I'm back! I think...

The past year leapt away from me and I never was able to grab hold of it again. I think the last post I made almost a year ago followed by 10 months of silence pretty much says it all. But lately I've been having random thoughts about blog posts, things that need more than a facebook status update to delve into. I may or may not stick with it, but the first step is doing it. So far it feels pretty good :)

One of my problems blogging is that the ones I enjoy always have tons of pictures to make the stories more interesting, and I tended to fall down on that front. Or else I'd be looking for meaningful or interesting topics to blog about, rather than the random ramblings that really make up who I am. I'm not sure where this will go, if I'll get overwhelmed by work again and retreat into doing nothing, or what. Here's your invitation to join me on this trip, however long it lasts.

 And to start us off, here's the super cool year-long knitting project I'm working on.

It's a scarf that records the daily temperature. Each color spans 5 degrees, and every day I check the recorded high and knit a row in the corresponding color.

I've decided to use the local temp. wherever I am, but if I'm traveling I'll work the first couple stitches of the row differently so there's a subtle mark that tells me it wasn't just an unseasonable day. Today is my first row of dark grey, which is a 30 degree jump from the spring green line last week. I've always liked the weather, but this scarf it turning me into a weather nerd.

What's a summary that doesn't summarize things?

Do you have New Year's Eve traditions? I try to clear off all those niggling chores and errands - drop off the recycling and goodwill pile, clean out the fridge (thankfully already done last weekend), finish the laundry, etc. It feels good to start the year without any UGH chores to do. I also always summarize the prior year of blog posts by taking the first sentence from each month's first post and pasting them here. Some years it really does summarize things well. This year it does work ok, but I feel like it misses some big parts of the year - like any mention of zombies. Here's the 2011 chronology:

I was holding off posting waiting to get the photos off my phone - I finally sit down to do it, can't find the cord, try to use the one from my USB charging mat, and learn that NOT ALL USB CABLES ARE CREATED EQUAL.

I hope my travels never get as complicated as this:

So my plan to post more frequently, and with photos, has clearly not held up.

Are you familiar with Flat Stanley? 

I’m really starting to see the variability of TSA screening at different airports.

Imagine walking down a grassy path through a sprawling garden.

I have a secret - I want to be in a Flash Mob one day.

Thunderstorm doesn't begin to describe the amount of rain coming down right now. 

It means I've been knitting (and finishing things) like a maniac!

Recent trips have laid me over in Detroit - wait that sounds really wrong.

Part of developing a marketing campaign should be to check online and see if your clever phrase already has an established meaning.

Finally returned

I know it's been a while. The travel schedule and ongoing corporate restructuring has left me little time to do much else. I might start designating my outgoing flights to my hub as "blog update time". It's only about 40 min. of usable laptop time, but that should be plenty of time. I also have to say that in my mind I plan on writing something later today or tomorrow, but in my reality that might be a week or more.

What the hell happened to February? Why is yet another month almost over?

So most of you know I'm into barefoot running and tend not to wear shoes unless I have to. One of the perks of working from home, and no - wooly felted slippers don't count as shoes. One of the most entertaining public places to go shoe-less is the airport. I take them off at security and don't put them on again until I'm about to step out into the real world at my destination. You really notice your surroundings more in socks. For instance, looks at this amazing mosaic that spans the entire corridor floor of Concourse B of Atlanta:

I felt it instantly and looked down, but no one else walking by even noticed it.

I have a pack of fluorescent rainbow socks that I wear traveling. I puff-painted the soles for traction, and like my unapologetic I'M NOT WEARING ANY SHOES! DOES THAT MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE?? blazing neon feet. They make me smile. Ironically, despite the many glances from people, the only ones who ever point out I don't have shoes on are the flight attendants when I'm deplaning. (I think a lot of folks take their shoes off on planes and forget them). Last trip I wondered if my shoelessness was an affectation and decided to wear my Merrell's through the airport. About halfway through I stopped and pulled them off and my feet went aaaahhh!

