through Filene's Basement and Old Navy. Felt so good to be down town again! My friend Jenny and her husband Mike met me and John on Saturday for a crazy fun St. Paddy's day celebration. It was such a fun weekend!

It gets better!

Monday I dropped in Hodson's Bay to see if there are any adventure seeking people to climb with or learn to mountain bike with or something like that. As it turns out there's someone who works there who I can climb with at the store. The wall there is kind of tiny, but at least I can climb a bit for fun. There's a club at Purdue and they car-pool to Climb Time in Indy every week. Woohoo for that! Should I ever end up with a bike, I can go mountain biking with people from Hodson's Bay too. Things are looking up!

Wait, even more happened on Monday!

I got my acceptance letter from Purdue! I'm in! I got a research assistantship and a stipend that will be enough to live on. I'll be a poor graduate student, but it's going to be great. (Please, just let me be gleeful for a little while! I'll mope about the rough life of a grad student enough later!)

And better...

Today I started my job! I'm really making good use of my degrees and working as a secretary/PA. Today I helped fix computer problems, fixed the shredder machine and did loads of filing. (The other PA doesn't like to file.) There were fun things to do to like walk a few letters to other offices down town. It would have been perfect if the sun had been shining, but it wasn't. Oh well...can't win 'em all! I can walk to work and if I walk fast, I can get from our back door to the office door in 7 minutes.

And even better...

I got a new car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a 2004, Hyundai Elantra. It's really shiny black with ghetto blaster tinted windows. Have to say, the windows make me laugh. It's nice though. I'm so lucky to have gotten such a nice car. Even Baxter was excited! When I came home I told him we had a new car to ride in and he ran outside, jumped up at the fence, gave the car a good look and then he went into ecstatic happy dog mode...tail wagging, tongue hanging out, you know the look. We drove over to Martin and Annie's which turned out great. Got to eat dinner together and take a wee trip to Von's and Cafe Vienna.

So now life feels a lot better. I'm so relieved to know about the Purdue situation and I'm so glad I don't have to be pouring over over-priced cars that have 115,000 miles on autotrader.com. And one of these days I might even get a pay check!

Home of the Free Refills...

Since I've been home, I've been out to eat a lot. In Ireland there are times when you want a really big Coke. Not a dinky little 10 oz Coke...a BIG coke. Here in the States, that's not much of a problem. You can get a 32oz coke for $1 or sometimes even less. Restaurants are a whole new ball game. I missed free refills while I was gone, but now I'm not so sure. At most restaurants you get a giant glass of coke and they refill it over and over and over again. Looking around in the restaurants, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if there were a charge for each refill. What if the government decided that it's a health risk to provide nearly 2 liters of Coke to each customer at each meal. Isn't it ridiculous to think that any person can unknowingly drink 2 liters of soda at a meal. I'm guilty of doing it myself. Ok, 2 liters might be a stretch, but it's more than one liter. Now I'm just grossed out by it.

So other than being grossed out by the amount of coke we drink with dinner in the States, I've been busy with all kinds of things. Car shopping. Ugh. I never knew it would be so hard to find a car! Part of the problem is the limited budget. With another $1000 I might have an easier time. It's a good lesson in patients. My sister got an awesome mini-van that was within her insurance budget. It's even better than her old van. So basically I'm trying to find a real bargain and unfortunately I haven't found it yet!

My mom made an appointment with a realtor for me. Ha! Think she's trying to tell me something? I'm not sure she wants me at home for very long. I really liked one of the houses and would buy it if only I had an income! I do have a job though. I'll be working for a lawyer downtown. Having a job within walking distance is exciting. Especially given the current lack of automobile! The lawyer is a friend of my mom's and she should be great to work for. She'll let me work as much or as little as I want. It's the perfect job for right now really.

