Red Scarf

DSC00269.JPG, originally uploaded by mjl4952.

I read Ellen's blog and decided to make my contribution to the Red Scarf Project charity. This is my scarf, so far. It is the Short Row Rib pattern. I like it!

Little Max

Max2.jpg, originally uploaded by mjl4952.

He's growing up! He was a year old in July.

New Bike!!

I bought a bike! I never learned how to ride one when I was a kid, so I taught myself when I was in college. (At UCSB, you had to have one. I had a Huffy green banana seat bike that got stolen the first night on campus. They caught the guys and I did get it back.) I never really felt comfortable on a bike and I think that was because I learned so late AND the fact I never really had a bike that fit me. This one fits me beautifully, but I'm still nervous about riding. Alyson bravely offered to ride with me around her neighborhood. I only hit two things -- a parked car and a tree trunk. No harm done to anything, I'm happy to say!
The bike is a Electra Huli Huli model. It's covered in hula girls, banana leaves and palm fronds.




(It goes great in my bedroom!)

I bought it at a great bike store in North Hollywood -- Metropolis Bikes. The guys in there could not have been nicer and let me ride as many bikes as I wanted. They also offer life time service when you buy your bike with them!

Alyson has the same bike, only hers is the Rosie model, decorated in tattoo design roses.



So, I am game to go riding again -- just in a more open spot (like a parking lot!),before I try the open road.

Here are the bikes with Al's cute dog, Riley, in her backyard. (We think he'd like a bike, too!)

My mosaic

My creation, originally uploaded by mjl4952.

Thanks to Ellen, Natalie and Annika!
1. Favorite Food: Short Ribs
2. Hometown: Pasadena
3. Favorite Color: Lime Green
4. Celebrity Crush: Alan Rickman
5. Favorite Drink: Dirty Martini
6. Dream Vacation: Venice, Italy -- always!
7. Favorite Dessert: Cherry Pie
8. What I want to Be When I Grow Up: Rich enough to travel forever
9. Name: MJ
10. What/Who I Love the most: Travel, travel, travel
11. One Work Describes Me: Smart
12. Username: Sounds Like Me

You can do this too. Here's how:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. (Please, go to Advanced Search and choose Creative Commons images only. Otherwise you are stealing.)
b. Pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into this free mosaic maker

First Photo

DSC_0003.JPG, originally uploaded by mjl4952.

By the way, here is the latest photo of the kids. Aren't they the best?

It's Been a Long,Long Time

I am enjoying my new car. I drove up to Rosalie's for Thanksgiving and it was perfect. I took a long vacation over Christmas and New Years and will be relating my adventures with photos on the next few posts. Enjoy!!

Done and done

Got the Prius yesterday -- it is dark gray. Very sophisticated, I think! I'm a happy driver. Pictures to follow.

Decisions, decisions

Toyota Prius


Honda Civic

I've decided to buy a new car. My old car is about 8 years old and is starting to bug me with all the little things going wrong. It is a 2001 Honda Accord I got the first week of 2001 and has over 116,000 miles on it. It still gets pretty good mileage, so the only sensible thing would be to get a hybrid, right?
I test drove two today -- the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Toyota Prius. The Prius drove smoother than the Civic, but the Civic is having a campaign with very low interest. It was pretty nice, too. I'm going to make a decision this week and drive it up to Rosalie's for Thanksgiving. Help!

Gwen John's painting

Gwen's painting, originally uploaded by mjl4952.

My sister Rosalie sent this to me via email. I like it! Love those black cats.

Who would have believed?

They are sharing the cat tree!!

Bella seems to put up with Max's antics. She's getting a lot more exercise.

Max

Need I say more?

A New Addition

DSC00036.JPG, originally uploaded by mjl4952.

Just got him on Friday. He is 12 weeks old and he came with the name Antonio. Don't think I'm keeping that! He was feral a couple of months ago, so he's a little wary, but LOVES to be petted. Purrs like a high performance engine when you touch him, much less pet him. More later!

Burnt bundt

OK -- my friends gave me a tough time the other night because I'm not what you would call a cook. I used to bake a lot -- birthday cakes, Christmas cookies, cookies for all occasions. I even took a class in cake decorating when I was a teenager. My busy life these days has not been conducive to kitchen activities (I don't cook) and I've been living fine on salads and Lean Cuisine, not to mention eating out with my friends. The gauntlet was thrown and I was determined to show them I CAN COOK.

I'm going to a pot luck lunch at Natalie's tomorrow and decided to bake my old trustworthy lemon bundt cake with lemon glaze from the Silver Palate Cookbook . Maybe my oven is so used to not being on, it didn't know what to do. The cake went together just fine; I poured the batter into the bundt pan and set the oven to 325 degrees and the timer for 1 hour 5 minutes. About 30 minutes later, I smelled a burning smell. I opened the oven and was horrified. I stuck in the cake tester (yes, I have one) and it came out way too clean. What to do?



The glaze was ready and waiting and I thought, "Maybe this can be saved!" I've watched enough Top Chef shows to think I can make this disaster into a luscious dessert. After much thought, I think I'll just stop at Porto's on the way over. Sorry, girls!

Ellen's socks

I did not know what I was undertaking when Ellen asked for socks for her birthday. I started a pair 6 months before her birthday, with some fabulous yarn I got on Little Knits. It is Austermann Step, with aloe and jojba in the yarn! It was great to work with, but as I got onto making the foot, they seemed really small. I stopped mid foot and spent the Fourth of July weekend trying something else.