Jumpin' on the band wagon

I was holding off posting waiting to get the photos off my phone - I finally sit down to do it, can't find the cord, try to use the one from my USB charging mat, and learn that NOT ALL USB CABLES ARE CREATED EQUAL. Apparently some of them can't transmit data, only power. I am not even going to get into that.

Let's start out with my annual bloggy tradition of going back and listing the first sentence of the first post from each month for 2010 and seeing how well it describes the year:

I found a great youtube subscription page entirely of women drumming. (Actually the 2nd post. The true first January post was: "It was so great for 2008, let's see how my 2009 blog review stacks up." But that felt like cheating)

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Edith Wharton

My bellydance class meets at the local dance studio, which happens to be part of the YMCA building, which also houses a thrift store. 

I was out shopping at Marshalls/TJ Maxx and fell in love with this totally impractical pair of shoes.

I had such a good time at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival (MDSW). 

One thing I love about traveling is finding unusual places to eat with foods out of the ordinary.

It's been hot enough lately that I've avoided taking the dogs on pedestrian adventures.  

I'm ready for yet another pair of socks.

Dangit!  


I'm indecisive.

Wow, life has been ZOOMING by the last few months.

Yes, I have a Facebook account.
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Yep, that does sum up my year pretty well. I was wondering how it was going to do since in truth 2010 went by so fast I had trouble even thinking of what I did all those months. I looked back through my journal, tried to remember months in my mind, and still fell far short of 525,600 minutes worth of memory. And I'm disappointed to learn that there are actually 525,948.7 minutes in a year - the writers of Rent apparently forgot that one revolution around the sun is 365.25 days.

So what did I do to bring in the new year? On the 31st I took the dogs on a long fun ramble through the woods, dropped off all the thrift store donations, returned some items at the store, mailed some boxes, and at 11pm I cleaned out all the leftover food from the fridge & freezer, did the dishes, and emptied the trash. I wanted to bring in the new year without anything hanging over me to do tomorrow. Well, except I didn't finish the laundry. But I think that's fitting.

Busier than I expected

Wow, life has been ZOOMING by the last few months. My new job has kept me very busy. I'm trying to stay in better contact with my friends now that I don't get to fall back on seeing them at work everyday. D and I have been doing a lot more together in the evenings. I'm trying to squeeze in the last bit of outdoor adventures before winter sets in. I've been dying to write some new blog entries, but for a while lately I'm happy if I can even update my facebook status regularly. But I just downloaded a bunch of photos from my phone and figure it's the impetus I need to actually write some posts.

The travel hasn't been as bad as they said, right now I'm going once every 3 weeks. It would be great if that's how it stayed, but I'm worried it might have to pick up sometime next year. I was all over NC last week, and my next trip is up to NJ. So far getting into the field has been great. I'm learning a lot from the reps and everyone seems really happy with how I'm doing. The odd thing about the travel I do is that I never get to stay anywhere longer than about 30 hours. My record was 1:20 in Raleigh. I drove 3.5 hours there, ate lunch, had a 20 min. meeting, then drove 4 hours west to the next stop. I'm learning how to unpack in the hotel and immediately repack everything I can to speed up the next morning. Did you watch Up in the Air, that George Clooney movie? Whenever it's on I always stop what I'm doing to watch him pack each time. I usually have time to workout in the evening, and sometimes a few hours free to check out some quirky shop I found online and marked to visit. Mealtimes also tend to be really skewed - too-early breakfast, late lunch, ridiculously late dinner. I've found that I pretty much lose track of not only what day it is, but even what time of day. It's all driven by where I have to be next. Wow, that sounds kind of weird and sad, but really it's not. So far I've adapted really well. And D has been wonderfully supportive. I know he hates it when I'm gone, but he doesn't gripe about it at all. He keeps threatening to kill the dogs if they don't calm down, but honestly I'm with them all day long so I know where he's coming from. I'm sure there's some Freudian reason I'm worried you all might be concerned with the tone of this post, but I don't think I need to start exploring that right now.

Googlemaps has a great feature I highly recommend. You can search for shops, restaurants, yoga studios, etc on googlemaps and it'll pinpoint all of them in an area. You can then save the ones you want to a map for reference later. Anytime someone suggests a spot I save it to a map for that city.

