It's no secret my blogging has gone... downhill. I'm not going anywhere, hoping that the desire to document my life for the unknown internet readership (except for family - hi Dad!) will return once the kiddo is here.
Anyhow, where I've left off on composing actual posts I've picked up on daily photos with the iPhone.
So here's a glimpse of the past week:
Opening Day @ AT&T Park, year #7
How young is too young to get kids listening to Keith Richards?
Amazing rainbow @ the U. after a freak hailstorm
Really Katy, make yourself comfortable wherever you see fit.
Want to see my absolute favorite thing about being pregnant?
Cupcakes.
People, I have developed a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe. I've NEVER had cravings for sugar - EVER, and now I can't get enough. My favorite has definitely been cupcakes. I am beyond thankful that there isn't a Sprinkles or other cupcake bakery near my house, or we'd be in trouble. My mom treated me to this guy after lunch today.
Mom (Nonni, as we are going to call her) had some other surprises for me today:
DMC's outfit to wear home from the hospital, and...
How freaking cool is this. He's going to be a Classic Rock junkie before he can even walk! In knitting, I get a big fat FAIL in the Ravelympics this year. I got everything but 1 sleeve and the finishing completed, which is something, but not enough for the win. However I have gotten some of my knitting mojo back, which was one of the intended consequences anyway.
We were up at our cabin this weekend, with much to celebrate. First off, my DH landed a big account at work that he had been going after pretty aggressively. I am so happy for him, considering I haven't seen him that giddy since, oh, our wedding day.
And to top that, the Lakers won AND he got me to wear my very own "We love LA" shirt (PS - this still feels like cheating on SF to me!)
Alas, there was a crazy thunderstorm on Saturday so we couldn't go outside and enjoy the view (it's actually been storm central around here. Check out these AMAZING photos that a local photographer caught. The bottom photo was actually taken at night!)
We did, however, manage to change out of our PJ's and actually shower so we could head to a nice dinner at the Narrow Gauge Inn (Highly recommended if you are ever in the Yosemite Area - A little over-priced but the food and service was great)
Lots of knitting was accomplished, but only one FO to share. Click for bigger
Claudia by MJ Kim Elsebeth Lavold Silky Cashmere, 3 hanks Size 4&6 needles Raveled
Let me start by saying that I was NEVER into basketball before Matt. Ever. Well, maybe the NCAA Final Four. But the Lakers? Used to hate them like 90% of the basketball world. Not to mention that supporting ANY L.A. team makes me feel like I am cheating on my San Francisco loyalties.
Alas, I found myself deeply engaged in the last quarter of the Lakers-Nuggets game last night, right along side Matt all the while you guessed it, rooting for the Lakers. Yelling at the TV. My heart rate might have even gone up.
In fact, I found myself knitting just a wee bit tighter on the piece of Laurent that I was working on and had to RIIIIIP that part out at the end of the game. No kidding - I wasn't about to make the same mistake I did when I got my tattoo.
Even the untrained eye can spot the four rows on the back of my A-Line Jacket I knitting while this was going on. At least it kept me from puking, so i'd say it's an even trade off.
The roses in our front yard are all blooming this week:
You have no idea how excited this makes me. Those of you who have been reading for awhile already know that I tend to kill almost everything I plant. Seriously. Roses are some of the most resilient plants out there, but I've still been holding my breath.
Speaking of pretty things, I've fallen in love Heidi Kirrmaier's (username PiPiBird) designs over on Ravelry. Buttercup went straight to the top, which I am planning to knit with these mods in Knit Picks CotLin from the stash. Since after the great yarn cleanup of 2009, I am testing the very limit of my self-control by vowing to knit from what I have until I'm down to only one giant Tupperware full (I'm currently at two and a half - yikes!)
Instead, all my yarn yearnings are hitting my Wish List over at yarn.com (hint hint for the holidays dad, since I now know you read this!).
Before closing, I feel a need to vent that I am totally pissed that I can't make it to the Giant's game on Monday, July 27th. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time off, but they are giving away these:
I was at my weekly lunch my dad today, recapping the week of our beloved SF Giants. We were discussing which big ending was better this week: Pablo vs. the Nationals, or Winn vs. the Dodgers. Personally, a game inning hit over the Dodgers is pretty hard to beat. Anyhow, he said I should post Pablo's walk-off homerun on the old blog. How do you say no to that?
This past weekend we were at yet another Giants game at AT&T Park in SF. We were there for an annual outing with my dad's family.
We actually headed up the night before and met some of my sister's friends for dinner at Osha Thai Restaurant, which was BOMB, and some drinks.
The next morning, we took our time walking to the game along the Embarcadero and were finally able to stop at Hidive, a bar we always talk about stopping at but we never do.
We had a round of Bloody Mary's and prayed the rain would stop before first pitch. It did.
Sadly the Giants had a not-so-stellar performance, but we were able to sit in the Club Level for the second half of the game and take in the view.
My dad is 1/2 German, so we decided that this year we would have an an authentic German meal to cap off a day at the ballpark. Schroder's answered the call wonderfully. I'm not going to lie, I was a little hesitant. Most of the German food I am familiar with are the dishes we have at Christmas - German Sausage, Potato Salad, Kuchen, and the liverwurst that my dad special orders and tries to force on us every year.
We started out some Sausage Appetizer Platters, which had a variety of cocktail size Sausages with Kassler Ripchen (Smoked Pork Chops), Potato Pancakes, Herring, Pickles, Head Cheese, Sauerkraut, & Red Cabbage. I really liked the Herring (I might have been the only one at our 1/2 of the table to try it!) and Red Cabbage.
Next up was small plates of German Potato Salad and Cole Slaw, which I devoured. For the main course I had Grilled Salmon with Dill Sauce & boiled potatoes )lots of starches for those Germans!), and I was definitely happy with it. Oh yeah, and then there was the beer.
That's "Bavarian-sized", or 38oz of brew. But alas, this was not the largest beer you could order. Apparently there is something called "The Boot", which is an 80 oz glass in the shape of an actual men's boot. There was a group of kids at the table behind us trying to finish them off, but they finally gave up. THANK GOD, because their random bouts of Karaoke was getting really, really annoying. One final foodie-related post from this weekend: Last night we headed to our friends house for Sunday night dinner, and finished off the meal with some 5-Minute Chocolate Cake. Yes really. It had a pretty funky texture - kind of chewy, but hey! It really was cake in 5 minutes! Definitely add some whipped cream.
Yesterday was Opening Day at AT&T Park and my dad, sister, and I were there as always.
However, earlier in the day, there was a grim outlook on the status of the game.
Before we left Fresno in the A.M., I checked the weather and there was a 100% chance on rain in SF. But we decided to head up anyways, joking the entire way that it probably just meant that the weatherman is a Dodgers fan.
Around Daly City, my hopes were low. The sky looked like it was about to explode and send 10 inches of rain down upon us. But we continued on to the park.
After grabbing beer and hot dogs, we settled into our seats and had to endure a few sprinkles. But by the 6th inning what did I see? Blue skies, smiling at me!
This just proves that YES, the weatherman IS a Dodgers fan, but God is a Giant's fan ;). Also, in my blog reading in the last couple of days I found this pattern booklet at Loop.
HOLY CRAP how have I never seen this before. I CRAZY love Olive.
Pomegranates, proper decor for a Central Valley event:
Laziness in the Red Lot:
If the weather looked perfect, it's because it was. About 78 degrees. Nevermind that I am apparently the scrooge of Fresno because I hate it because it is NOVEMBER and we've got a short enough winter around here as it is! I've got handknit sweaters to wear people!
Speaking of handknits, one of them made its work debut today:
(no car accidents were caused in the snapping of this photograph)
and while I had the camera with me, I took this one of the trees in the parking lot at work.
Not a fun thing to wake up to this headline on a Sunday morning:
You know, it's not that one shouldn't be totally surprised when a #10 team beats a #21 team, but this may have been the biggest heart-breaker game I've ever been to. I woke up hungover, with a raw throat from yelling for 3 hours straight, and had to read this on the National news. BLAH ON YOU BADGERS.
However, I am vey excitied to welcome back a season of tailgating fun and shenanigans.
What a few days it has been around here. Exhausting, yes, but it's weeks like this I just LOVE working at the University. It's hard to REALLY explain the culture around here when it comes to the U's athletics and the Valley's loyalities (Lisa knows what I'm talking about!) Being in the Central Valley without a lot of other 'teams' around, residents around here (whether your are an alumni are not) love, LOVE their bulldogs.
Anyhow, I know you didn't come here to read about baseball or listen to me brag about the school I work for - but this really is an amazing story. To give you an idea:
- First team to score more than 16 runs twice (19 vs. Georgia, 17 vs. Rice) - Tied for most runs scored in the College World Series (62) - Had a .309 team batting average (only fourth time since 1980 that champ has finished above .300) - Hit 14 home runs as a team, the highest total since 1998 and third all-time (seven different players homered for Fresno State) - 20 strikeouts by Justin Wilson, led this year's CWS - Most losses (31) by a championship team - Lowest-seeded team to win an NCAA championship in any sport. They've said if this were the NCAA basketball tourney, we would have been seeded 89th and came back to win the whole thing.
It is truely remarkable. I love it.
So as you can imagine, I have not done much knitting at all this week. On top of the Wonderdog mania, we FINALLY bought a new car. My old car, the Suzuki, was at that turning point in the road (as I discovered while on a recent road trip) - we either needed to pour some money into her (60,000 mile service, new keyless entry, new belts, etc). Instead, we were lured by a great financing rate and bought a new one: an Acura MDX.
I. LOVE. THIS. CAR.
It talks to me (Reynaldo, as I call him), has XM radio (SWOON!) and leather/sunroof/powerEVERYTHING, and it like 10,000 times nicer than any car I've ever owned. We bought used, so it's already appropriately worn in, and DID I MENTION I LOVE THIS CAR?!?
Anyhow, I've got 4 WIPS in constant rotation so I'm not making much progress on ANY of them. Rambling Rose, Terracota Tank, Watery Cardi, and Merlot Socks have all been knit on in the last 48 hours. Really? What the hell is wrong with me sometimes.
On a closing note: a few nights ago we gave Katy a bath and finally taught her "SHAKE". Here's a little tibbit of that:
[click to wineandneedles.blogspot.com to see video]
A couple weeks ago, the impossible happened around here:
“With the wind blowing in Sunday afternoon, and Rice's bullpen loaded with future major league millionaires, Fresno peppered seven pitchers with four homers and the most runs allowed in a CWS game in seven years.“
