If you parked it then you shoulda put a pin on it!

I just had the most wonderful, refreshing day ever. I won't bore you all elaborating about the deep funk I was in recently (boy, that was a really bad one), the important thing is that I have surfaced and I feel like my old self again. I'll be posting tutorials, and stories, and writing more regularly again. Do any of you ever get that way? I mean, to call it a "funk" makes it sound like you're just a little blue. But we're talking dangerous, deep dark depression here. My poor family. There was even a day where I closed the dogs out of my room *gasp!* and literally spent the day under the covers watching tv. No crafting, no nothing. Just snarling at anyone who dared poke their head into my room. My sister came in to ask a question and gave me a tentative sideways hug, and I think if I could have sprouted porcupine prickles, I would have. Sorry, family. I love you.

Anyway...... Today!

Ain't we cute? We could totally be sisters. 

I got the day off of work (thank you, work!) and drove up to Los Angeles to hang with Laurie Perry (Crazy Aunt Purl). Chatting over twitter a while back, she mentioned something about being in the garment district. I tweeted back that I've never been, which soon lead to future plans to meet up and make a day of it. I was beyond excited, since she's a personal hero of mine. She wants to hang out with ME? ME?! We only briefly met in person at Literary Orange, but it felt kind of like running into an old friend. From the moment she climbed into my car at the train station, it was an easy comfort that we both commented on later in the day. So what did we do?

First, we had lunch at a little mexican place that had excellent street-style carne asada tacos. Their lemonade was light and tasty, and hands-down my favorite I've ever had. Most lemonade is too strong and too sweet, but this was perfect. We meandered past a bunch of fabric stores, and little shops with cute dresses and tops and such. Laurie told me to feel free to stop in anywhere I wanted to, but I hadn't planned to do a TON of shopping (very limited budget) and didn't want to be tempted. But then...... the shopkeeper said "dresses $7!" Wha-WHAT?! Uh, yeah. I wanna go in there. Cute dresses, but nothing I couldn't live without. But the next shop, I got this:

Cute, no? $7. Seriously. I'm in love. I'm still wearing it from photographing it. So comfy! I have to buy a slip for it though, because it's definitely on the...ahem...sheer side. Next came Michael Levine. Laurie said this was her favorite place, and I can definitely see why. Hoooly moly.

Just a tiny portion of the warehouse-sized store!

Aisles and aisles of quilting cottons.... drooooooool...

Laurie!!

This is what I wound up with. I showed INCREDIBLE restraint. 

 I was amazed at the selection. We're talking "up-to-the-minute" designs. Like "just came out last week" type fabrics. I could have cried with everything I wanted. 

After Michael Levine, we wandered a bit. As we all know, I have absolutely no sense of direction, so it was pretty much up to Laurie to figure out where we were at.

Laurie figuring out where exactly we're at. SHE had the foresight to grab a map. Me? Not so much.

While Laurie was figuring out where we were at, she was narrating the street names and directions, mostly thinking out loud. All I can hear when it comes to directions is "wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah" ala Charlie Brown's teacher. I try to listen, I try to pay attention. I really do. But my brain is a funny thing, and directions and geography just don't stick around in there. She said something about hoping she could remember where we parked. A moment later, we saw the parking lot (alley) we were at, and I said "Oh! I'll stick a pin in it." Referring to the iphone map feature where you can drop a pin to mark where you want to get back to. Being a giant dork, I started singing "if you parked it then you shoulda dropped a pin on it!". Laurie thought this was hilarious. We both admitted that we make up silly songs all the time, and especially about our pets. Have I mentioned how very much I love Laurie?

We passed a place that sold cheap hats ($5!!!) and I bought two. I wish Laurie would have bought the black one she tried on, because it looked FABULOUS on her. Don't you think?

She so byoooteeful!

These are the two I bought:

Yes, it makes me look very distinguished and sophistimicated.

A red and white hat? I had to. You understand.

