Stick a fork in it.

Last week I had someone ask me about the multiple identities that I use online and how I selected all the different names. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how ill-fitting some of the online identities I have chosen are for me now. So I held a little contest among my online friends, and came up with a new name. And so, this chapter is ending, and a new one is beginning.

Join me... at my NEW DIGS!

P.S. This site will remain active for a while, but all new posts will appear only on the new site!

I must be losing my mind.

Three years, one month and 25 days ago it all started here. Somehow in the midst of moving cross country I completely spaced and forgot to celebrate my third Blogiversary. Thanks to all of you who read and comment! Here's to another year!

Welcome to the Old New Apartment

For those that have been eagerly awaiting pictures of my new digs...here they are. Sorry for the mess, the boring white walls and the Flickr notes that I enjoyed putting on them, but now you know where I live!

A day late...but worth the wait.

I love you sweetie.

Checklists.

Being a Type A person, I love checklists. Whenever I have too much to do, I love making lists so that I can gather my thoughts, and start tackling tasks. It give me a scary amount of joy to make lists and then check the items off as I complete them. Like so much scary joy that sometimes I write down the most minute of tasks just so I can cross more off my list. I may have even written down tasks that I have already completed once or twice, just so I can cross them out.

So here's what I have completed today:

• Unpacked 5 boxes.
  
• Exercised - 1+ miles.
  
• Knitting - working on Eiffel Sweater Commission
  
• Pictures for the curious:
  

View from my bedroom.


A little snowy.

More pictures of the new digs to follow - once I clean them up just a little more!

The Week So Far

I know there hasn't been much updating chez moi lately. That's because, mostly, there's been lots of this:


And this:


And a little bit of this:


And tonight there was this:


Which was EXCELLENT - a must see!

Tomorrow there will be this:


So things might be quiet for a few days while I drive across this:


See you in Kansas, Toto!

Good fortune.

"Your golden opportunity is coming very soon."

Things to post about!

For the past 24 hours all sorts of things have happened and I've thought "ooo I need to post that" so we're going to do it all bullet style today rather than post 12 dozen times. I give you things that have made me happy in the last 24 hours:

• Top of the list: I arrived home last night to find a package on my doorstep addressed to Auntie Fluffy. Inside were the cutest pictures of little Melody and some sweet notes from her mommy. This MADE MY DAY! I only have a very few close friends, and fewer still that I know I'll be friends with FOREVER and my dear Light is definitely one of them.
  
• Wes finally got power back on at his house! He had been living without since the ice storm knocked it out Tuesday night. Luckily he had heat and some fuel for the camping stove, so he wasn't going cold or hungry, but it wasn't that pleasant and I'm glad he's back!
  
• Chris mentioned a little time-waster, Bloxorz, on his blog. Consider my time officially sucked.
  
• I've been using the power of Ravelry to find out about great knitting stores in Kansas City and to find some knitting friends even before I move there. Everyone has been super nice and I'm starting to get excited for my new knitting community!
  

Bliss thy name is resignation.

Against my "only-giving-them-2-weeks" better judgment, I resigned this afternoon. Though it won't take effect until January 18, I already feel about 20lbs lighter and much, much happier. Here's to bigger, better (and unfortunately COLDER) things awaiting me!

A bed time story.

Once upon a time there was a girl who stayed home a little late on a Thursday morning to wait for the Fed Ex man to deliver a package. This was an ornery package from an unknown sender that insisted on being delivered to the home address, presented right at the door and signed by the girl. There would be no changing of the delivery to her work address, so she had to miss work and wait for the Fed Ex Man. Imagine the girl's surprise when this ornery package wasn't for her but was addressed to the girl who lived in the apartment before she did (a mere 1.5 years previous). She sadly handed the package back to the Fed Ex man and went out to her car to go to work. But then tragedy struck. Her apartment complex was working on the parking garage and she could not move her car from its appointed spot. So the girl sadly trudged back to her apartment, called in sick to work, and stayed home knitting all day long.

The end.

These and other great images found at NatalieDee.

A momentous occasion.

I'm "going about as fer as I can go"

Well, after a long, uncomfortable fall it looks like Wes and I have resolved where we'll be in the New Year. If you're familiar with musicals, you'll recognize the title of this post as a song from the musical Oklahoma entitled Kansas City. I have a lot of emotions about this.

First of all I am relieved that we have pretty much come to a decision of what our future holds, mostly because I hate uncertainty. I am also excited that we will get to begin our life together (living together in the same city) and in a place that won't be as financially taxing as Los Angeles.

I am also frustrated that I couldn't make it work here in LA, sad that I am going to have to leave my family and friends, and really unsure how well I am going to do 1500 miles away from my support network.

I do, however, feel that this is the right move for Wes and me to be making right now. I'm already drowning financially in Los Angeles, and we need to be in a place where we can afford to start our life together. Wes has received a wonderful offer from a firm in Kansas City, an offer that will give me a little time to figure out exactly what it is I want to do and find the right job. It certainly isn't my first choice of places to live, but we have decided to give it a few years and see how it goes.

Current plans have him slated to start towards the end of January, and I'm aiming to be out of here around the same time. I'm still negotiating breaking my lease, and figuring out how to get all my belongings from here to there. Let's hope there are some great yarn stores in Kansas City because I have a feeling I'm in for some serious knitting and I'm going to need lots of warm sweaters!

Boneheaded.

