Good Ole Pals!

Firstly -- if you haven't voted (there are prizes to be had!!!) So click here to read and vote!!
Secret Pal 6 -(Help me pick) A Button Contest I've also adjusted one thing... since getting something from Asia is cool to those of us from the West, but not necessarily as cool to those of you in the East... if one of my pals from Asia wins...I'll send you a little something from these parts that you can't get there! Perhaps something KnitPick-y (since they don't ship internationally yet!)

The quandary....
Last night I sat down to go over my list of things to knit for Christmas... the dilemma... do I put down the sweater I'm knitting (and designing as I go) to knit up some Christmas gifts... or do I say heck with it and try like the dickens to knit like a mad woman later this fall (hmmm....with the craziness of work added to the picture...)
Anyway -- I've made some calls to have others gather measurements for me for gifts that I'd like to be a Christmas surprise... And the yarn is purchased! So...the h$rd w$rk is done!

Why am I having such a hard time with decision making these days? I guess I'm using up all decision cells at work these days! :-)

As I was dashing out this morning a ring at my bell brought me the following from Mr. FedEx man:
Thanks Jan for the cool Birthday Present! Jan's my dear friend from college -- we were 2 peas in a pod! Now life has taken us on our way... me in NYC and her with her VERY OWN BOUTIQUE ***Botticelli -- Generous Clothing for the Curvaceous Woman***(I'm so proud of her!!) in Providence, RI. Her store was voted Best in Rhode Island in Rhode Island Monthly Magazine!!!

The box contains 8 stemmed plastic glasses (good for garden parties!), 4 hot pink (left), 4 orange (right). And the great book (that somehow i haven't bought yet although it's been on my list!!) At Knit's End MEDITATIONS for WOMEN who KNIT TOO MUCH by the Yarn Harlot.
Chanel enjoyed the gift too! I dropped a piece of the tissue that had wrapped some glasses and voila -- just add cat! It DOES make such a cool noise though, doesn't it?



I think the pink and orange stemmed cups will go well for the next girls night...
I can use them with this gift that my brother gave me for Christmas. (I pulled these out at the last party and the girls HOWLED...and of COURSE wanted to use them!) They are Glass Slippers -- fluffy feathered glass slippers! So funny! (PLUS --- the men don't steal sips of your drinks when your glass is wearing this!!)

I popped the book in my bag (it's smaller than regular paperback size) and will make great Subway reading!!!

I stopped by my favorite magazine shop on the way to work today (Around the WOrld, Inc. -- In'tl & Domestic Fashion Pulbications located at 28 West 40th street across from Bryant Park) and proceeded to lug some 25lbs of magazines to work. I'll be checking out the new magazine "ELLE Accessories"...
I'll let you know my oppinion as soon as it's formulated!

Oh - I also joined the Rowan International yesterday. I wonder if they'll send me the new issue (38) or start with the next one? Time will tell!

Finally -- if you want a giggle -- check out this pattern for the WillyWarmer -- I love the "Please note: "elastic yarn does allow for size variations"."

Back to work I go! Cheers!

Secret Pal 6 - A Button Contest

So I just signed up for SP6 -- I'm like a moth to a flame when it comes to these things! Hee hee!

But I can't decide which button to put up on my blog... so...
I figure I'll leave it up to you all!

Should it be (A) The coolio Yarny Pin-up Girl fitting her sweater (this one cracked me up!)



Or

Should it be (B) The Fabu Gromit (as Gromit is always so Fab! Yeah for the new movie (The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) coming out Oct 2005!!!!)



Leave me a comment with your choice -- I'll let it run thru Sept 11th.
In honor of SP6 starting on/about Sept 12th (Although sign-up ends September 3rd!!), I'll put all those who voted for the "winner" into a hat and send one lucky winner a little something knitty special from my next trip to Asia!! (So don't forget to either leave a link to your blog or an email address so I can find you!!)
NOTE: (8/31/05) -- for all of my pals in Asia -- I'll send you something from the US when I return (I'm thinking something Knitpicky since they don't ship Internationally!)

Good luck!

Oh where does the TIME go!

It's been a hectic few weeks! Time for another round of catch-up!
I think I'll break with tradition and just splurt it all out in no particular order!