The hoodie I'm wearing in those photos was picked up for $2.99. $2.99!!!! And it has teeny tiny owls on the inside!

Rowan approves

Then I found this for $5. YES PLEASE!!

Rowan assumed I was photographing her. It's all about Rowan.

It's like nice pockets, is a weather-resistant type of fabric, and has a cute matching coinpurse on the inside. $5?! Seriously?! It's my new knitting bag. I already have everything all transferred over.

We were making our way over to the farmacia Laurie's written about (far better than I could). I promised my best friend Morgan I would look for some of those cool Santa Muerte candles she wants for her house for halloween. What do you think, Morg? I couldn't resist the chicken one. She and I have a thing with chickens. I couldn't pass it up.

It's not just a chicken, it's a BLACK CHICKEN. Chicken of DOOOOOM!

There's a series of running jokes. "Morgan's so goth.....*fill in the blank*". Well Morg, I found you a goth chicken. Cluck cluck, motherfucker. ;)

Hmmm...what else? Oh yeah! On the way back to my car, we passed a hot dog stand I insisted we try. I'm so glad Laurie was up for one too. It made me feel less guilty. I mean, come on... Could you pass up:

Bacon wrapped hot dogs give me El Big Happy tummy. YUM.  There's Laurie ordering for us.

So we ate our bacon wrapped goodness, then made our way back to my car. Or so we thought.

Me: "I dropped a pin! I can get us back there!"

......two blocks later......

Me: "This isn't right..is it ?"

Laurie: "Nope." 

We were going in the wrong direction. I couldn't even follow the freaking pin I dropped to mark where we had parked. Typical me. Sorry, Laurie! 

So that was our day, and I had the absolute time of my life. It was such a badly needed breath of fresh air, and I feel totally inspired and recharged. Laurie is the kick in the pants I needed to start blogging in the first place, so I suppose it's appropriate that hanging with her was the kick in the pants I needed to start writing again. I feel like I've known her all my life. Love you, Laurie! Traffic on the way home was horrible, so I pulled off to get a vanilla cone from McDonalds. Traffic is infinitely better with good 70's tunes and a vanilla ice cream cone. Try it sometime. 

Well, I hear my embroidery calling me, and I have a glass of wine with my name on it waiting.  I'll leave you with one final photo of the embroidery I've been working on:

They're going to be panels in a quilt

By the way, I want to publicly gush with gratitude about the Cath Kidston sewing box my AMAZING friend Jenna of SewHappyGeek sent me. It's my embroidery box now, which gets used and squeed over on a daily basis. It makes me ridiculously happy. More about embroidery tomorrow. Goodnight everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful day too!

Hand me my sippy cup, please...

This week feels like it's been very long.  I LOVE my job, but it was a very busy week and my neck and shoulders are wrecked.  I wanted to go to social knitting at The Yarn Lady, but it felt like a giant energy-sucking mosquito had been all ninja-like and drained me dry without me even noticing.  Anyway, whine whine whine, which leads me to WINE! I can finally indulge in wine at home now (long story, and no, it's not because I'm an alcoholic or anything.) so after my last client I called Thai Paradise, ordered coconut chicken soup and pad thai, and made a beeline for Target.  I'm pretty new to the wine world, so I like to peruse my options. What did I choose?

You're daaaaaaamn right.

The next stop was to the kitchen section, because I wanted to pick up a real wine glass.  I mean, I'd drink wine out of a plastic sippy cup if I had to, it doesn't make a huge difference to me. But sometimes I like to feel a little bit fancypants.  There was one other person in the wine glass aisle, a very nice gentleman who seemed just as baffled by the selection as I was.  Boxes and boxes of different sizes and shapes.  I was looking for cheap.  And possibly just one glass. One. That's all I wanted.  That's when I saw this:

Ummm....what? I think we need a bigger boat.