So I pulled a bonehead move this weekend and left my cell phone charger plugged into the wall in San Jose. Of course I figured this out somewhere in the middle of the Grapevine (about 4.5 hours into my drive home) when I noticed my phone was going to be deader than a doornail soon and I needed the charger. Luckily my friend sent it to me right away and the USPS didn't lose it (they care you know!).

My phone died sometime yesterday, not only reminding me of the Hannukah Miracle, but also making me wonder what we did before cell phones. I have a land line at home, but I rarely use it, so my cell is my primary means of communication. For the past few days I've felt untethered, disconnected and slightly off. While I am a little saddened by this intense need for communication and a small device I lived completely without just a few short years ago, I am also thankful that we have come so far technologically so that I can keep in close contact with my friends and family over ever increasing distances.

Processing

My processing speeds seems to be down a bit lately. I experienced the following today and I am not sure what to make of any of them:

* Despite being told I have no leadership skills and am not qualified to be promoted, the Exec Director dropped my name several times today during the staff meeting - mostly praise for helping with our website redesign, bring BIG new business to the organization, and representing our interests on campus. This is simultaneously good for the self esteem (clearly I am having an impact) and yet another blow (actions speak louder than words, and so far there are no actions).

* My intended found his dream job today. It's a great opportunity and his eyes lit up as he told me about it. I'm so happy for him and I love him so much and want this for him with every fiber of my being. The job is in Omaha. I have no idea what I will do in Omaha.

* I am heading north this weekend to the Bay area. The primary purpose of this trip is to attend one of my best friend's baby shower. This is the first one of my friends to have a baby. I am ecstatic for her. I am also loving planning my wedding. I know that life is not a race, but I feel behind somehow. Not that I'm ready for children at this point in my life. While in the Bay area, I will also catch up with a group of friends with which I was very close in college and immediately thereafter, but haven't seen in two years.

The feeble brain

I had this great idea for a post. And then I forgot it. The End.

No seriously, this is the 6th time this has happened to me today and I'm starting to feel old. I'm not even 30 yet, and already I can't remember what I want to say or do from one minute to the next. My life may be only a third over and I have no idea what is going on. So until the idea returns, this is all I've got. Nothing to see here... just keep moving along folks.

*wonders if her mind fell out under the couch last night*

P.S. Yes my brain strongly resembles whacked-out green broccoli with eyes.

I knit.

In this world there are two kinds of knitters: process and product. Process knitters knit to enjoy the process of creating something. They knit to learn new techniques, to master their craft. The act of knitting is a journey to them, and it is where they find most of their enjoyment, be it learning new things, enjoying the company and wisdom of others, or simply finding new modes of self expression. I knit for all of these reasons, but I am not a process knitter.

The product knitter has the end goal in mind: the finished piece. The product knitter enjoys the act of knitting, but is always striving to complete things for the end product. Whether it be to wear the finished garment oneself, give it as a gift or share it with others, the product knitter wants to go through the journey for the end prize. I am a product knitter.

This shouldn't surprise me. I knit to be creative. I knit because I have passion, and a love of color and creating things. I knit because I have free time and because I like to see things take shape before my eyes. I knit because it is one of the few things in my life I can control. I can choose the pattern (or not to go with one at all), the colors, what I make, how fast I make it, and who gets the end product. I knit because these days, it seems it is one of the few things I can excel at.


So it should come as no surprise to me that this month, when things are most out of control and uncertain, that knitting has become essential to my emotional well being. Or that I was almost undone tonight by a sock.

A week or so ago, I decided to dedicate this month to knitting socks and finishing up projects on the needles. A sock is a quick project - a pair takes me a week. Most of the projects that are on the needles are well near the finish line, I just haven't given each enough time to get it there. Clearly, because I am in limbo in the rest of my life, I want all my products lined up neatly in a row.

So when I started a new sock last night, I was dismayed, and almost undone by the fact that I had to rip this yarn three times and start over. The first two times were attempts at patterns that were entirely too large for my foot - no one seems to write sock patterns for size 6. Sometimes I can adjust the pattern, sometimes I can't. I finally decided on a pattern late last night and set off with gusto through the cuff, ignoring my mistakes in the second row. Tonight I started the leg when I realized that something had gone wrong, nothing was aligning and I needed to pull it out yet again.

I'll be fine tomorrow. I'm even feeling better writing this, but I understand why I needed this to work and why I need to get to the finished sock. Now please excuse me while I go pray to the Patron Saint of Socks.

Things I might hate myself for in the morning.

1. I REALLY want a pair of crocs.

They are the ugliest shoes I may ever have seen. They are plastic. And they are SO comfortable.

I tried on a co-workers last week and I may be hooked. And look at the cute Mary Jane's that will show off all my beautiful knitted socks. AND they are antibacterial so if you have sweaty feet, and I do (oh the romance!), your shoes won't smell.

BUT, I might have to shoot myself... a little.

My Summer Vacation

I thought I had posted enough about the Bahamas, but I was wrong... Wes sent me these yesterday.

Things that make me happy.

1. Nice man friend at work brings flowers for every girl. Beautiful roses in an assortment of colors to pick from. Smell yummy!

2. Take lousy picture with camera phone.

3. Remember real camera tomorrow!

Simpsonize me.

Even though I don't watch the tv show much and didn't see the movie, I was curious to see what the "Simpsonized" version of me would look like. The verdict? I couldn't find the right hair, but it's not too bad. Thoughts?

For your very own, go here.