Baby pictures

Life has been very hectic since we got Kayla. So much busier I rarely have time to do more than check my email on weekdays. I drive home at lunch to let her out and feed her, which gives me about 10 min. to eat before heading back to work. Lunchtimes is when I used to do most of my online stuff, so now I guess it'll be saved up for weekends. In the meantime, here's some photos of Kayla and Windy. She's turning into a great dog already, and Windy couldn't be better dealing with this hyper ball of fur, claws, and teeth. The only thing Windy's spoken up about is Kayla approaching her food dish. Other than that she lets that puppy walk all over her - literally. She seems to have a mother's unending tolerance and patience. A happy surprise.

Here's Kayla in her Gunga Din pose. She's been pretty good so far about not picking up random things in her reach. Katie & Windy used to play a game we call Face Tug. They bare their teeth and bang their heads together, often grabbing cheeks and tugging on them. It can go on for quite a while and they both loved it. Hooray to see Windy & Kayla already playing the same game, although I'm sure it'll be better once Kayla has adult teeth. Windy is coping by chewing on her bones a lot. Kayla often takes a bone right from Windy's mouth and lays down next to her to chew on it. Windy lets her do it, then looks around for another one nearby. Kayla's already chewing on the big nylabone meant for aggressive chewers, so we decided to skip buying the puppy versions. She'd demolish them :) They're also super sweet laying together. I can tell they'll sleep in a pile at night once we trust Kayla enough to let her free at night. I'm so happy for Windy at times like this:

Meet our new baby!

Fresh from a bath, and hasn't left D's lap since we set her there. She's an Australian Shepherd mix we think, which Katie also was (we always thought it was border collie but after looking online we believe she was Aussie). Looks a lot like Katie did but a little thinner faced and WAY fuzzier. Even her forehead has heavy fluff on it. She's super cuddly and chased after Windy a bit. Windy is about 20% weirded out, the rest just curious - including pulling out all her toys in front of the new girl. No name yet, but she's only a couple hours old, so to speak. Hooray!

Who skinned a giraffe?

I've been looking for a new purse for a while. My whole life my purses have been functional rather than accessories. Small-medium cloth bags with lots of pockets. I wanted something different this time and I had my eyes peeled for one in green, purple, or red, maybe that shiny leather that's popular now. Totally new territory for me, and I wasn't liking what I saw. Then I went shopping at lunch one day with a friend from work at a cool consignment shop nearby. I'm able to talk myself out of almost any purchase if I'm alone, but if someone is with me I find it harder to say no. I think that's part of the reason I asked her if she wanted to come with me. I found one I liked, even stuck my current purse into it to see how it handled the weight, carried it all over the store, then hung it back up. Thankfully my friend was patient and encouraging, and waited while I talked myself back into buying it. Yes, it's ridiculous. Different in every way from my normal bags. No convenient pockets, far bigger and heavier than others, yet I can't help grinning every time I put it on. So far it's working out great, and the added room allows me to easily hold everything I want to carry with me.

Of course it led to a very interesting conversation over dinner the night I brought it home about fashion, and what disconnect happens in women's brains that make them buy an item like this. I didn't have an answer at first, I just knew I liked it. We had a fun time trying to tease apart the reasons behind it, and weird fashion trends in general, and finally came up with a succinct undeniable answer - it's made to catch the eye. And it certainly does.

No catchy title, just good fun

My sister-in-law just came for a visit (well, my brother was there too, but she & I went off on our own). We had a delightful time starting at the local wine shop for their weekly tasting and buying some rare & unusual wines with my brother. He met up with an old friend there and we went our separate ways. Our next stop was to the local donut shop (a request from my bro) to pick up some stunningly fabulous donuts. Not even sure how to accurately describe how wonderful they are - small batch, freshly made, soft inside with a crisp tooth on the outside, worth breaking any diet for.

Then on to the local yarn store, where we sat on the floor pulling together colors for our next 2-row projects. We unconsciously were holding the potential yarn balls the same way, and laughed when we saw the result. I think she got the one on her thumb in the end. I found a perfect colorway combination, but the yarn was just a bit crispier than I'd like so I talked myself out of it in the end. The women are not very welcoming at this shop, so we left and went next door to Starbucks (stopping by the car to pick up a donut) to knit and chat. I think we spent a couple hours there. The conversation was great and it was neat that we were working on essentially the same project in different colorways-you can see my scarf below. When are they going to invent teleporters so we can get together on a regular basis for craft-chatting?We got the crazy idea to go back home and dye some self-striping yarn ourselves, since I didn't get any at the shop. I do this regularly so it's not that crazy, just the spontenaity (good god that doesn't look spelled right) that made it seem so. We haul out my warped warping board and begin winding the yarn to prep for dyeing. She was an extremely helpful assistant during the winding process. After we finished we talked about what colors we wanted, and neither of us were definite about anything. So we bundled it all away for future use and went out to dinner with the guys. We already have too many plans for the next time we see each other (in a few weeks!).

A departure from the ordinary

After being turned on to Panacea81's fabulous makeup tutorials on youtube, I've had fun experimenting with different looks. She does such a great job guiding through eye makeup applications (including celebrity looks) that you quickly gain the confidence to do your own. I first got comfortable with black/brown smoky eyes - a "natural" look for parties and such. Then I went out and got a bizarre color palette for bellydance makeup, including screaming electric blue, fishscale green, purple, and white. Here's my first trial, although the colors are even more vibrant in person. I may need to try different lighting for the photos. It's also very hard to photograph your own eye, I wish I was looking the other way. Still, it gives you an idea of what I'm doing with some of my free time nowadays. Never thought I'd see the day where I not only wore a ton of blue eyeshadow, but actually posted photos of it online. But it's loads of fun, and I'm quite pleased with the eyeliner too. Now I just need some long feathery false eyelashes and I'll be good to go. Heh, this is totally ridiculous compared to my normal level of makeup. Wonder if I'll ever have reason to wear it outside of a performance?