I glanced at the nice gentleman, probably making a "WTF" face with my eyebrows squinched together.  He glanced back at me, his salt and pepper mustache kind of quirked to one side. Me? I talk to strangers.

Me: "Seriously? What the hell? I just want a wine glass!"

NG (Nice Gentleman): *starts laughing* "I know. I'm trying to figure it out too."

Me: "Does it REALLY make that big of a difference? I mean, REALLY?"

NG: *laughs again*

Me: *snooty voice* "The wider bowl of the glass really emphasizes the bouquet of this particular vintage, blah blah blah.... Seriously?! You have to buy a complete set of wine glasses for EVERY type of wine you want to buy, EVER?"

NG: "I don't know. I have friends coming over, and all my wine glasses are mismatched or broken. They're kind of wine people, so I wouldn't want to get the WRONG kind."

Me: *gasp* Heavens, no! You wouldn't want to use a Bordeaux glass for a Pinot Grigio! Good lord!"

NG: *laughing again*. (He has a great laugh. That amiable older-black-dude laugh that makes you wish they were your Dad or your grampa. Sort of like the Doctor on the Simpsons)

So I kind of went on about the silliness of it all, and just gimme a damn coffee mug as long as it holds wine.  I finally picked out a box of 4 smallish wine glasses that were the cheapest ones there.  $5.99. Whatever, it works for me.  So here's why I keep calling the guy "Nice Gentleman". 

NG: "You just needed one glass, huh?"

Me: "Yep, but apparently that's not an option. So these will do!"

NG: "And you don't care what kind they are?"

Me: "Hell no."

NG: "You wouldn't mind the big ones?"

Me: "Holds more wine! Bring it on!"

NG: "Okay, here ya go."  And he proceeded to take a box out of his cart and hands it to me.  I tried to politely decline, but he turned the box to the side and showed me the magic red sticker of Target clearance. Our dear friend Clearance. $3.48. I immediately put back my suddenly exorbitant $5.99 box of SMALL wine glasses and plucked the holy grail of Clearance out of his hands. I thanked him profusely, which he shrugged off and showed me the other three boxes of Clearance Goodness in his cart. "You wiped them out, didn't you!" He grinned and said "That's why I don't mind passing these on to you. Enjoy."After wishing each other good luck, I was on my way to pick up laundry detergent next.  Hold me back, I'm a wild woman on a friday night!

  

The pad thai was excellent as usual, as was the thom kha soup. The riesling wine was also crisp, sweet, a bit tingly and totally yummy and relaxing. *takes another sip* 

Because I love you for reading my blog, I created this expert guide for you to help you navigate the murky waters of wine glass choosing. You're welcome. 

If you're a female, just turned 21 and moved into your first place with your boyfriend, and want to be all grown up and sophistimicated, you want this decanter.  It's pretty and it'll impress all your friends when you throw those PERFECT dinner parties you have planned, and serve your fancypants wine.  You'll play either classical music or Sade and discuss geopolitical whoosiwhatsits. It's all so very grownup. 

You can only serve Burgundy in these glasses. Don't you DARE pour anything else in them BESIDES Burgundy, or else Guido will come bust your kneecaps and take away your wine-drinking license. The curved lip makes it extra special.

My pinot is bigger than your pinot.  If you're drinking pinot noir, you need a BIIIIG glass. You know what they say, "once you go noir, you never go...something something". (I think that was a lot funnier in my head. Sorry.)

Do people in Bordeaux have bigger mouths? Is that why there's a bigger lip? Is Angelina Jolie from Bordeaux? That would explain the lips.  Maybe they're really tall too. 

Finally, a simple glass for basic red wine. Actually, I'm suddenly confused.  Pinot noir is red. Bordeaux is red. Burgundy is red (by definition, even!) Does that means you can use this all-purpose red wine glass for all of those? What about all those other glasses?! AAHHH! You're making my head hurt! Stoppit! 

Then we have this:

Don't even TRY to compare it to the all-purpose-red-wine-glass. It's so totally different. For one thing, it's....umm...well, it's definitely...um....

