the new adventures of pants & ollie

I wish that this weather would never leave...

2009-08-12T08:57:00.007-04:00

hi friends! here we are!

Colorado, the Sunshine State! Gorgeous!

It's been a long summer, and I figured today was as good a day as any to dust off the ol' bloggerino. As many of you know, Ollie has been in Las Vegas since May, taking one for the team and "temporarily" filling in until they're able to hire someone permanently, since, you know, we don't want to move to VEGAS. ew. We're pretty well versed at long distance love, but dude, I am so OVER THIS ALREADY. Fortunately, word around the bog is that he could be home for good by the end of September! Fingers crossed.

We have managed to squeeze in some fun though, with trips to yosemite (for Ollie), LA and SD (for Pants), the annual GTB weekend (this time in Wisconsin!) and I even managed to head out to Vegas for a long weekend over the fourth.

vegas finery

More recently, we were lucky enough to spend the weekend in Denver for Todd and Isabel's wedding. We are so. very. happy. for them, Isabel is a total keeper!

twu wuv

Sadly, the weather here in the Bean was piss poor through most of June and July, but August has kind of redeemed itself. With Ollie absent, I've blazed through a lot of reading and knitting. I'm trying in earnest to finish up my Central Park Hoodie, and have a trip planned this week to Windsor Button to pick up the finishing touches! My first sweater knit for myself!! In time for Rhinebeck!

In keeping with the knitting for ME theme, I'm also halfway through my second Marigold. Since it's my first pair of socks for me, I used some of my precious Sundara sock. Also, these are my first toe-ups, which, seriously, I cannot believe I've waited this long to try. LOVE LOVE LOVE. It's brilliant. Cut your skein in half and knit it all up! Pam's pattern is really well written, and thoughtfully available in a multitude of sizes.

As the summer winds down, I have to pace myself on all the new projects I want to start in my abundant free time. Said free time that is about to disappear with the start of the fall semester. Gotta start that Christmas knitting so I'm not pressed for time around finals! Thank god it's my last year.

....summer's gone, and so are we.

la isla bonita

2009-03-27T13:35:00.000-04:00

Our spring break trip to Isla Mujeres was unbelievably perfect. Dream-like even. Lazy days on the beach, amazing food and drinks, swimming with the fishes and a romantic breezy palapa at Villa la Bella. Head to our flickr stream for the full story, I'll give you the highlight reel here.

Villa la Bella serves as a perfect home base. Beautiful, quiet, relaxing but still plenty to do and people to chat with. Ashley and Curtis are gracious hosts, and were sure to keep our bellies full with delicious breakfasts and top-notch pina coladas!

The island is small, friendly and easy to navigate. Cabs are cheap and the drivers know the island so spanish or english, you can get anywhere you need to go. Two new favorites from this visit?

El Varadero: sunset and amazing mojitos

Snorkeling at Garafon!

We'll definitely be back next year!

O HAI!

2009-01-16T08:35:00.002-05:00

now you know how to greet people in lolspeak!

I say this because clearly we are terrible bloggers. But I have an excuse. Well not really an excuse, but a reason I guess. I've been playing around on flickr (and twitter and facebook) so much, that I've lost my blogging mojo, like there's nothing to say that hasn't been said. I didn't even do christmas cards this year.

I have to say though, that as someone who never kept a diary or a journal, the 365 project has turned out to be a lot of fun. I've met some amazingly fun and kind and funny souls (online and in real life!) and have a sweet photojournal of my year thus far. I'm really glad I started it.

2008 Roundup! We survived finals and the holidaze. Clio for thanksgiving with the in-laws, Christmas with Eoin and Susan and Festivus with the restofus before we all got back to the grind. It was a blast, we'll definitely do it annually. Ollie went ALL OUT.

shrimp canapé from Martha's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook

Now, sadly, we're back to the grind. The vespa's out of commission and winter classes are in session. Sigh. But on the knitting front, I'm THIS close to seaming the shoulders on my CPH! WOOT!

Now on to the sleeves....

I managed to eek out a few holiday gifts, (some of which sadly still haven't been delivered so they can't be named here) and a lovely pair of handwarmers for myself (new year means trying to knit fer mahself!) SUCH an easy project, I highly recommend it, and will definitely be making more.

fingerless mitts from weekend knitting in Oasis Farm Fingering

Up next? The Pants & Ollie Weight Loss Challenge!^TM Ollie joined a weight loss challenge at work and I've decided to kick his ass. So far, notsomuch, but we're headed back to Isla Mujeres (East Emmy Lou Harris for those who can't understand my mumbling) for spring break in march and I am DETERMINED to be comfortable in a swimsuit. So if you run into him, offer him a beer, a basket of fries, ANYTHING that will help me win, and if you can prove you did it, I'll knit ya somethin' real nice. REAL nice.

Halloween....

2008-11-03T19:04:00.005-05:00

was a blast, we had a great turnout for our party, and our costume? I think it was pretty close:

Where did November come from? I failed miserably at accomplishing even one pair of socktober socks, I did manage to finish a mismatched pair:

And in honor of NaKniSweMo I've started working on a CPH with the Rhinebeck yarn. But dear readers, realistically, we all know I'll get nowhere near complete until after finals. Actually, the responsible law student in me SHOULD NOT get anywhere near complete until after finals.

Clearly there are more important things to focus on. One of which will be tomorrow. Big day. BIG day. I like to avoid talk of politics in every forum, but I'll leave you with this....

