Pics, As promised (part 1 of ?)

First, Baby blankets are finito...

The blue.gold.green one has been given to a sweet young one named Nikko and the others are wrapped and ready for gifting. The most pastel looking one was completed on the San Fran Trip.

Without further delay - the San Fran Trip, day one.

The plane landed, we got the rental car, we went and we chocolated. Scharffen Berger Chocolate to be exact, their plant is in Berkeley California, and I recommed the tour/chocolate tasting to anyone who appreciates European style (not sweet and waxy) chocolate. Kel and I were early for our tour so we participated in one of the quintessential Californian activities - Cafe going.

How convenient that Scharffen Berger also has a chocolate laced cafe experience. Here you'll notice husband Kelly with a piece of lush chocolate cake that was quickly scarfed down. He enjoyed an iced chocolate while I had the cacao coke. Everything was ridiculously yummy.

After the gastronomically pleasing visit to the cafe we perused the store and bought copious amounts of chocolate even before we had the tour/tasting - where we all got to sport hairnets and look like uber-goobers...

Let me tell you something though - the tasting was worth it!

After the tour, we made our way to Rach and Douglas's, Kel's cousins, to pop in, unload, relax and see their house and say hi. Kel and Rach are the cousins that are closest in age. And they were more than welcoming, their house was our house, and they let us treat it like a home base. They have recently aquired a new family member - Chewie - and we fell in love with this little bundle of energy....Douglas took us to a fun place for dinner, a bar and restaurant where we walked right in amid a busy Saturday crowd for another great meal.

There you have it - day 1.

2 days does not a gymrat make...

But I felt better when I went to the gym today. I kind of hit a three oclock wall today. I am starting off slowly so I don't hurt myself and/or get discouraged. Very slowly. Like today for example, I walked 1.7 miles and then got off the treadmill and came home. And ate a bag of cheetos - hahahahah - just kidding, I had some carrots with a little bit of dip to make it "not as healthy". You see, the gym near me isn't open yet - so I'm going to a smaller version of the gym - at least from what I can tell it is smaller - mostly treadmills, bikes, ellipticals and such, then free-weights for the not-amy types.

Yesterday was great in Raleigh - the weather has gone from 90-100s to whooo-hooo 70s and 80s and comfortable. Kel and I played tennis for the first time in probably 2 years (he says it hasn't been that long, I think it has been longer). I was slow. My backhand must have slowly degraded over that time too because it was comical at best.

Here's to more good weather.

For the rest of the weekend - Kel and I went to Greek fest - where Kel got to meet one of my ex's. JOY. At least the food was decent. I love me some spanikopita. Kel's folks came into town on Saturday for the day (bad weather on the coast again the weekend - we will never go sailing).

While I worked, they went to Bug Fest and then we went to a favorite nearby joint for outdoor mexican - Dos Taquitos.

And the slackassedness continues...

Almost a month since my last post - must have been busy. or lazy. or something.

Kind of busy -
Went to San Fran/Monterey and had a bunch of fun with Kel's cuz and my family.
Saw Bill and Heidi's new kiddo - Nikko. He is adorable, cute and heathy, and completely changing his parents world.
Went to racing club meeting even though I have missed a couple of events (joys of working on Saturdays).
Visited with Margaret today to say hi, her father passed away shortly before the California trip. It was so good to see her and talk. She is my walking buddy from long ago and I just miss the opportunities to vent.
I finished the fourth in a series of baby blankets. Shortly thereafter I finished a mitten. I might even have enough yarn to make another mitten. They match the earflap hat I made when I needed a quickie project that wasn't a baby blanket.

Kind of lazy -
Although I have had a couple of days off here and there, I keep meaning to blog. Oh! If my well-meaning-ed-ness would actually convert itself into blog entries.

Kind of something -
I joined a gym. You can't beat the rate and we'll see, maybe I'll actually get off my lazy butt and go.
I think the dessert plating guy is going to give notice at the end of September. Will it be back to Nights for the Aim-ster? (I hope not, but, someone has got to train the newcomer, and it might as well be done correctly).
Dance is on hiatus for me - Vacation, then working at night has caused me to miss the last three weeks or so. That sucks. Plummeting far behind is always a good thing.

Pictures later, really.

Booties, Blankets and Caterpillars

Whoo Hooo - Thursday - my day off. So far I have iced two cakes and worked on baby blanket #4. Here are the first three... sorry about the lighting, this is what seemed to work.

I finished #3 last Sunday, also finishing an ear flap hat the same day. Must have been some virtuous knitting going on.

I was wondering why our parsley plant was kind of looking "eh".

I knelt to take a closer look - turns out something likes parsley faster than we have been using it. It was a lush and beautiful plant. Oh well, Kel keeps planting, forgetting that I have an ability to make plants die. I guess this time is isn't my fault.

ps - since I can't let anything just go, I had to see what these buggers were going to turn in to. Thanks to a couple different sites - they are "parsleyworms" eventually they will be black swallowtails. Pretty!

My Arch Enemy - The German Chocolate Cake

Now most people would have a living human being for their arch enemy - but my nemisis comes in Cake form. Not eating it silly reader, but assembling one. There is nothing that ends my day in more of a hissy than having to assemble a German Chocolate Cake. You see, cutting the blasted thing is not my favorite, and every time I have to make the icing - I have to do it twice. Lately, just to mess with me, combing out the sides provides difficultly. When this item is taken off the menu, I will gladly chuck the last one out the window and you won't be able to wipe the smile off my face.
Wednesday off! It will involve sleeping in, a Doctor's appointment, maybe a pedi and then Car Club meeting. It will not involve assembling a German Chocolate Cake :)

The Sites You Aren't Going To....

Do you ever feel because you like something, it is doomed to fail?
Two of my favorite websites are on hiatus. Raleighing and Stiffs.com (you might better know that one as the Dead Pool - where people guess what celebs are going to die during the year and win money for guessing correctly).
I hate that. It's like the TV series that doesn't come back the next season even though it has a fan base. Soon enough they'll take away Smoking Gun and How I Met Your Mother just to screw with me.
I'm already kind of ranty so watch out...
Elections are more than a year away. I appreciate the debates and all, but I'm not so keen on advertising (campaigning) more than a couple of weeks out. We watched the debates, why would you get snarky for not getting air time dark horse/loose cannon candidates?

And by the way, the worst way to end an evening is to drop a container of Souffle. Breaking half of the Ramekins in front of the entire kitchen.

No Dance for You!

Well, I'm glad I went last week, because this week at dance class will be a no-go.
What was an "okay I can deal with it schedule" has turned worse.
Now I'm working Wed and Sat night and two half days for thurs/fri?
Anyway - what was supposed to be a Dentist appt, lunch, pedicure and dance class Wednesday has turned into a Dentist appointment, lunch and work kind of day.
Grrrr.
Who lets these new people take vacation right off the bat?