I bought to-go cups at Sam's club to take my coffee to work in, but it's been burning my fingers between the parking lot and my office. Plus I needed some knitting instant gratification, so I made a cup cozy this afternoon.
I realized yesterday that it had been a while since I had posted anything here. There are multiple reasons for that. First my end of the semester, trying to get papers wrapped up craziness has transitioned directly into studying for comprehensive exams craziness. Second, I won't be making any more beer until I dispose of the majority of beer I have already made. Because of the end of the semester, there have been a lot of functions that involve drinking beer at the bar, which has cut into the consumption of my homebrew dramatically. I have managed to pawn some off onto the other PhD students and my husband's co-workers. In fact, a week ago Tuesday I was out in the partking lot behind my academic building at 5 pm handing out beer from the trunk of my car. That's right folks, I'm nothing if not classy. Finally, I have embarked upon two never ending knitting projects.
The first is the Lady Eleanor shawl. This one has actually been moving along at a relatively fast pace. In fact, I was pretty excited last weekend because I was within 4 tiers of the pattern specifications. I then tried to wrap it around me and realized that it's still too short. I should have expected this since I'm using a lighter weight yarn than the pattern calls for, but I miss the obvious sometimes. Anyway, I have plenty of yarn to keep going and make it long enough, but the disappointment of not being almost done with it was pretty crushing. The second project is a Hokie scarf for my daughter using the 1st/2nd year Harry Potter scarf pattern.
I never paid much attention to the scarves in the movies, but these things are basically a long tube of stockinette stitch. In fact, it's 361 rounds of it if I make it to pattern specifications and I'm making the small size. Now to be quite honest, I sort of like stockinette stitch in the round. I know some people find it terribly boring, but I find it sort of soothing. I would like it better if I could knit this on circulars rather than double points, but it's still not too bad. The big issue with this project is that it's going to be either a birthday or Christmas gift for Mara, so I can only work on it when she's not around, which generally means that I can only work on it between 9 pm when she goes to bed and whatever time I go to bed. The time restrictions have really slowed down my progress.
Hopefully I'll finish one of these projects up soon because I've been itching to move on to something else. If not, I may take a break and knit a couple coffee cup cozies one evening just so I can enjoy the sense of accomplishment.
Tonight, starting at 6:00 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time (that's 1:00 A.M. UTC/GMT), we'll be taking Vox offline for a bit in order to move the service to a brand new home in some bright, shiny new server racks. We don't expect to be offline for more than an hour or two, but we apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.
Thank you for your patience as we continue to invest in Vox's infrastructure!
Update: we've postponed tonight's maintenance, and will let you know when we reschedule. Thanks for your patience!
Last week, we announced the winners of the HP "What Do You Have to Say? Theme Design Contest and promised you we'd make the winning themes available on Vox in the coming weeks. After a little more thought, we decided you shouldn't have to wait a second longer to use these creative and inspiring designs on your blogs, so we made them available for you today. Who says good things only come to those who wait?
i took yesterday off from blogging, did you miss me? cause i missed you!
i'm going to take this week off. we're traveling, getting ready for mother's day and my nephew's birthday. i'll return monday night to give my report of my 6 course dinner with juliano. i'm so excited!!
xoxo
this song goes through my head a lot, joni mitchell's hejira:
I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
There's comfort in melancholy
When there's no need to explain
It's just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today
In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now I'm returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed
I see something of myself in everyone
Just at this moment of the world
As snow gathers like bolts of lace
Waltzing on a ballroom girl
You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line
Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock
They're either going to thaw out or freeze
Listen
Strains of Benny Goodman
Coming through the snow and the pinewood trees
I'm porous with travel fever
But you know I'm so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones
I know no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone
Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tribute to finality to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken scratching for my immortality
In the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
There's the hope and the hopelessness
I've witnessed thirty years
We're only particles of change I know I know
Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When I'm always bound and tied to someone
White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
From the window of a hotel room
I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
Until love sucks me back that way
banana with cacao nibs and goji berries
8 mile run, some upper body resistance work, stretch
B: smoothie: water, msm, mesquite, cacao, loads of spinach, dates and a banana. i was feeling very decadent this morning so i indulged. it really doesn't fit it with my new stupid simple program- that's k.i.s.s., keep it simple stupid! hehe. today is judt going to be an indulgent day!
L: late lunch at the bye and bye vegan bar on alberta. great place.
D: wasn't too hungry after the bar so i ate 2 peaches
went to see my cousin chris in vancouver and pick up my grandma's chair. there was a drawing for this chair because so many people wanted it. i've sat in this chair, beside my grandma my whole life and bringing it home it suddenly hit me as i was driving and spotted it in my rear view mirror. i choked back a few tears as i drove with andy and eliot over the bridge back to oregon.
andy brought the chair in and while he and eliot were upstairs i picked it up and put it in it's new spot in the living room. i stared for a moment. for some reason my aunt also brought me a blanket that looks like it was made to match the chair. that's when the smell of my grandma's house filled me. i buried my nose into the back cushion of the chair and breathed deeply, the smell of church, memories, time and grandma mchatton's house. i started to cry and sat down in the chair, cross-legged just as i had the last afternoon i spent with her in her house.
it's hard to explain but i always knew it would be my chair one day, and i never wanted to think what it would mean when i did have this beautiful chair. everyone enjoyed, loved, sat, cried, laughed and had memories wrapped up in this flowery chair. it's a lovely and adored piece of history, with the fabric starting to snag and tear on the top. i feel to lucky to have it.