Please vote tomorrow, it's not only a right, it's a civic duty!

leaf peepin'

2008-10-25T11:05:00.001-04:00

...and campin', hikin' and rhinebeckin'.

Our weekend in the Catskills was amazing, the leaves were at their peak and indescribably beautiful! It was of course, FREEZING, but still very very fun. Emily, Pat, Lisa and Kane were brave enough to face the cold with us. We did all the typical car camping activities: eating, taking walks to the lake, eating, drinking, eating a little more and a LOT of keeping warm by the fire. Despite the cold, the location was idyllic, and Ollie was the consummate car camping chef, keeping our tummies very full!

We hiked the short, steep trail up to Kaaterskill Falls; apparently New York State's highest falls?! Having been to Niagara about one bazillion times, including a few times in January, I'da toldya that Niagara was definitely higher, but I think the sheer volume skews one's perspective. The firepole of a hike up Kaaterskill was pretty steep so I'll take New York's word for it.

Kane was pretty beat after our day of playing at the falls.

Sunday we split up and Ollie, Emily and I headed to Rhinebeck for some yarn shopping, punkin chuckin, and sheep dog trials. We had a great time, made some new friends, (hi danielle!) and even had a celebrity sighting. You know, US Weekly is right, celebrities are just like us!

They pump their own gas! They go to sheep and wool festivals!

I wasn't stealthy enough to capture this shot, but I found it on Flickr, and Alex was kind enough to let me share it with you all! Little Ramona looks just like Peter, and was the cutest thing EVAR!

I think our trip to MA Sheep and Wool and WEBS satiated my yarn needs for a while, because I only whipped out the wallet once, for this lovely worsted weight tweed from Oasis Farm Fiber Mill.

I'm thinking I'll use it for the Central Park Hoodie that's been in my queue forEVER now, and use the debbie bliss casharan to make myself a grown-ass woman sweater ala Flintknits! Oasis also had the most vibrantly colored fingering weight, I picked up a green skein. I was tempted by their beautiful angora sock kits, but held off as I thought of my overflowing sockyarn stash at home. Maybe next year I'll pick some up, because WE ARE DEFINITELY GOING BACK (freezing camping trip and all), it was so much fun.

checking in....

2008-10-14T13:41:00.003-04:00

Just checking in, does this thing still work?! Sorry 'bout the neglect on the ol' blog front, I don't even have a real excuse beyond apathy and laziness. However, October is ramping up to be our busiest month all year, so I may have some blog fodder beyond Andy Samberg talking to animals!

Since I managed to flub up my rezzies for my Grandma's birthday, I pushed the trip up to Leif Ericson day to spend some time with her instead. I managed to finish her cardigan in time for my trip out, and she was gracious enough to model it for me.

It was a very well written pattern. I made no mods beyond knitting the sleeves in the round (which were a leetle long). I need some practice with finishing techniques, but I don't think Gram's going to judge my work too harshly, so she was the perfect recipient of my first adult-sized sweater.

I had a lovely visit, mostly just enjoying her company, watching the dodgers, puzzling, and hanging with Bertie and Jess. The weather was gorgeous, a nice change from the cooler wet weather we've been having in the bean.

This weekend we're heading out west to the Catskills for some car camping and a trip to Rhinebeck. Last year Emily and I discovered that this is the PERFECT weekend for leaf peeping, so it should be a great trip.

The Olivers are in town for a visit after that and then we're having our inaugural annual halloween party. Nothing too crazy, Ollie and I are going as Lars and Bianca (not that anyone will know who we are, but I'm excited nonetheless). Here's a preview of our costume:

Life as normal persists, with the exception of our recent purchase--a new Vespa LX50! We picked her up after our labor day trip to Michigan for Stone's wedding (pics here!). We're trying to enjoy it as much as possible before the snow hits. Ronan took a few action shots of me the other day out in Brookline, I look so dorky in my helmet but I don't care---it's too much fun, and she's saving me loads of time on my work/school/home commutes.

Best of all, you can ride in the bike lane and park it on the sidewalk, it's perfect for the city and gets 70 miles to the gallon! Woo hoo! My only complaint is that I've lost my bus/subway knitting time, which is cutting into my progress on my socks for socktoberfest! I've vowed to finish up the two pairs I have languishing on my needles by november....hmmmm.

jaywalkers for me and bff socks for dru

say hello to your mother for me, alright?

2008-10-06T21:25:00.005-04:00

Tina Fey is to Sarah Palin as Andy Samberg is to Marky Mark. Srsly.

Won't You Take Me To Funky Town?

2008-10-02T14:42:00.003-04:00

Last week I attended The Night of the Funk beer tasting in the South End of Boston with Mister Sterling. It was a wonderful evening of fermented delights. I will admit that these types of beers are not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoy them. Below are the beers I tried as well as some notes.

Allagash Brewing Co.

Interlude (Strong Ale in French Oak w/ Farmhouse & Brett yeast; 9.5%)- Not bad but not very drinkable
Barrel-Aged 10th Anniversary - Oaky very oaky. Reminds me of California Chardonnay which can be good or bad.

Boston Beer Co.

Samuel Adams Kosmic Mother Funk (Bretty Brown; 10.0%) -One word awful. Sam Adams has no idea how to make a funky beer. Poured this one out.

Brewery Ommegang

Ommegeddon (Saison w/ Brettanomyces; 8.0%) - You take a saison and add some Brett. Good combination of flavors I like this one though not as much as the Bier De Mars which I did not try this night.

