A Dress, A Scarf and A Cheeky Turtle

I finally got around to taking pictures of my FO's...I'm lazy like that. We'll see how well I can keep up with this blog and my photo blog when I start working on Monday!

Here is AJB's Lauri Dress:

It's a little big on her but I meant to make it a little big so that she can wear it next summer as well. I'm going to look for some tights and a long sleeve undershirt so that she can get some wear in it during summer.
A close up of the little daisy buttons:


The Galaxy Scarf:

The colorway of the yarn is galaxy. The name of the pattern is Clapotis.

Here's Sheldonette, who is the female in the love turtles I'm making for AJB as a Bday surprise:

Sheldonette!! You cheeky, little turtle! Get your shell on this minute!

Much better! Now, if I catch you with your shell off when I finish your partner, I'm separating you two!

A trip to the fiesta and another yarn order

Dad invited us to go to the St. Vincent de Paul's fiesta. While a good time was had by all, it was no where near as diverse as the Good Shepherd Octoberfest! The O'fest was like walking through an international food feast with its booths of Filipino panicit and lumpia, Vietnamese spring rolls, Korean BBQ, Mexican carne asada and taquitos, German brats...and of course, the hamburgers, hot dogs and corn on the cob. I'm not saying there wasn't any good eats at the d'Pauls fiesta- I grubbed my carne asada burrito like I hadn't had one in years (I actually had one when I went back to San Diego last month, so it wasn't that long ago.) There wasn't that big of a selection...I guess when you grow up with one thing, you get accustomed to it and expect it to always be like that. We did have a good time on the rides and of course, AJB and I had to go on the super slide! Best ride ever...Good food, good rides and a good opportunity for me to go on manual mode on my camera.

Here's a few shots from that night:

I was testing out the aperture and wanted to get that blurry spinning image.


The Zipper


The Wheel

I obviously still need to practice tons but I was happy with how the blurry light ones came out. Here is my flickr page for others.

On my other hobby, I started making my Christmas surprises. Here's the start of the Galaxy Scarf:

Hopefully, it won't take too long to finish. I have about 5 of them to make!

I also finished CMBs Michigan scarf:

It'll keep him warm and cozy when I can't.

Remember that yarn order I mentioned in my title? I bought two different shades of pinks and blues to make AJB her own Sheldon. I'm thinking of making a couple of love turtles- one girl and boy. I also bought Spring Green Heather Shadow to make Seascape for an aunt:

Yes, I know "seascape" should be a blue color but her fave color is green.
I bought Alpaca Cloud lace in Stream to make the Seascape for my mom.

I also purchased some Gloss lace in Port for another Clap.

There will be lots of scarving going on!

Its been a long time...

I finished Sheldon! Here he is, up close and personal. He's coming up to say hi- "Hello, Sheldon!"


Here he is, in a more natural pose:

Sheldon! Be nice, now!



Much better! Thank you, Sheldon...Unfortunately, Sheldon will not be staying with us for very much longer. He's going to go in a box and be mailed to CA. Shhh...don't tell him- he's a bit claustrophobic. He's going to be a surprise for one of my cousin's on her birthday. But she's not suppose to know either! Hopefully, she isn't reading this.

Anyway, yesterday I was in a baking mood. I was going to make my MILs world famous (my world) Toasted Oatmeal cookies but didn't have any baking soda. Since I was at the store, I ended up buying chocolate chip cookies too. I made the Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies from allrecipes.com. I love allrecipes.com. I can find almost anything on that site and they almost always turn out tasty, but I digress. Here's a picture of the cookies:


And just for comparison in sizes, I placed a quarter next to the giganti-cookie:



I could only fit four of them on the cookie tray!


Goodness...that's going to be another 45 minutes on the elliptical machine!

Back from a Hiatus

Its been awhile so I'll just sum up what's happened in the last few weeks.
1. Been to San Diego and back a couple times.
2. Taking classes at the gym (everything from yoga to pilates, core conditioning to barbell strength training, and kickboxing).
3. Filling out on line resumes.
4. Catching up on Y&R.

Today is CMBs last day with his driving job before he starts his new position on the 18th. He's super excited and I'm very proud of him. This will be a start of something new for us. He recently had a meeting with his director who told him that they're looking to grow globally in the next few years. One of the locations will be in Ireland. She hinted at CMB that she'll be needing an ops. manager. Imagine that! AJB can have an Irish accent! AND! I'll be wanting to knit more sweaters and scarves!! Speaking of knitting, here's a few FO's.

The Fake-A-Gamo bag:


The Cami Bag:


My Big Fat Market Bag:


Baby Kimono:


Face Flowers:


I should be cleaning the house up for our guests. It's my FIL's bday and the whole gang will be out here. It'll be a good ol time...

"No Limits" really means NO LIMITS!!

Wednesday, I took a cardio/strength training class. The description was:

Challenge yourself with this athletic-based cardio/strength training circuit workout set up in stations. Time flies as you make your way around the circuit and walk- or crawl- away with a complete, full-body workout!