It's absolutely beautiful out today. Baxter and I took a super long walk in the sunshine. We were both happy as clams! Tomorrow I get to go to the Indianapolis Zoo with the Burkholder kids. What could be better than a trip to the zoo on a sunny spring day?!?! I think spring might be here to stay. I looked at the 10 day forecast and the highs stay around 45-50 F (7-11 C). I hope it's sandal weather soon! That's my favorite time of year!

Home Sweet Home!

My trip home was pretty uneventful and for that I am grateful! I got through security just fine, but they teased me for having a vase and dishes in my carry on. Customs was fine, but after all that trouble I went through to get new pages added the guy stamped an old page! Chicago was actually the biggest pain. There were about 50 flights that came in all at the same time from Warsaw, Tokyo, Mexico, Ireland, Beijing and somewhere in India. It was mayhem! Of all those people on all those flights, I managed to be the second to last person to get through border patrol. The guy seemed a little surprised by my 75 kg of luggage, but let me through anyway and even welcomed me home!

AnnLaura and I are going to her local yarn store. I'M NOT BUYIG YARN!!!! Just browsing.

Right, I'm off. It's good to be home!

(blogger is being weird, so if this posts twice, I'm sorry!)

Honey! I'm home!

My trip home was pretty uneventful and for that I am grateful! I got through security just fine, but they teased me for having a vase and dishes in my carry on. Customs was fine, but after all that trouble I went through to get new pages added the guy stamped an old page! Chicago was actually the biggest pain. There were about 50 flights that came in all at the same time from Warsaw, Tokyo, Mexico, Ireland, Beijing and somewhere in India. It was mayhem! Of all those people on all those flights, I managed to be the second to last person to get through border patrol. The guy seemed a little surprised by my 75 kg of luggage, but let me through anyway and even welcomed me home!

AnnLaura and I are going to her local yarn store. I'M NOT BUYIG YARN!!!! Just browsing.

Right, I'm off. It's good to be home!

All these good byes...

I can't say that all these good byes are very much fun. I'm really going to miss my friends in Dublin. Today is my last day here. I'm still packing and I still have some errands to run. That's always the way isn't it? Moving is never a relaxed process. Hopefully tonight will be relaxed.

Listening to sad David Gray music isn't helping.

Anxiously waiting...

Is anyone else dying to see the new Knitty.com patterns? Not like any of us need another project to work on, but I still want to know what they have in store for spring!

One last thing to check off...

Yesterday a few of us went to Belfast. I really didn't want to go home and have to say that I never made it to Belfast the whole time I was here. They're kicking off a Titanic festival there and a part of the not-so-festive-festival was a free bus tour to the shipyards and around the city. It was actually quite interesting learning about the people who made the Titanic, Olympic and Britannic. We were allowed in the dilapidated buildings that once housed the drafting room where the ships were designed. We walked around the dry docks where the hull of the ships were launched into the water and the dock where the ships were held while they were cleaned and had finishing touches put on. It was quite spectacular to imagine the sheer magnitude of workforce needed to build the ships. I really enjoyed the tour. If you're up towards Belfast I recommend you go. Free tickets are available through the Tourism Information Office and the tour leaves daily at 2pm from the front of City Hall.

Knitting is going well. I've turned the heal on the socks I'm knitting for my swap and hope to have them done by the time I get home. The double magic loop method has gone by the way-side for the time being because it's just not fast enough for me. My so called scarf is now more than 1/3 of the way done and it's really beautiful! I'll have to post a photo soon.

I'm leaving Ireland on Friday and I've said it before, but it's still true...leaving Ireland is horribly sad, but I've got so much to go home to. I'm dying to see my little niece and nephew again. My sister has a new dog, Albert and that awesome new van that I haven't seen yet. Of course there's Baxter who I can hardly wait to start running around with again. Keeping busy shouldn't be a problem! Keeping busy before I leave shouldn't be a problem either. Packing is a pain. (it's my own fault for having too much stuff) Speaking of packing, I better do a bit of that before I head out to lunch.