I got to spend some wonderful time with my brother, s-i-l & niece...and gave her the dress I'd knit! She loved it, and she's such a little peanut that it's slightly too big (room to grow!!) We enjoyed some fun around NYC and had some lovely meals at some faves of mine that I hadn't yet shared with my family! (Niko's (Greek) for the BEST greek salad and the evil gorgonzola cheese bread @ W 76 st & Broadway, Beard Papa's (Cream Puffs) a few steps north of Niko's on the same side of the street and Rain West (Pan asian).) After spending the afternoon making pretend ice cream cones for an hour with my niece, what a wonderful surprise it was for our waitress at Rain West to bring out the trio of mini ice cream cones for my niece. How did she know?

I've been working on a sweater with the Bamboo yarn that I bought in HK on my last trip... but it's been slow progress. I'm just exhausted all too much these days and am tempted to play Lumines on my dear BFs darn PSP... this is why I don't own one! It falls under the same reasons I don't have cable -- no self control! I can sit and easily blow 2 hours with this little evil machine. It's a new and improved (and more mentally challanging) form of Tetris from back in the day. This red level always gets me --- but I have been increasing my score with each game... of course my measly 94,000 has nothing on my dear BFs 400,000. Yeowza!

I finally mailed out the 4 packages for RAOKs that I packed up 2 weeks ago.

I have to finish and post my final SP5 package too... thankfully the gal I've been spoiling has loved both prior packages! She's a bit confused as to who I am or where I'm from though! Hee hee!

I've been trying to relax with the kitties and the BF as well...since I'll be heading back to Asia next week for a few weeks. I'm wrapping up preporations for my trip... a lot to do! I should get back to it! Cheers All!

A Peacful Moment

I love this photo...Chanel is asleep next to Loco, and Coco is asleep under the chair (note the tail...)

This was taken about 30 minutes after they had done 10 laps of "chase" around the house.

It also shows just how much larger loco is than the kittens. He's been loosing weight though (a good thing!)

Back to knitting I go!

What a week!

I've been doing double duty without an assistant (still on the search.)
A slight rant if you please...
How am I supposed to take peoples resumes seriously when they:

A: Write in their subject: My goal is to build my experience as an illustrator and work for a large publisher <-- um, no where in the job description does it say illustrator, so that reads to me, “I'll take this job because I'm broke, but the moment my nights filled with freelance illustrating work leads to a fulltime gig I'm gone!” Which I can understand...but I can't spend my time training someone who is already looking to leave.
B. Sends a cover letter & resume with more wrongly spelled words than right.
The first line in the job description is “Must be detail oriented.” Sending my a cover letter saying, “I'm vary detale oreentid...” HELP!
C. What kind of education are we giving if folks can graduate from college if not being able to spell...atleast learning about the spell checker!
Rant Over.

Monday was full of meetings (you know - the kind of day where you wonder why your stomach is so growly and then you realize it's 4pm and you haven't had lunch yet!) I Dashed down to The Knitting Factory (and yes, OF COURSE I brought my knitting!!) to hear my friend Hank Kim play a gig. It was a great gig -- he had a wonderful violinist who joined in this time -- such a great addition!

Tuesday was a day of shopping the market... now before you atart thinking "awe, poor thing...she had to go shopping for her job." A view into what it really is... you start as soon as the stores open and aim to hit 5 stores per hour. You dash in, concentrate on all of the trims and accessories that are in the stores, make mental notes and dash to the next store...taking occasional notes while walking from store to store. I hit 32 small stores plus Bloomingdales -- ALL of it. It's very exhausting (both physically and mentally.) But it's also very inspiring and enjoyable. I got home and made dinner -- yummy Orzo with sauted veggies, spicey turket sausage and feta -- oh and toasted pine nuts (they make ALL the difference!!)

I took Wednesday off to have a planned hookie day with Kerry before she begins her new job and starts her new degree (Yeah Kerry!!) We planned out the measurements and methods she wanted to use to hang said curtains as well as getting the fabric.

Thursday was back to work to write up the notes and send fabrics to my factories far and wide so they can begin to prepare for my upcoming trip back to Asia. (I'm working on Autumn/Winter 2006 - yep a full year ahead.) Tonight was the long awaited girls dinner with Sandi & Michelle! We've scheduled and rescheduled it a zillion times...well... 3 times. I hadn't seen the gals to give them their birthday gifts and to catch up on all of the latest. Michelle picked the spot -- 5 Ninth - in the Meatpacking District and they treated me for my birthday. Sandi finally had a moment to properly tell about her future husband (they will marry on Oct 15th!) She met him in July and just new immediately that he was the one! Congrats my friend!!!
Dinner was YUMMY! Good pickin' Michelle!!!