Rouge (Flanders Red Ale; 5.0%) - Very nice

Cambridge Brewing Co.

Samson (Belgian Barleywine; blend of bbl-aged Belgian strong brown ales and vintage Barleywines w/ traditional brewing herbs and subtle Brett; 10.0%)- Not good certainly does not taste like a barleywine Mr. Sterling poured this one out
Delilah (Blend of bbl-aged Belgian strong golden ale with Brett. Anomolous and Bruxellensis, and an herbed Belgian blonde gruit beer; 7.0%)- Also not good I poured this one out.

D&V International

Oud Beersel Framboise (Traditional Raspberry Lambic; 6.0%)- Very nice Framboise though a little on the sweet side
Oud Beersel Oude Kriek (Traditional Cherry Lambic; 6.5%)- I liked this Kriek it reminded me of the Lou Pepe Kriek from Cantillion. Less sour than most but had a hint of spice.
Duchesse De Bourgogne by Brouwerij Verhaeghe (Traditional Flemish Red Ale, matured in oak barrels and blended; 6.0%)- Sour and delicious.

Deschutes Brewery

The Dissident (Flanders Oud Bruin; rare; we only got our hands on one case; 11.0%) - Only got to have 1oz of this one but it was awesome. Jordan says he has a bottle of it out in Seattle that he is going to save for when I visit which may I say is awesome.

Global Beer Network

Petrus Aged Pale (Aged in oak for 3 years; 7.3%) - Nice drinkable beer not that funky. For a pale ale the hop notes are pretty hidden.

Ithaca Beer Co.

Vitus (Neo-Flemish American Whiskey Sout Brown w/ hand-crushd Wild Grapes; 6.0%) - Was not bad though not my favorite.
Champagne Grisette (Tart wheat ale, fermented w/ Saccharomyces Bayanus & Brettanomyces; 4.5%) - Both Mr. Sterling and I agreed that this was one of the best. We both got seconds.

New Belgium Brewing Co.

NBB Love (Single bbl, unblended La Folie, sour, wood-aged beer; 7.0%) - Liked it.

Rohrbach Brewing Co.

Oak-Aged Belgian Pale Ale (Wild Belgian Pale Ale on cask; 5.9%) - Similar to the Petrus above very drikable and not really funky.

Russian River Brewing Co.

Beatification (Batch #2; 100% spontaneously fermented w/ Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus & other wild yeast & bacteria in old bbls; 5.5%)
Supplication (Batch #3; Brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with three strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and sour cherries; 7.0%)
Temptation (Batch #1; 3 years old; Blonde Ale aged in French oak chardonnay bbls with Brettanomyces; 7.25%)

We were lucky to be able to try all three of these since they were is such limited supply. Throughly enjoyed the 1oz sample of each.

Shelton Brothers

Mikkeller It's Alive! - Just ok. Would never order one
Flemish Primitive # 6 - Disgusting. Tastes like an extra butty brie or cow poo.
Cuvée De Ranke
Cantillon Classic Gueuze
Cantillon Kriek
Cantillon Vigneronne - Was excited to finally try this one and it did not disappoint. It is a lambic with Muscat grapes added. Sour yet had a very nice sweet finish.

Southampton Publick House

Cuvee des Fleurs (A Saison flavored with a blend of edible flowers including L. augustifolia, A. nobilis, C. officinalis, R. canina and H. lupulus.; 8.0%) - This beer was really cool. You definitly could taste the notes added by the flowers. Would love to have it again.

The Bruery

Melangé #1 (Blend of a young Flanders Red & Imperial Stout) - Interesting combination that was well balanced
Saison Rue (Saison bottled w/ Brett; 8.5%) -Very similar to the Ommegedon and just as tasty

The Lost Abbey

Cable Car 08 (Sour Ale, blended once a year to celebrate the Toronado. Only 50 cases were produced this year; 7.0%)- Not so good
Saint's Devotion 08 (Devotion Ale spiked w/ Brett; 7.0%)- Kind of plain.
Sinners 08 (Secret blend of 3 bbls; 9.0%)

Weyerbacher Brewing Co.

Riserva (American Wild Ale; 11.4%) - Not that wild

Willimantic Brewing Co.

Willi Wonder! (Willi Whammer '05 blended w/ Certified Gold to Workingman's Wheat (and Willi beers), aged in a fresh Dickel bbl w/ Brett and Lambic yeast; 7.0% - Interesting complex flavor liked this one a lot as well.

Summer Summer Time (sung to the Will Smith song)

2008-08-23T09:53:00.003-04:00

As I recently had been reminded I have not posted in a while mostly out of laziness. I can not believe the summer is coming to a close and I will have to put away my white pants and shoes after next weekend. I actually had a pretty eventful summer though it has gone too quickly. Some of the highlights include a visit by the GTBs.
For those of you who do not know "GTB" stands for Good Time Boys. We are all friends who grew up together and now get together at least once a year somewhere to have a weekend that usually involves baseball, sightseeing, enjoying local cuisine, and drinking (not always in that order). This year on the third anniversary of our trips they came to Boston. Let me just say that Nancy is an angel for putting up with the four of us.

I also made it out to Seattle to visit my other friend Mark over 4th of July weekend. Unfortunately I do not have any photos from this weekend since I left both cameras at home. We spent the weekend BBQ'ing, playing corn hole, and discovering the wonders of Hard Creamer (by far the worst beverage you could ever consume).