3 mile run, weights
B: smoothie: msm, chia seeds, almost 2 cups water, 2 grapefruits, one banana, and mango. i dumped some vanilla in here too and it was heavenly!
L: leftovers from blossoming lotus- 1/2 collard wrap, thai red bell pepper and mango soup, 2 flax crackers
d: one piece of live fudge
s: 1/2 a beautiful ripe papaya with fresh squeezed lime. wow! the nice produce man at new seasons cut open a papaya for me and a fresh lime, gave me a slice to eat there and the rest to buy and bring home!
d: one piece of live fudge
went for a walk with andy and eliot to our local wild oats grocery store that recently switched over to become whole foods. i am consistently disappointed in whole foods selection of organic produce and nuts and seeds. new seasons markets and our local co-ops rock their socks off. take that whole foods, time to step it up!
eliot loves to pick up rocks and gets so excited when he finds them and always says things like, "i win!"
D: zucchini "pasta" and 2 flax crackers
B: smoothie: mixed greens, banana, mango and acai juice
s: one yummy date with a teeny scoop of raw pecan butter
L: pineapple and melon, garden of eden salad from blossoming lotus. small bowl of thai curry from andy's food from last night
D: blossoming lotus: live soup- thai red bell pepper and mango- amazing! 1/2 live collard wrap.
walked around nw portland, finally a lovely night.
when we got home i was still feeling snacky. so i had a little more soup and the cashew creme fruit parfait. all from blossoming lotus.
blossoming lotus really sucked tonight for service. i had my soup practically thrown at me after waiting for about 35 minutes and asking very kindly for it. never brought us water, asked how we were- nothing. there was more but that's enough.
i feel sad. i feel like i don't belong here. i don't feel accepted and i am not embracing life here. i'm trying to embrace it and i keep encountering a prickly reception. what else should i be doing?? i try to find a good vibe at a freaking vegan restaurant inside a yoga studio, an outdoor fitness class, blah blah blah. i feel like there is no box to put me in but everyone just needs to put me in a box anyway- the box they have chosen and i say, no! i am too many things:
mom, wife, massage therapist, reiki practitioner, personal trainer, raw vegan, artist, tattooed woman, marathoner, ambitious, creative, book lover, music lover, art lover, earth lover, animal lover, petite, redhead, glasses wearing, contact wearing, insecure, quiet, loud, proud, competitive, crazy, lovable, adorable, klutzy, silly, tree hugging, shopper, runner, tiny feet, tiny hands, curled toes, meditating, dancing, hippie, snobby, jumping, beach loving, dreaming, movie lover, fairy, valentine, blogger, reader, architect and design nut, big sweet tooth, bad tv lover, sex and the city fan, traveling, i love to drive, i have terrible balance, don't like the desert, love dessert, love new york, love california, love the sky, love the sun, i love clothes and shoes and jackets and bags, love vegnews magazine, and dwell, i love tori and joni, cat and the beatles, rufus, and so many singer songwriters, concerts, vintage, pianos, acoustic guitars, wind, slapstick comedy, i love hearts and stars and eating and restaurants, and believing in people, and believing in love and knowing we don't know anything so we could and should just embrace it all and everyone cause we're all in this together- take a glance and feel it with your heart. grow up and in and out and take good care of yourself so you can pass the gift on to others. i can't believe you've read this far, thank you from the bottom of my endless and ever evolving heart. we're all so much more then what others "see".
Straight to Video
Now you can share your Flickr videos on your Vox blog!
A few weeks ago, Flickr announced that pro members are now able to share videos of up to 90 seconds in their photostream. Many of you already post photos to your Vox blog directly from your Flickr account, and now we’ve made it so you can do the same with your Flickr videos.
To post a Flickr video to your Vox blog, just follow the same steps you would if you were posting a Flickr photo. (Yes, that means you’ll find your Flickr videos in “Photos,” not “Videos.”)
Not using Flickr to add photos to Vox? Find out how to connect your Flickr account to your Vox account. Plus, using Flickr means you’ll never have to upload a photo twice, or waste valuable storage space!
Around the World with Vox and CupCate
A little over a year ago, we announced that CupCate was one of the Grand Prize winners of the Vox World Tour. A month ago, Cate and her husband, Iain, packed their bags and flew to San Francisco, the first stop of a three-cities-in-fourteen-days vacation.
While they were in SF, Team Vox was lucky enough to have a yummy lunch with Cate and Iain and some of us even made it out for a late night karaoke session at The Mint.
We were also happy to hear, however, that she took some time to enjoy a glass of wine, a roaring fire, and the luxury of utter relaxation.
Then it was off to Tokyo where she saw gorgeous cherry blossoms, the Tokyo Tower and the Sensoji Temple, and even got a special tour around Tokyo with Ayako from Six Apart’s Japan office!
And it wouldn't be a Vox World Tour without Paris in the spring time, decadent French meals, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower.
It sounds like an amazing adventure. Congratulations again to CupCate. We had so much fun with you while you were in SF and we can't wait until your next visit!