And, since all the blogs I follow use lots of photos, here's one of the hostess stand at the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville. Brilliant!

Ugly Costume Blog

A hilarious website of hideous bellydance costumes - What were they thinking? I've only made it through the first few posts, but it promises not to disappoint. I love the vulva embellishments on one of them!

2009 review post & epiphany

It was so great for 2008, let's see how my 2009 blog review stacks up. Here's the first sentence from the first post of each month for 2009:

Do I talk about fiber and yarn too much on this blog?

Ok, I'm finally back online.

You ever have those days where you really want something chocolatey, but just can't figure out exactly what you're craving?

Now that the weather's brightening up, I'm spending more time outside with the dogs.

Flying Bosoms!

I wish my collection of Legos included an ark of the covenant!

We moved last weekend to our beautiful new house.

Reading another blog (CrazyAuntPurl's) she had a post that I just had to share a bit of.

I've seen some strange things driving on the interstate, but rarely do I have my camera handy to snap a photo.

So remember that pair of socks I was knitting and FROGGING, and just couldn't get the size right?

I just made a trial batch of Southwestern Thumbprint cookies - shortbread cookies made with blue cornmeal and jalapeno jelly filling the thumbprint dent.
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Well, certainly not the insight into my life last year's review post was, but in a way still representative of what things were like this year. Frankly 2009 just disappeared on me. I can't still blame my lack of gumption, organization, or time on moving to our house. After all, that was like 6 months ago! Wow, has it really only been 6 months?

Where does the time go? Seriously. Is there someone akin to the tooth fairy that sneaks in your house and steals your free time? What do they leave you in return? It's certainly not a basket of clean laundry. Oh, I know! They're the dust bunnies! You can tell they've been there stealing spare moments because they leave tell-tale tracks along the baseboards and under the furniture. The more time they steal, the more likely you are to find their remnants in your house. I'm going to go battle them and see if I can win back enough extra time to post a proper new-year's blog entry later.

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.

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

Year in review - blog style

An idea taken from a friend -- Post the first line from the first post of each month for the past year. Seemed a silly idea, but actually sums up the year pretty well. I made a mistake at first and was clipping the topmost post, which is actually the last from each month. I knew it was going to be good when it started out:

Are you effin' kidding me?

"Applewood smoked bacon, Alder wood smoked salt, 41% cacao".

Then I realized my mistake and started over with the correct posts. Too bad, it was on a good track in my opinion. Here's the corrected version:

What a tumultuous year.

What? Two political-based entries in a row?

Tonight is the first official night of "Man this would be a great night to be out camping" season.

I just flipped through my regular online life -- the series of email accounts, facebook, and friends' blogs that I normally stay current with.

Five years ago while I was in chemo, my oncology nurse suggested I try walking the Huckleberry Trail with the dog for some exercise.

I got my autumn leaf tattoo finished last night.

The wild berries are ripe--I think they're black raspberries, although they're a bit smaller like wineberries

For the locals - does Steppin Out seem a bit disappointing this year compared to prior years?

I know we all agree on the ridiculous nature of gasoline pricing.

I was flying back from a conference and killing time in the airport shops.

Living in a small town really has its advantages.

The weather has been most unusual lately.

See? Isn't that great? Oh sure some important things aren't mentioned, but overall my feeling is "Yep, that was 2008 for me".

Nature + Knitting = Inspiring blog

I've been following KnittingIris's blog for a while now. I wish I knew her in person, or at least could spend time in the same places she's always posting pics of. She does the coolest most inspiring thing - she takes a gorgeous photo of nature and then miraculously knits a pair of socks that perfectly reflect the colors of the photo. Her latest set was a photo of an old graying barn set against the mountains in a field of dried grass - and striped socks that pull all those elements together, even the blackness of the barn door opening. Looking at the 2 side by side, it really elevates knitting into the realm of art. Plus she has all sorts of cool nature crafts, like dried autumn leaves dipped in beeswax and hung in a window, or chestnut critters. So, if you're a knitter who likes nature (and I know a couple of you are) I hereby recommend her blog.