This is also an interesting summer because two of the GTB's are getting married. Chad got married at the end of July at Pub 222 in St. Charles Illinois.

The wedding was a blast. Stone is getting married in Jackson Michigan next week which means Nancy and I will be road tripping it all of next weekend considering the astronomical prices to fly from Boston to Detroit. The one big advantage is that we will be able to stop in Buffalo on the way there and on the way home to visit friends and maybe have a chicken finger sub from Louie's! If you have never had a chicken finger sub in Buffalo you have no idea what you are missing.

A few weeks ago I got a chance to say goodbye to Jordan as he has moved to Seattle. For one last hurrah on the east coast Jordan had won tickets to the Big Lebrewski at the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown New York. We spent Friday night in the bustling town of Albany New York though we did find a great local brew pub called C.H. Evans. If you are ever in the area I recommend you stop in for a beer. They were all good but my favorites were the Kick Ass Brown and the Pale Ale. The next morning we drove to Ommegang and the weather was not looking very promising since it rained the whole way there but fortunately it did stop once we showed up at the brewery and started to set up our tent. This festival was awesome if you like Belgium style beers. The selection was great and included many unusual brews.

Needless to say considering the brewery tour, four hours of beer tasting, and all of the beer we brought with us I may have over indulged. I will definitely plan on trying to make it to this fest again next year. The rest of the photos from the fest can be found here Big Lewbrewski.

In other news I did get Lasik surgery yesterday. It is the best thing ever. My vision is now 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other. If you are sitting on the fence and trying to decide whether or not to get it done--I say do it.

Well that is all for now. I will try to post more frequently (and therefore shorter posts) as we move into the fall. We actually have a few things coming up worth noting: Stone's wedding, My Morning Jacket in concert, Ryan Adams in concert, Night of Funk (Ollie only), and camping with a side trip to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. Talk to you all soon.

summer school what?

2008-07-01T12:06:00.006-04:00

I'm still in denial that I have class this summer, and even more so about the fact that my final is 22 days away. I am however, running full throttle into my knitting, making it rain FOs.

I finished a "good luck going away" hat for Sonu, but unfortunately was never able to snap a pic of him wearing it. I guess that means I'll have to plan a trip to NYC soon? darnit.

I went with my old standby, fig and plum's cashmere ribbed hat. It's a great pattern that fits just about everyone, and makes for a quick knit. It's especially lovely when knit with misti baby alpaca royal, (in hematite) easily my favorite yarn, so soft, light and warm.

My officemate also headed for greener pastures, (*cough McCain campaign cough*) so to wish her well, I knit up a pair of socks with the sliver moon superwash I picked up at MA Sheep and Wool.

spring forward socks from Knitty summer 2008

I loved the pattern, and from the queue numbers in ravelry, I'd bet it's the next monkey! It was easy to memorize, fast to knit and best of all? No purling! Amber seemed pretty psyched with the gift too. The yarn? OY! The skeins were an absolute mess, and a total nightmare to wind!!! It was rough to knit and felt like chain mail but happily, it washed up soft. Based on the price and the resulting squishy socks, I'll probably pick up some more at Rhinebeck in the fall.

I had a little bit of yarn left over for Sara's birthday surprise on Sunday.

lace headband by mintyfresh

Another great pattern. It's a perfect use for leftover sock yarn, I'm sure I'll be making plenty more! I did make one mod. Instead of i-cord ties, I cast on five stitches and knit for about two inches, binding off in the same fashion. I used the resulting tab to fold over a rubber band, sewing it into the headband at both ends. Turned out well, and Sara seemed pretty psyched. Or was it the vodka?

And finally, after all that knitting for other peeps, I got in some knitting for yours truly. I know, I know, I keep saying I'm going to knit for myself, but my short attention span keeps me easily distracted with fun gift knits.

Anyway, this weekend, I frogged, restarted, and finished my knamaste yoga mat bag.

namaste yoga mat bag from Jenni P McD in noro kureyon

My first go at it I kept forgetting my yarn overs and ended up with some wonkiness from my random increases. This time around I paid closer attention, and I love it, it turned out perfect!

I made a few modifications, skipping the stockinette top and adding rectangle rings to the cast on and bind off edges so that I could thread my yoga strap through to use as the handle. I loathe knitting i-cord, (which concerns me, because the "i" in i-cord is for "idiot" right?) so I made the drawstring with the wonder knitter™ I picked up on my trip to Chicago. Fun tv watching knitting at it's best!

Next up? Finish up my gram's birthday cardigan. Sadly, I ended up missing the big party. Long story short, I apparently am an idiot because when I redeemed my miles for the flight there, I never actually purchased the ticket. Sad Pants.

Instead, and unfortunately for my liver, I was here in the bean for an exciting and debauchery filled GTB weekend, which was pretty fun and of course, very entertaining. Ollie's post recapping the weekend is on the horizon....stay tuned!

mememememememe too

2008-06-24T14:54:00.006-04:00

a lull in blogsville has prompted me to jump on the meme train....parika's post made me a joiner!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I finished school in December of '97, which means in June of 1998, Ollie and I were enjoying a perfect Bellingham summer before our big move to Buffalo for grad school in August. We were both making good use of our chemistry degrees, with yours truly as a bank teller, and Ollie slinging coffee at big bucks (with Chris Walla)! Despite our stellar income level, it was actually one of our best summers, starting our lives together, with really no responsibilities.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
1. ~~go to the gym~~
2. go to class (ETA, skipped that one! :-p)
3. finish amber's surprise knitting
4. bake cupcakes for amber's last day (tomorrow!)
5. watch the weeds episode we dvr'd last night