They weren't kidding about crawling away; its been almost two whole days since I took the class and I'm still hurting! I'm going back though...I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.

My Order Is On Its Way!!

It's an awesome feeling to receive a notification email saying that my order is on its way! Receiving packages in the mail is a little like Christmas morning. The excitement of ripping tape off the box and digging through the loads of packing paper brings back memories of Christmas presents. Sometimes, I knew then what was in the box like I do when I open a box that is filled with things I just ordered. Yes, I was one of those kids who would sneak peeks. I love Knitpicks. Its one of my favorite on line places to buy yarn. When I find a project that I want to do, Knitpicks is the first website I go to for yarn. I usually find yarn I can substitute for quite a bit cheaper than other places. This time around, I bought Cotlin in Desert Turquoise for the Lauri dress I want to knit for AJB. I'm planning on knitting another dress for Angela's baby to go with the kimono style one. I bought Comfy Yarn in Cypress to make Little Sister's Dress. I am infatuated with this yarn! I used it to make the berry hat for the DeMarie baby. It's so soft and cozy and comfy! The perfect name for yarn perfect for baby projects.
And because my sock is looking wonky, I added this to my order:
I'm hoping with a bit more visual help, I can knit socks. Why I would want to knit them when it's 110 degrees outside is beyond me.

And because I'm feeling a little swanky, I bought this:


Its Sensual Knits, not Sexual Knits. Get your mind outta the gutter! This book has loads of things that I hope to one day knit for myself when I'm a few lbs (okay, a lot) lighter. Like this one:

And maybe even this, this and this:



I bought the book because it was 40% off so for now, I'll hoard it in the closet and hopefully, I'll be able to knit something without having to make the garment big enough to fit a baby elephant.

Oh yeah, knitting!

Since this is a knitting blog, I should update y'all on my knitting. Its actually slow going- which is a little strange since I'm not working. I think I feel bad if I sit and knit all day. So, I only knit at night while watching TV. I'm still working on the Buttony for my nanay:




It shouldn't take me much longer to finish. Just decreasing for shape of the waist.

I'm also working on a little baby kimono wrap around sweater for my friend, Angela's newborn little girl. I would have it finished by now but I actually frogged the whole thing and started over. The first time around, I added 10 stitches around the neckline because I thought no baby would be that tiny! Well, the addition of those 10 lil stitches made it big enough for AJB! I didn't want Angela to have to wait 5 years to use the darn thing...

My socks were starting to look wonky so they're still on the needle. I ordered a sock knitting book so I'll just wait til I get it in the mail before I start my socks over.

Well, I'm off to make myself a drink. Or two or three.

A Long Weekend in San Diego

CMB couldn't get the weekend of the 4th off so we took off to sunny San Diego last Friday for a four day food and booze trip. Okay, not really- but pretty darn tootin' close. Here is a recount and some pictures to share with all of you.

Friday:
We got into town about 8PM. Called the bro-in-law up to see who was down to meet at Callahan's. We've been going to Callahan's since it was a tiny, hole-in-a-wall restaurant in the Mira Mesa Mall. It's all grown up now, with a stand alone building outside of the Mecca Mall. Our friends and relatives meet up there religiously every Monday night for $2 pint night and an occasional Sunday for breakfast (more about that later!) Brother Josh, Adam and Dale all met us for some Callahan's Red. Maybe I should say, a lot of Red. As in the Big Boy 32 oz sized. You can tell that CMB and Brother Josh are brothers- not because of their dashing good looks or their share in height...but because they could both drink beer like it's water!! I think they both drank 3- (or was it 4??) big boy glasses. I took it easy and had a jack and coke and an oatmeal cookie shot. Oh, and a bowl of the best Beer and Jalapeno Cheese soup EVER! and three packets of the oyster crackers. Yum! I wanted to make sure I was sober enough so that Dale would let me play with his shiny new SLR camera. Yes. I'm jealous!!

Saturday:
This was "family" day...we pretty much spent the whole day with my family. We first went to Balboa Park to check out the Fossils Mystery exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Why we left San Diego, I don't remember. How could we leave such a gorgeous place? Here's a picture of the Botanical Building:



I hold Balboa near and dear to my heart. Lots of memories there. Like the old tree that my brother and I use to climb when we were kids:

This picture doesn't do this tree justice. It's HUGE! Now, its all fenced off so no one can climb on it. :( Would have loved to get a pic of AJB climbing on one of the limbs. But I suppose it's fenced off for the tree's own good...

Here's where CMB and I took our first round of engagement pictures (yes, first round. We took them on Mother's Day back in 2002 and it was drizzley):

I'll be ghetto and post a picture of a picture.

The day at the museum was awesome. The exhibit was amazing- much more interactive than the one in Phoenix. On the trolley ride back to the car, AJB got to be the guest conductor and pulled on the bell. This was the only good picture I got of it.


You can see more pictures from Balboa on my Flickr page.

After the museum, we drove up to a family party in Temecula. Then back to another party in Mira Mesa, where we watched Manny Pacquiao beat David Diaz.