First I thought about the Mary Jane Skimmers pattern, but every sole I made turned out some other size.




I tried several times -- even rewrote the pattern in case I was following it wrong, but nope! It wasn't working.

I tried some bedroom slippers I saw in One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant with Ellen's favorite yarn in the world, Noro Kureyon #185. As I was finishing the last one, I just didn't like the way they looked. So sloppy.



I finally made the Mixed Berry pattern in the 2-at-a-time Socks book, and, although I thought they came out huge, they would have to do -- Ellen's birthday was the next day!!

She liked the socks, but I could tell she would be really happy with the original socks I started.

I finished the feet of the Austermann Step socks and gave them to her yesterday. They fit her perfectly and, as I thought, she was thrilled.




She asked if she could keep the first pair, too, and, of course, I said yes. She really made out in the sock department this year!

Hello again

The absolute highlight of the last two months has been the dinner Alyson and I had a few weeks ago. It was through a group called Outstanding in the Field. Check it out! It is a event that should not be missed. An artist and chef, Jim Denevan, has created this experience with a group of his food loving friends. It is a dinner, using all organic, locally grown produce and meat, set in the middle an organic farm. The wines supplied are also from a local winery. Ours was in Carpinteria at the Coleman Farm. Along with the fabulous dinner, we got to meet the farmer and his family (who supply some of the vegetables and herbs for Lucque's, Mozza, A.O.C. and many other fine restaurants as well as a presence in the Santa Monica Farmer's Market), and get a tour of the farm. The dinner is served at a long table (there were about 125 diners) with the local farmers and Jim interspersed throughout. Alyson had bought us each Jim's new cookbook and we brought them along, hoping he would sign them. And we wanted to meet him -- he's pretty cute! Alyson took this photo of him at the farm:



After the dinner, we approached him with the books, and he brought us into the trailer/bus he travels around the country with.


It looks like it hasn't been altered since it was built. It was a real thrill and, when I told him how much I admired his art, he drew a picture in my book!




Here we are, loving every minute:



For a complete review of the menu and to admire more of Al's photos, check out her blog at life-of-rileydog.

Birthday Month

I'm still celebrating. This is a arty shot of all the stuff I got at Descanso Gardens from my fabulous friends Ellen,Carla,Natalie,Darcy and Lori. What an embarrassment of riches! My sister sent me a beautiful little Staffordshire ceramic box, Alyson is taking me out to dinner at Providence, her mom, Carolyn, bought my manicure/pedicure today!!

Check out the flower on my big toe -- pretty cool. I have to say I was inspired by Natalie's green toes I saw last night. Hope she doesn't mind.

cats and worm binders

For anyone missing the lovely Bella, here she is.

I'm home today and have planned to tackle organizing the craft room! My new worm binder arrived today from Baja Fish Gear. I heard about this on Ravelry -- a great way to store circular needles! Check it out:



There are 10 pages with 2 pockets each -- 20 in all, not counting the 3 inside the front cover. The pages are on rings, like a binder. It zips up to a little suitcase. I've made little labels to go inside the pouches. It's so much neater than the hanging holder I was using before. Although I mostly use the Denise needles now, it's great to have all the others so organized.

Bella kept me company -- sort of.

Projects

I'm obsessed with knitting. I was a huge fan before, but now I am definitely obsessed. I think it was all that time off.

I've finally finished my Noro Taiyo yarn project. I tried several different patterns for this stuff,but nothing seemed to work. I finally found a pattern in the One-Skein Wonders book. It was the Jamaica Pouch, originally made with 100% cotton. I think it was the cotton in the yarn that made me unhappy with all the other patterns I tried. Anyway, I'm very pleased with this, but don't think I'll try the yarn for anything else. Here it is lying flat. I will need to line it to give it some shape.




I've also started the sweater with the yarn I got at Artfibers. I LOVE this yarn! It is so soft and has great colors.

Yarn News

Saturday was all about yarn, great food and great music. I went nuts at Art Fibers, of course. I bought yarn for two sweaters, plus the patterns.

This is for a lacy 3/4 sleeve top

and this is for a long sleeved V neck sweater with raglan sleeves.



I was measured for each and the patterns were changed for knitting in the round! They are the best.

I came home to the yarn buying spree I did on line last week. I went Noro crazy!

I've got enough to open my own store, I think.

I had plenty of time (2 plane flights and 4 bus rides) to finish the brooklyn tweed scarf and I like it! I think it's one I'm going to keep.

We had dinner at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar -- it was delicious! Of course, I had to have an absinthe. It tasted like alcoholic Good and Plenty candy -- yum! Then off to the concert, which was blissful. What a conductor! Can't wait until next year, although I will miss Esa-Pekka. We are so lucky to have such amazing musical directors -- and both sooooo cute!

My Easter Weekend

Happy Easter to all!

The trip up to my sisters' could not have been better. I finally met most of her office mates (still haven't met the boss). We went to brunch at the Links at Bodega Harbor where she works and met the Easter bunny! The brunch was phenomenal.

starting with champagne,

then fish,

then eggs florentine, bacon and French toast.


And, of course, salads and dessert! Yum.
We took a long walk in the park afterwards. The complex is right on the beach and is too beautiful. I told her how many friends of mine envy her.