3) Snacks I enjoy:
salted edamame, popcorn, avocado on toast with salt and pepper, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (NO raisins) and good dark chocolate

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
quit, pay off my student loans, buy a house on the beach in san diego and a condo in downtown boston, bankroll my family, hire pat to be my full time trainer, get a puppy, take every trip we've ever imagined, spend a weekend each month with my grandma

5) Places I have lived:
monrovia, ca
portland, or
spokane, wa
bellingham, wa
missoula, mt
chicago, il
buffalo, ny
columbus, oh
san diego, ca
boston, ma

6) Jobs I have had:
retail sales (2plus2!)
table busser @ a buffet restaurant (yikes!)
data entry in an accounting department
copy jock
math and chemistry tutor
chem lab prepper and teaching assistant
bank teller
graduate teaching assistant
medicinal chemist
technology specialist
patent agent

Consider yourself tagged, and if you jump on, leave me a comment so I can see your answers, too!

eight years!

2008-06-03T00:17:00.003-04:00

It's gone by so fast!

Happy Anniversary Ollie, I really am the luckiest girl in the world.

Happy Birthday Ollie!

2008-05-30T09:56:00.003-04:00

He's 33!

13 Years ago today....we went on our first blind date.

how lucky am I?!

ETA: Jordan made Ollie the BEST birthday gift ever:

Happy Birthday (Mr. Oliver) from Jordan Ginsburg on Vimeo.

summer = baseball and yarn!

2008-05-28T17:05:00.009-04:00

So, I'm finished with finals and suddenly summer school is underway. I'm trying my hardest to recuperate while we try to squeeze in as much fun as possible now that I only have one class instead of four. Watch out!

Some law school peeps got together for Lester's no hitter last week. It was my first fenway game and while it wasn't as good as wrigley, it was actually pretty fun!

Except of course during the seventh inning stretch when I got a million glares for singing "root, root-root for the CUBBIES!" during take me out to the ball game. Whatevs.

We kept it low key for memorial day weekend, with one crazy exception....Ollie, Emily and I headed out to Cummington (yes, correctly spelled) for the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft show. Lamburgers, yarn, shearing and showing; it was a good time. Ollie feigned interest, but I think he enjoyed taking lots of pics with his fancy pants new birthday camera. Some of the sheep were pretty photogenic!

Feigning or not, he wins husband of the year award for driving, and more importantly, for waiting while we shopped at WEBS! So much yarn, such friendly staff, such great prices (discounts!), it was a little overwhelming. I've been resigning for awhile now to knit a sweater for myself, but babies and birthdays keep popping up. No more! I've got enough yarn to knit a few sweaters and then some. Surely WEBS was my last big meal, I've got to go on a yarn diet!

The question now is, what to knit? I've been eyeing twinkle's twiggy, the CPH, and the tweedy aran. But I've also had my eye on rusted root for awhile, and cherry and sizzle too, and if I knit one of the summery sweaters, maybe I could actually wear it this summer?

all fotos courtesy of the above linked websites

Hmmm....Ollie's gonna kill me for all this blathering on about knitting.

final-ly

2008-05-28T16:01:00.001-04:00

I'm done with finals! Woo hoo! As you can imagine dear reader(s?), most of march, april, and may were spent in fits of studying, procrastinating, pouting, and no blogging. Good thing Ollie is such a Pants fan, 'cause I wouldn't wanna put up with me. Needless to say, it's over. How did I do? Dunno. Not much I can do about it now, it is what it is. Besides, I'm sure it's not hard to make the dean's list when you're in kindergarten, right?

Anywho, after finals were finished, I headed out on a whirlwind tour to see fam and friends. First I jetted over to chi-town for a quick visit with Nita, Matt, and Evan. They're doing fantastic. He's a great baby and Nita's such a good mom!

ohmygoodness he's so cute, but boy, do babies poop and puke A LOT!

I managed to finish his blankie in time for the visit, but apparently dropped a stitch (during finals? no! what a shocker!), because after a good washing, it had a ginormous hole in it. Daphne was relieved to find I would be leaving the reject at home. I knit him up a new one, and I've been told he's thrown up on it a few times already. Yay!

I also stopped in for a quick visit with the in-laws and a few bottles of wine in celebration of mother's day...good times were had by all!

don't mind the blurry pics, I wasn't exaggerating about the wine

Since my trip was technically a vacation, I also managed to sneak in a little fiber hunting and found some lovely noro kureyon sock at wool and company, a great LYS in Geneva...which was kind of on my way to Glen Ellyn, according to Carmen (the garmin I rented). Isn't that what everyone does on their vacations?!

After chi-town, I headed to L.A. for three perfect days with my grandma, aunties, and cousins. Grandma was game for a drive to Pasadena to check out another LYS, this time skein. While the store carried a lot of nice yarns, it was WAY overpriced; Gram was commenting on the prices for two days after our trip :-)

She's doing great and she looks fantastic. We hung out, worked on a puzzle, watched the dodgers, watered the flowers, chatted on the porch; you know, the usual. It was a low key visit, but exactly the quality time I love with her. Her front porch is easily my favorite place in the world. The one comfort in saying goodbye was that I knew I'd be back there next month for her 95th birthday party.

Yes, 95! She doesn't look a day over 80!