Best run of the year

Ok, also the first run of 2009, but I think it'll be a while before another tops this one. Beautiful weather. Just cooler than tepid, a light breeze, blue skies, puffy clouds. Barely warm in the sun, slightly cool in the shade. Windy and I ran along the switchback service trails paralleling the railroad tracks. Letting her run off-lead is great, she gets to go exploring, bounding back and forth many times while I run doggedly ahead (ooh is that a pun?). Given my recent slack in running, I was concerned how it would be, given the trails are hilly, and a mix of packed dirt, chunky gravel, and sand. Happy to say it was easier than anticipated, and much more fun than expected.

There were a fair number of mud puddles dotting the trail that I skirted around, not wanting to soak through my white mesh running shoes. Windy crossed a small creek and when I called her to continue up the main path she just looked over her shoulder, clearly daring me to cross and explore the meadow path beyond. After a moment of deliberation and acceptance that there were no stepping stones, I nimbled across as best I could. The cold water on my feet was more refreshing than if I had drank it. After that I stopped avoiding the mud puddles, delighting in splashing through each one. Windy joined in, her speedy gallop sending up an impressive spray. It was terribly fun, and I laughed at how far the mud spatters came up on us. Then we went through an area where the soil was primarily coal dust. Not thinking of the consequences I splashed through a long puddle, and saw my shoes were now jet black. I knew instantly there was no way I was going to be able to clean the coal dust mud from them. I remember when I first got these shoes, I was so proud of the gleaming white and silver-green color. After some outdoor running (and the Coronado Bridge Run mishap) they lost their gleam, but still were sort of white. Heh, I think the best I can hope for now is gray, maybe charcoal? At least they can't get any dirtier than they are now. The weather is cold and rainy now, but I'm counting the days until we can go back. I saw some wild turkey tracks bigger than my splayed fingers, maybe we'll see one :)

Me me me

Last evening of break before going back to work. Last week I listed a bunch of stuff I needed/wanted to do with my week off. I did some of them. My toenails are blue, I mailed off the bra, I ran with the dog. I fought endlessly with winamp, my ipod, and my computer (they're still winning, by the way). I spent way too much time spinning & watching Crash with a great friend. Actually, I'm having trouble remembering what I did with my week off, but I know I had fun doing it. I figured out how to sleep late even with a dog that refuses to let you stay in bed past 7am. I rarely got dressed before noon. I did whatever I wanted rather than what I felt I should do. The only chore I kept up with was laundry. It's been great. Now, instead of clearing the kitchen or doing any of the things still on my list, I'm going to watch the Sex & the City movie again, drink a beer, and knit on my "Katie Scarf" until I have to go to bed.

One of my supposed "resolutions" for 2009 is to take more random photos of things in my life. I'm a shy photographer, so it'll take some work. So in that vein, here's a self-pic of me letting the dog out on a really windy day. Given the strength of the wind, this photos says a lot about how heavy my hair is.

Useless yet awesome display of math

Hyperbolic geometry is a bit beyond my mental skills of understanding. "The parallel postulate in Euclidean geometry is equivalent to the statement that, in two dimensional space, for any given line l and point P not on l, there is exactly one line through P that does not intersect l; i.e., that is parallel to l. In hyperbolic geometry there are at least two distinct lines through P which do not intersect l, so the parallel postulate is false." Whatever. Math skills is one of the reasons I'm a biologist, not a chemist. But I can still be awed and impressed by math. Particularly when the math is modeling a biological process (don't even get me started on phi). And impressed by the weirdness that occurs when intellectuals whip out their craft skills. Here's my favorite example: A crocheted hyperbolic plane. If I remember correctly, a math prof. had a paper model that was getting ragged, and decided to craft one that could stand the test of time. Of course it became a internet-craft thing and there are some freakin cool examples now. So cool in fact, that I may have to whip out a crochet hook and make one myself. Because I have so much spare time on my hands, and so much empty space that needs filling in my house. Yeah. Right. And you know I'm a knitter, not a crocheter. But just look at those pictures, how can I help myself?

A blogger's conundrum

Do I talk about fiber and yarn too much on this blog? I sometimes feel like I do, and my non-fibery readers get bored. But when I look back over prior posts, there are a lot that have nothing to do with knitting, so maybe it's my own self-consciousness. Also a problem is that most of the other blogs I read are truly fiber geek blogs, so you feel this pressure to write about your own fiber adventures, and I just can't get *that* into Ravelry, regardless of how many times I try.

No, the truth is that I carry knitting with me almost anywhere I go, and that even something like my obsessed watching of this insane new series on Starz called Crash involves fiber. I was visiting a friend to do some handspinning (both of our wheels were dusty with disuse), and she played the first episode of this series. I was instantly hooked, and went back a few days later for a Crash & handspinning mini-marathon (I don't have starz). This series involves a number of seemingly unrelated story lines - Dennis Hopper is great as an off-the-wall producer - and there's something about it that makes you have to keep watching. Thankfully there's less gratuitous sex than in an HBO series. Hey, I'm all for sex scenes in a show, but HBO tosses one in anytime they have a hiccup in the plot, rather than using them when it's part of the story. Handspinning is perfect for watching this because you don't have to look at your hands and can keep your eyes glues to the insanity unfolding in front of you.

Well, I guess overall I don't talk about knitting specifically all the time, but just like it flavors most events in my daily life, it certainly is going to flavor a blog about my life. Mmm...speaking of flavor I just caught a whiff of the potroast I'm making for dinner tonight. nom nom nom