Later on that night, CMB and I hung out with my bro and his gf for some late night ramen at Tajima's. This is my new favorite place on Convoy St. Its traditional Japanese food- not sushi, but ramen and curry and these pancake omelet things. I had the Tajima Ramen with stewed pork and it was SO tasty! I also had a salmon ball...kinda like a hand roll but bigger. It was sticky rice with cooked salmon in the middle, wrapped in seaweed. Its the place where all the cool Asian kids go to after a night out at the clubs. If my bro's gf wasn't there, I'm sure he would have flirted with the waitresses in Japanese. Cuz as Go (our waiter) would say "Pimpin' ain't easy." We each had our own big bottle of Asahi and shared a bottle or two of sake...good times. You could have lite up Downtown San Diego with all the Asian glowing from within.


Sunday:
We woke up to a text that said "Callahan's for breakfast??" from my sis-in-law. CMB and I jumped out of bed to get ready for some grubbin'. We met up with my bro and CMBs sibs at Callahan's for some brunch. Cap'n Crunch French Toast, anyone?? Callahan's makes a tasty breakfast! CMB ordered the Cap'n Crunch FT, I had the Spanish Frittata with bacon, mushrooms, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese, Bro had the Country Fried Steak, Sis-in-Law had the Egg and Cheese Quesadilla (which I plan on getting next time- it looked GOOD!) and it seemed like everyone enjoyed the good food and company. Just don't order the pancakes. Josh said that he had them once and they were the worst pancakes ever. Oh, and apparently, Guinness goes down well with breakfast...

After breakfast, we went to Brother Josh's for some geekin', I mean, rockin' out. Yes, I rocked the mike once...not too badly- I got a 95%. I'm better on the guitar but horrible on the drums. Too many things going on with the drums!! While we rocked out, Uncle Josh was throwing AJB around in the pool. We were there for a good long time but had to leave for dinner at the Chateau de Ibarra's...my mom and dad's. :)

It was a long day so we decided to relax at home.

Monday:
CMB had to work up in Oceanside so I dropped my mom off at Fashion Valley, where she works so that AJB and I had wheels. We ended up at La Jolla Shores for some fun in the sun. I couldn't believe how busy it was on a Monday!! Luckily, we found parking in the first aisle we pulled into. We had a great time...weather was gorgeous and the water wasn't too cold.

To the south of us, is La Jolla Cove and Prospect Ave.:


Here, you can see the pier for Scripps Pier- which isn't open to the public:


AJB was so excited, she couldn't stop jumping up and down:


And doing spins all around the beach:

Maybe she was just cold??

It was a beautiful day.


I was afraid to tell AJB that it was time to go. But, with a tired look on her face, she was ready to go.


Later that night, we went to Callahan's with everyone for $2 pint night. More good times. If you ever make it out to Callahan's, have their Blueberry Wheat- it smells and tastes like a blueberry muffin! You'll be amazed.

Tuesday:
Our last day and we still hadn't gone for breakfast burritos from Jalapeno's. This will be our 4th year in Phoenix and we still haven't found a Mexican place as good as Jalapeno's. Everything they have is tasty. You can't go wrong with this place. And their salsa?? I would move back to San Diego just for their salsa!

We had a few hours to kill before meeting my mom for lunch. So? Back to the beach! This time, we went to Torrey Pines beach. Another one of our regulars. CMB and I use to hike around here.

To the South of us, is La Jolla, its behind the marine layer. On the left, you can see the hill where you can hike on. Tons of trails. Our favorite one is the trail that leads to the beach:


And to the North of us, is Del Mar- where you can find more beaches and rich swankiness:


AJB got a taste of the yucky ocean water:


After the beach, we went to have lunch with my mom and dad. Can you believe they're in their 60's?? I sure can't!


We headed back home that afternoon. We miss San Diego but it was good to be back home.


Here's more pictures from our trip!

What I've Been Doing on My Summer Vacation...

You would think that with all this time on my hands, I would be a better blogger. NOPE! I did disclose at the beginning of this blog that I wasn't very good at it- blogging, that is. I won't go into too much detail- don't want to bore my very few readers. :) So here we go-

1. Painted the Master Bathroom
2. Taking AJB to Art class on Mondays
3. Went to the Wildlife World Zoo
4. Took a tour of the Cerreta Chocolate Factory
5. A little bit of knitting (I haven't completed anything in the last couple weeks!!!)

And that's pretty much it! CMB and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on the 1st of June. We celebrated by inviting our best man and one of our groomsmen and their significant others to our home for dinner and a little bit of rockin' out. Yes, we all pretended we were rock stars and geeked out.

You'll notice that I don't have "Updated Resume" or "Found new job." I haven't even tried...seriously- I haven't even looked for a new job yet. I'm in denial. I'm not going to have to find one. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Here's a couple of my favorite pics AJB did in art class:
These are a couple of cacti in the desert.


A pig trying to keep cool in the sprinklers.



And an elephant fanning herself to keep cool.


Yes, we live in the desert. What gave it away??