I've started knitting her a cardigan for the big day, but my progress is slow, and there's a good chance it will turn into a christmas present.

bristow cardigan, lorna's laces shepherd worsted (superwash!) in periwinkle

I'm almost finished with the back section, I've left out the waist shaping and plan to knit the sleeves in the round. Think I can have it seamed by June 7th before my flight?

Yeah, me neither.

Last, but certainly not least, I drove from L.A. and spent the weekend in S.D. with BA and Timmy. I managed to sneak in a great brunch date with Kate and Beth at the americana in Del Mar, and Timmy was a gracious host and picked us up some In-n-Out for dinner on Saturday! It was great to see them, the boys are HUGE, and I got a lot of quality time with frankie.

she's irresistible

They're amazing parents, I really don't know how they do it. I volunteered to help out and take frankie off their hands, but Beth wouldn't have it. Hmph. (Neither would daphne, nor our landlord for that matter, but that's irrelevant!) It was so lovely to spend time with friends and family, even with tearful goodbyes. I'd give anything for a real summer break, but as Butch always says, wish in one hand....

Coachella

2008-05-03T17:50:00.026-04:00

For those of you who are regular readers of our Blog (do we have regular readers?) and are waiting for some new baking or knitting news you will be disappointed. While I always enjoy the fruits of Nancy's labor I will not be discussing her current projects. Instead I will be discussing my annual Coachella adventure. As Nancy mentioned in the previous installment she was unable to join me for the second year in a row. This year Jeremy and Courtney joined me on the jaunt to Indio. I stayed at the Embassy Suites Palm Desert which is the location I have been staying in for the last three years. This year I was fortunate enough to hear about a pre-party that is held every year by Filter magazine.

The party featured the band Wallpaper play (as shown above). They were a ton of fun and even covered a Michael Jackson tune. The party also featured free vodka and beer. It got to the point that one of the bars ran out of mixers so they decided just to pour half glasses of vodka (yikes!). After having too much fun, the next morning came around way too early.

Coachella Day 1

After the fun of the previous night we did not get as early of a start to the day that we had planned, but we still got to the Empire Polo Grounds at a reasonable hour thanks to no traffic on the way in. We started the day by seeing the Battles.

The sound quality in the Gobi was a little rough and I thought some of their songs went on to long but I would give them another listen in the future. We followed this set by checking out a little bit of Dan Deacon who is so much fun to see. He started with getting the entire audience to go through some stretches followed by a count down in which after zero we were all to yell "Matrix 3 really was a good movie, really" or something close to that. It was fun, we checked out a song or two and headed over to the outdoor stage to catch Architecture In Helsinki.

They were fun to listen to and had a sound a little reminiscent of the B-52's but in a good way. After an extended break (much needed in that desert heat) in which we leisurely heard a little bit of Tegan and Sara who I personally thought were awful we headed over to see Goldfrapp.

Goldfrapp were amazing! Her voice sounds live exactly as it does on the albums. The crowd really were happy with their performance and cheered and clapped. Alison Goldfrapp seemed genuinely surprised with the audiences reaction which was great to see. After Goldfrapp we swung by the Sahara tent to catch a little of Aphex Twin's DJ set.

After a short stint in the tent we headed back over to the Coachella Stage to check out the Verve who have recently gotten back together. I forgot to mention that when I had arrived into Palm Springs and was waiting for my luggage the Verve also happened to be waiting for their luggage which was kind of cool. Anyway back to their show. They sounded great and played some new material as well. I took a video of The Drugs Don't Work but I am having some trouble loading it up. I will try to add it at a later time. One thing that I did learn is that Richard Ashcroft is a chain smoker. He lit up at least 4 times during their hour long set. Now is the point where I have to rant a little. The crowd that had gathered for the Verve were a little annoying not Tool annoying but annoying none the less. Most of the people had obviously only heard of Bittersweet Symphony and proceeded to talk during the entire set. The most annoying part is one couple I was standing next to in their hipster clothing who fidgeted and talked the whole set until the second to the last song, which was of course Bittersweet Symphony. They then danced, sang along, and left immediately after. I do not expect people to be familiar with their work but at least give it a chance and do not talk through the whole set when others are there to see them perform other songs. OK enough with the ranting moving on, we then went over to the Sahara yet again to check out Fatboy Slim. The beginning of his set was fun but after the long day we decided to call it a night to prepare for the next day.

Coachella Day 2

We arrived a little earlier the second day which was nice. We got some lunch and listened to VHS or Beta (ironic considering Nancy's earlier post about our version of a Beta purchase). They were just OK. Maybe I am just getting tired of all the post punk sounding bands. The best of seeing them was when Courtney (who is a good 10 years younger than me) asked Jeremy and I what a Beta was. We proceeded over to the Mojave to check out Man Man who I really knew nothing about.

I think Jeremy said it best when he said you do not need to put your kids on Ritalin just put them in a band. They were crazy fun and put a big smile on my face. At this point we spilt up I wanted to see the Cold War Kids and Jeremy wanted to check out MGMT. I believe we were both happy with our choices. The Cold War Kids played some new material which was really good so I am looking forward to their new album when it arrives.

We met up afterward to check out Kate Nash. She was not really good live and looked terrified when she came up on stage. We ended up staying the whole set but I could have left after the first song. Following her set we headed over to an overly packed Sahara tent to catch Hot Chip.