Okay, I kind of want to go crawl in a corner and start counting my arm hairs.

But wait, we're not done yet! You still have to make a choice! Suddenly, even HAVING a stem is an option. WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO DO TO ME?!?! I just want some wiiiine *sobbing*

*sigh* Really? Well, I suppose there is something very Hugh-Hefner-in-a-smoking-jacket about gently cupping a stemless wine glass in your hand.  All the better to look cool swirling it around, seeming like you know EXACTLY what you're talking about. And clearly, these three stemless glasses are totally different. They'll get really really mad if you tell them they look alike. People have died that way. Really. I knew someone whose roommate knew someone whose cousin it happened to.

*On a non-snarky side note, wouldn't this type of glass make your wine get warm really fast from your hand warmth? Just a thought.....

I am defeated.  Less surface area means fizzy sticks around longer. Logical. Okay, you can stay.

James Bond, bitch. Nuff said.

If you're a guy and you own these, it's only because your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend made you buy them. Most guys I know would drink beer that's been siphoned from the floor of yankee stadium. Scene: "Babe (not that *I've* ever been called that), would you grab me a beer? No no, I want it in that glass...you know, the one that makes it EXTRA AWESOME". Science fiction.

I'm sure if this gets around, I'll be dragged up and down the coals and torn new assholes all over the place.  I'm sure if I was drinking a 100 year old whatever that I would want the PERFECT glass that emphasizes its overtones of maple bark and flowery unicorn farts. For my $8.99 bottle of Relax Riesling however, what kind of glass did I get? I have no idea but it's big and holds lots of wine. 

Edited for extra husky cuteness. No, Loki wasn't drinking my riesling.

This dog cracks me up on a daily basis

I survived Black Friday and all I got was.....lots of yarn!

I survived! Well, it's past 3:30 in the morning, so that's debatable. Check with me tomorrow, see if I have a pulse. Color me surprised (color? Yarn? Get it?! I slay me....), but traffic and all that wasn't really that bad. It was smooth sailing until we hit Mission Viejo, then SCREEEECH!! Traffic. Mom kept insisting she saw flashing trouble lights up ahead, but I kept trying to reassure her that no, it's just yellow tow truck lights. It's just traffic. We crept along until Lake Forest, and when we arrived at Yarn Lady I held my breath expecting a huge battle for parking spaces. What? Plenty of parking? That's not right.....We walked in the door, and it was bustling but not omigodgetyourelbowoutofmykidney crowded. Mom remarked on how beautiful and well put-together the store is (my reponse: "I know, RIGHT?!"), and I immediately bee-lined for the malabrigo. True to my nature, I kept up a constant running commentary, educating my poor Mom on the virtues and qualities of all the different yarns. Like I really know what I'm talking about. I run my mouth. A lot. I ran into Vickie, a knit-night favorite and a kick-ass woman who anybody would love two seconds after meeting her.





After spending WAY too much time wandering the store and lusting after yarn (Mom even bought some for me to make her a scarf. Handmaiden seasilk, which is the softest stuff you will ever feel.), I harassed the owner, Ginger (who disappeared before I could get a picture- Ginger, I have embarrassing birthday photos and I'm not afraid to use them!), said hi to other knit-night ladies, then escaped before I could do any more damage to my bank account. Okay, yes. I bought yarn for myself. You caught me. But mostly it's for christmas presents for other people! REALLY!! Here's my haul:





Then it was off to Rogers Gardens in Corona Del Mar. Martha Stewart's got NUTHIN' on this place. Yes, it's a nursery, but its mostly famous for its seasonal home decor. During
Halloween, they have the absolute coolest decorations I have ever seen. However, it's Corona Del Mar. Martha Stewart wishes she could afford some of this stuff.










Outside, they had an adorable toy train display that people were clustered around just to stare.

















I want this chair.....


And finally, I will leave you with one more photo: