Miss Me?

26 days without a post? That might be a new record.

Anyway, instead of attempting to pick up where I left off, we are going to fast-forward to the past weekend.

Matt and I were craving a little alone time so what did we decide to do? Drive to the coast. With the dog. Because nothing says romantic getaway like:



People, I have never in my life seen a dog this happy.



We drove to San Simeon and just sat on the beach for awhile. It was an absolutely lovely day. Perfect.





We then drove back to Cambria and checked into the Creekside Inn. I should stop here and say that Cambria is one of the most doggie-friendly towns we have been to (well, short of Florence but we can't hop in our car and drive there).



Katy got a treat at check-in, so she was sold. Since it was still early, we enjoyed a beverage and the view from our patio.



We then walked into town, browsed a couple shops (where Katy got even MORE treats... I swear, I don't think the dog ate one bite of her everyday food because she got so many treats!) then headed to Mustache Pete's for dinner. Kudos to this place for not only allowing Katy to come to dinner with us, but so honoring my craving for a plate of crab legs (not even on the menu!)



We were asleep by 10pm which was heavenly. We must be getting old because only 2 short years ago, we would probably just be heading out the door at 10pm! Anyway, it was a great 24 hour trip and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon.



Time to go home Katy!

Weekend in Yosemite

Last weekend I got to see a dear friend from college that I haven't really spent any time with in ages! She and her husband are new parents and finally got around to taking a little mini-vacation and we were able to show them the cabin and Yosemite. It was a spectacular day - overcast and unseasonably cool - perfect for some hiking. The park was crowed as always, which always reminds me why we almost never go there despite our cabin being 1 mile away.

Anyway, Matt took some great photos:











I LOVE this one. We are all alone on a path in Sentinel Meadow, with that spectacular scenery. And Katy the dog.

After hiking around the meadow, we headed over to my favorite stop in Yosemite. The mighty Yosemite Falls which is...

... not so mighty in August (usually it's gushing.)

Like I said above, we brought Katy into the park for the first time and ohmygod, was she on sensory overload.



Obviously, she is much more interested in the chipmunk behind me that posing for a photo.

After the day in the park, we headed back to the cabin and gorged on spaghetti and garlic bread. It's fabulous when you know you've gotten enough exercise in that calories don't matter! From there is was a blur of fabulous wine, knitting, and waking up Sunday to the sound of rain. Pure bliss, and a very relaxing way to spend the weekend.

Come back soon Lauren & John!

Sunday FOODday

I ate better on Sunday than I have in a long time!

Sunday morning after a wedding my DH, his brother, and my soon-to-be SIL headed to Carousel in Hollywood for some Armenian feasting. And feast we did.


Tabbouleh, Kheyma, Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Cabbage Salad.

I HIGHLY recommend this place if you like middle-eastern food. I seriously cannot wait to head back to LA so we can go again. Sadly, that won't be until December :(

Thoroughly stuffed from lunch we headed home, and upon arriving Matt decided he needed to make a Costco run. Well, we can't go to Costco and NOT get the King Crab Legs.


King Crab grilled with butter, wine, lemon, dill and pepper.

YYYUUUUUMMMMMMMM. And I wasn't even hungry.

---

Thanks to the 8 hours in the car to LA and back, I started and got about 30% of the way through a new cardi, Trina.


I really, REALLY adore Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.

I'm worried I might be a little short on Brindle, the MC, so I am doing the turned-hems with some leftover yarn from Matt's Cobblestone. I'm knitting the Medium which is a touch to small, so I went up to a size 9 needle and I like the resulting fabric.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

We just got back from the coast yesterday. But don't be fooled, vacation is sort of just starting for me. I still have 5 DELICIOUS days off from work. Five. Nevermind that I woke up at 630 this morning, and I've done more before 10am than I usually do all weekend... No working! LA LA LA LA LA. Just a tad bit excited, as you can see.

So I am home this morning, sipping coffee, playing with the dogs, knitting, listening to some Paul Simon, all with this lovely breeze coming in from outside.

Doors open during August in California's kitchen you might ask? (or not, but go with me here)

Yes. It is 80 degrees in Fresno today which might actually be considered hell freezing over, in which case I have some promises I may have to cash in on. Seriously. 80 degrees in August. A dinner party and fire in the pit are in the plans for the evening. And a sweatshirt. IN AUGUST. Did I mention 80 DEGREES IN AUGUST.

Ok moving on.

Santa Cruz was lovely as always






DOLPHINS! Click for bigger




On Monday my DH took me to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of my favorite places. Seriously. When I was little (like, five!) I told everyone I wanted to be a Marine Biologist and work at the Aquarium.

Beforehand, we walked Cannery Row and stopped for some clam chowder (covered in Dungeness Crab, YUM) and ahi sashimi.



We then spent about 4 hours with the fishes. We had our nice camera with us, and we got some amazing photos.































This was my best shot of the day:


For reference, this guy was the size of my thumb nail:


We then headed out to the Old Fisherman's Wharf for dinner at Gilberts. On our way out to the patio, the hostess asked us if we had seen the jellyfish yet. You mean the ones at the aquarium? I wondered. Did we look that much like tourists?. But then she pointed over the side. HOLY CRAP.


Please click that photo for the full size.

This was literally 30 feet off shore at the most. Add they continued in this frequency around the entire wharf.



The manager at the restaurant said he had worked on the wharf for 30 years and had never seen that many jellies come up.

It was a perfect getaway! Knitting tomorrow.

CV Snickets

Apparently my last entry was my 500th post. Whoa. I still can't really believe I've kept this blog alive since 2004!

Anyhow my mind checked out for vacation last night so I don't have anything fabulously witty or interesting to say, but I am stopping in to elaborate on the fun little KAL I am starting tomorrow with Twisted Stitches Lisa (and I see as I just clicked over there that she beat me to this post. I also see there may be a challenge in there - staying up until midnight to start? HA HA I CAN DO THAT TOO*).

I came to start chatting with Lisa about a year back and we realized that we both have ties to the Central Valley and such, and as we started talking about the fog and the heat and so on, and how Central Valley summers make it almost impossible to knit anything bigger than a sock, AND we discovered we have the same yarn and same pattern queued up. Voila, the mini-KAL was born. Her feet may be bigger, but I am planning to make mine longer so that should even the playing field.

If anyone else wants to come out and play, please join us. Being a current/former resident of the Central Valley is not necessary! You may have to listen to me whine about the heat once or twice, but I'm not that bad. I hope.

So we are off to our yearly trip to Santa Cruz, and I plan on falling asleep to this tonight...



...and waking up to ShiBui goodness.


* this is total BS, BTW. I'll be lucky if I can stay awake until 10pm tonight.

Country Clubs, Crochet, and Chives

This weekend we went to a wedding down in Socal. The wedding was in Santa Monica and the reception was in Beverly Hills at the Los Angeles Country Club.







Every time I drive though Beverly Hills the 90210 theme song somehow works its way into my head. Cheesy, I know.

Everything about this trip was great: I got to see an old college friend, the weather was AMAZING (oh who am i kidding, I was just happy it was under 100 degrees!), and the wedding was great. Fortunately for my bank account, we didn't have much time for shopping because the Anthropolgie in Santa Monica was FABULOUS. I did notice this though:



Seems easy enough to replicate, right?

The rest of the weekend was low key; I spent Saturday ripping out all my failed knits-in-progress and winding hanks of yarn in preparation for my 10 DAY VACATION next week. 10 DAYS. How glorious does that sound? Of course, 2 days of it are courtesy of the budget Armageddon the State of CA is in, but oh well. I am definitely going to enjoy every second of it. I'm taking along some ShiBui Sock yarn for a mini-knitalong with Twisted Stitches Lisa (we are going to be knitting Snicket Socks), but more on that later. I'm also deciding between 113-17 jacket with raglan sleeve and pattern on yoke in Ultra Alpaca, Elemental Boatneck in Hempathy (RIP Vesper. I should have known better that the pleating wouldn't work for the girls!), or Trina in Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Sunday night we harvested the herb garden for the first time and I am uber-proud to report that it is still 80% alive and thriving.



Above we have mint, basil, and chives I used for dinner last night. Delish.

Now I'm off to work with a migraine. I really hope I don't have to get used to these!