They put a dance inspired set that got everyone moving. After the energy we spent dancing we decided that it was time for a break. We headed over to the beer garden between the Coachella stage and the outdoor theater to relax. This turned out to be a wise choice because we were able crash out and see Kraftwerk. Following our break we split up once again I heading over to see Portishead and Jeremy and Courtney heading over to see Flogging Molly who Courtney really wanted to see. Portishead were unbelievable. The bass was so heavy at points that I could feel my eyelashes vibrate. I am looking forward to the new album though it does sound like it will be different than previous albums based upon the material they played while at Coachella.

We stuck around for Prince but we only stayed for about 40 minutes due to lack of energy and also being so far away that we really could not see much. He was putting on a great show and brought along a ton of guests including Shelia E. who performed her hit from the 1980's.

Coachella Day 3

Jeremy and Courtney decided to bow out for day 3 since they had to work on Monday and had to drive back to Lodi CA. Having no one to hang out with or wait on at the hotel I ended up getting to the show the earliest of the three days. I checked out the Institubes when I first got there. I was not sure which member was spinning at the time but it was a good set of house music. One of the impressive parts of the set was when he through on a track that he sang to.

Perry Farrell came on next in the tent and I was expected just a DJ set but instead he came out with two members of Satellite Party and proceeded to perform dance versions of old Jane's Addiction songs. I thought it was quite entertaining.

I did leave a little early only because I wanted to see I'm From Barcelona and I am glad I did. They came onto the stage 17 members strong carrying giant red balloons that they threw into the audience. They had the whole crowd singing along and performing hand gestures to their songs. There was also plenty of confetti to go around. They finished their set by a couple of members of the band leaping into the audience and forming a Congo line. If they ever come to Boston I am definitely going to go and see them. I recommend if they come to your neck of the woods that you see them too.

This day turned out to be the day I spent the most time in the Sahara tent as I went to catch Deadmau5. His set was great and I danced my booty off for the entire hour. He did wear the mouse mask that he is known for but wisely removed it during the set since it was pretty darn warm.

I caught a little bit of Metric but was not really drawn in so I decided to wait until My Morning Jacket before seeing any more acts. In my opinion My Morning Jacket are the best live rock band around today. I have probably said this at least a 100 times but their albums do not do them justice. They performed a great if too short set which included my favorite Gideon which gives me goose bumps every time I hear it live.

Next came one of the most amazing concert experiences. Roger Waters performing Dark Side of The Moon and other Floyd hits. It was crazy. There was a surround sound system, giant inflatable pigs, pyrotechnics, and a giant prism like the one on the cover of the album. Oh yea and the music was good too. I did leave before the encore only to beat traffic and being completely exhausted after a weekend of baking in the desert sun. Additional pictures of the weekend including some of the cool art work can be found on the flickr page.

Well it is back to reality I am heading to Houston for a conference tomorrow and Nancy is studying hard for finals. Hopefully we will have some new and exciting things to post in the near future.

this one's for all you sweethearts out there...

2008-04-13T22:00:00.020-04:00

...let's go buf-fa-lo!

Ollie went way over the top this Christmas and bought us two of the greatest seats for last Saturday's Sabres-Bruins game at the Garden. What can I say, we're dinks!

It was Numminen's first game of the season.

I'm going to bore you non-hockey fans with the details, but my-oh-my was it fun! We've sat on the glass before, but behind the bench? Amazing. Amazing and very distracting. I could not focus on the game, because I was so focused on what was going on at the bench, watching the players interact with the coaches, line changes--it was all so fun.

Despite the fact that the Sabres were out of contention for the playoffs, Vanek's natural hat trick made the night even more fun, and I was lucky enough to snag a sweaty towel from the bench. I use it at the gym everyday!

I was trying to catch the guys coming out of the tunnel, all I got was footage of my towel!
Don't worry, I washed it.

In knitting news, things are moving along nicely on Evan's gifts. Much of my knitting is confined to the T, bus, and tv watching after class, so progress can be slow. Fortunately, this blankie is knit in a bulky gauge yarn which hides imperfections, and knits up quickly. Daphne approves!

Heaven Mini Baby Blanket knit in Plymouth Heaven

I keep resolving to knit for myself as soon as these gifts are done, but Ollie shared our flickr pics with the fam and my FIL discovered that I'm still not knitting the argyle socks he requested a year ago! My fear of seaming has got me thinking of trying intarsia in the round with Lucia's pattern generator.

Sadly, I'm light on adventures as finals are looming. Ollie on the other hand has an action packed adventure coming up; his annual coachella pilgrimage! It really grinds my gears that I can't go. Last year I missed Arcade Fire! Travis! Björk! This year I'm missing Prince! Prince! And I'm certain that by the time I'm finished with law school and can go, the lineup will stink like bonnaroo, and I won't want to go anyway! Pouty much?!

¡ándele pues!

2008-03-30T16:27:00.014-04:00

Our trip was all that one can hope for....relaxing, sun and fun filled, and of course far too short.

We had a fantastic time with Todd and Isabel, they were the perfect vacation partners! We made sure to get plenty of pan dulce, margaritas, frijoles and avocados. I'll spare you the details of eating, sleeping, drinking, beaching, swimming, napping, check out the flickr page for fotos. Ollie went a little crazy with the sunset pics, and as you'll see I did a lot of vacation knitting, but the pictures pretty much sum up the trip....rest and sun.

In other adventure news, Michelle and Aidan road tripped it out to Boston for a quick visit. Their whirlwind tour included dinner at Stephanies, a stroll on the freedom trail, lunch in the north end, shopping on newbury street, a quick tour of Harvard Square, dinner at Om, a trip to the ICA, lunch at Flour and hair of the dog at Lucky's, and a farewell dinner at Sonsie. Phew! We ate our way through Boston, and kept the lights on at the Drop to boot!

It was lovely to see them, we're looking forward to more qft at Christmas, but I'll be in Chicago soon because Nita launched on Wednesday and made me an Auntie again! Everyone, meet Evan:

Clearly I'd better get knitting or he'll never fit into that sweater! Don't worry, Auntie Pants has already started a blankie!

antsy pants

2008-03-09T23:57:00.034-04:00

Thus far, March has been a dry month for posts. Perhaps it's the calm before the storm, as we leave this saturday for Vallarta! Woo hoo! And while I have a ton of actual work work to do between now and then, I cannot stop myself from packing, planning, and listing for our trip. I honestly do intend to do some studying for the ol' law school on the plane, but if I were a betting girl....I'd put my money on knitting projects winning out.

I mean look, just LOOOK at the yarn I'm eagerly hoping will arrive before we depart:

Val over at actual size creations has ingeniously hand-dyed yarns in shades inspired by Wes Anderson movies! Ollie's going to get his first hand knitted socks out of the lovely shade above, "Rushmore!" I ordered a bunch more, including Belafonte, Bottle Rocket, Mordecai, and Royal Tennenbaum. I am so dorked out!

Elsewhere on the knitting front, the requisite birthday surprise is past due. Sigh. I managed to finish one sock for My Lisa, (no thanks to the crapload of work I got slammed with) yet failed to get it to her, since la casa de Pants y Ollie was fun-free all weekend; with document review for me (see, actual work work) and Ollie out with the bronchial nasties he's been battling since January!

So My Lisa, if you're watching, Happy Birthday! Feliz Cumpleanos!* Your family misses and loves you! Here's the first half of your birthday present. I promise it will be a pair after our trip.

New Year's Day Socks from Dipsy Doodle
in Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Watermelon Tourmaline.
Short row heel a la cosmicpluto and misocrafty.

Anyway, like I said, we're off on saturday for a week of boat drinks, body surfing, beach knitting, and maybe a little teency bit of airplane studying. Updates and photos to follow. And should you mistakenly think that the fun ends there, Aidan and Michelle are road tripping their way here two days after we get back! Oh, my how the adventures just keep piling up!

*(anyone who knows how to html the proper punctuation including the upside down "!" and "~" over the n, lemme know!)

eye candy sunday

2008-02-24T17:08:00.000-05:00

Liz turns 30 on monday, so we headed out to Camp Lizard last night for a little birthday fun. To ensure compliance with the camping theme, Ollie and I brought our PBR, beer cozies, and s'mores cupcakes--chocolate chip graham cracker cupcakes with toasted marshmallow-y frosting. Yum!

Liz and I have a lot in common, and one thing we both do very well is procrastinate the law school studying with arts and crafts. I knit her up a pair of spanish dancer socks, in a nice bubble gum pink to wear while studying, or not studying.....

and she sponge painted a ton of t-shirts so that we all could remember our awesome camp experience:

I didn't get my leatherworking badge, and Ollie sat out the three-legged race, but we had an awesome night nonetheless. So now the question is, do I study today, or do I get to work on more birthday surprises?

Yep, we bought a beta....

2008-02-18T20:20:00.000-05:00

Last week, Netflix sent us an email to let us know that they're switching exclusively to Blu-ray high def DVDs. Now, we all know that economically, it's not a wise choice to shop for a tv two days before the superbowl, but I figured it was completely safe to buy Ollie the HD-DVD player attachment to the Xbox as a Christmas gift. Boy was I wrong. Reuters confirmed it today:

"Sony Corp's Blu-ray technology is close to winning the format war for home movie DVDs after a source at Toshiba said it was planning to exit its HD DVD business after Hollywood studios and big retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. backed Blu-ray."

Anyone wanna buy an HD copy of The Bourne Ultimatum? It's like-new! We're rolling back prices!

amazing jellies and aging rock stars

2008-02-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

Ollie, Emily and I ventured out to the waterfront yesterday to see the U23D show at the IMAX, and to check out the aquarium. While it pales in comparison to the Shedd, the Jelly exhibit was mezmerizing, and apparently, the IMAX is the largest in New England, so that was a big selling point.

I don't really count the Achtung tour as a concert, I had to use binoculars and really couldn't see A THING. Needless to say, coming home to learn that Bono pulled Shelby Dinwoodie up on stage during mysterious ways really blew the whole experience for me.

Redemption came when we saw them in Buffalo with P.J. Harvey on the ATYCLB Tour. I skipped out of the lab early and we ended up on the floor, at the tip of the heart. It was easily the best live show I have ever seen. Each and every time Bono was anywhere near us, I screamed like a little girl, even as his wrinkles and short stature diminshed the remnants of my school-girl obsession.

It amazes me that Bono can smoke like a chimney, yet still sound like he did when I was 12. The 3D IMAX show captured all that the live show has to offer and more; you're so close you can see minutia like the Edge's cute freckles, and the flat head on Larry's beer. My only complaint, and I mean only, was that while I appreciate the band's fervor, I think that the community experience of a live show really nails home the politically charged nature of the songs and leaves you feeling like you can make a difference. Even on New England's largest IMAX screen and in 3D, the message was lost on me. I guess it just felt sort of contrived. Maybe I'm just too old?

One thing's for sure...we're never too old for Jellies!

more pics here