Friday after work Kerry met me at my house where we cut her 4 sets of curtains out and I sewed them up on my machine. Morgan also joined us and assisted in the prep work while introducing us to a nice bottle of port (Ficklin Vineyards Old Vine Tinta Port) that her father had introduced to her. Deciding we needed a break from the cutting, we popped into the garden to relax, chat and sip some port. Morgan hopped inside for a minute and came running to the door laughing with Coco in her arms. Apparently he'd enjoyed most of the container of the Low-fat cheese spread that we'd mistakenly left on the table. That's cheese on his forehead and whiskers! :-) Kerry left at 1am with the project just finished.
I need to make time to make up my new bedroom set with the fabrics I bought for the bedspread and pillows. TIME!

Weekend Fun!

Last night Morgan and I went out to a lovely dinner at Bolzano's Bar Cucina. The food was tasty (try the spaghetti stuffed meatball or the baked clams!) Nice wine list too! It's a nice choice right before a show...and better than many of the barely average chains in Time Square.

Afterwards, Morgan treated me to see the show Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. At first we were a bit bummed that John Lithgow wasn't going to be in the show that night --- but I have to say -- his replacement was AMAZING! What a FUN SHOW!!!
The cast was wonderful --- had a great chemistry.
Put this one on the list of must-sees when you're in NYC!

The BEST BIRTHDAY ~ Thanks everyone!!!

Thank you everyone for the best birthday!!!
I arrived at work to find this beautiful bouquet of roses from Mr. FedEx man. (To the right is what they look like today a bit opened -- really pretty!)

The work day went well and the press/buyer junket went well too. Then I dashed for a drink with Morgan and Eli and was met there by Dmitri. We went first to the show Avenue Q. The review: It was the funniest show I've seen in... well... perhaps ever! Really funny! Not a children's show for sure mind you (** Don't mistake puppets as meaning Children's show.)


Then we went to Triomphe at the Iroquois Hotel on 44th Street. Dinner was wonderful overall! The staff was lovely -- even accomidating us so late...but even though it was late they didn't rush us at all.

The food was great from apps thru dessert including the wine. I reccomend Triophe! I'll likely go back at some point.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

First day back at the NYC office and it's a full one! We're having a bit of a press/buyer gathering (fashion mag editors/stylists/store buyers) from 4-7pm then, since tonight's my birthday, Dmitri is taking me to see Avenue Q followed by dinner at Triomphe.

I'll let you know how it is!

Bum Pinchers and Monks-a-plenty
The trip abroad was filled with accomplishment and fun. It it always nice to see everyone there and to be able to relax in the evenings and find out what's the crack (ehem - - crack is a colloquialism for news/gossip/chat.)

There was a bit of time on Friday to check out the local shops (and get a few pairs of darn affordable shoes for my wee feet.) Followed by a typical pub dinner! Chips (french fries), peas and a nice gammon steak smothered in some sort of mushroom gravy (even though the gravy part wasn't listed...only the mushroom part) and some wine (followed by some cider.)

Saturday we set up the show -- the booth looked good...and since we're old pro's at it by now, there was time to scoot in to Birmingham Center to poke around. This was my first trim into Birmingham and into the Bullring. The architecture was interesting at the Bullring. I introduced the gals, Lynne and Joanne, to Wagamama...which is odd since it's a noodle shop chain in THEIR COUNTRY! Hee hee! We filled ourselves to the absolute BRIM!
I made mental note of Joanne's pleas of “I wish I could use chopsticks better.” Later that afternoon while shopping, I found a package of learners chopsticks... Plastic chopsticks that are connected with a loopy bit at the end...ergonomically set up to be held comfortably in the hand.
I gave them to Joanne later who passed on reading the case and simply dove in exclaiming “why have you given me bum pinchers?”
Apparently there are two uses for them!!
After a lovely afternon out and about in Birmingham, we took the train back. Here I am, knitting while waiting for the train. This is photo #1... Suddenly, accross the platform we see a pack of men dressed as monks (there were other packs of men in costume including sailors, pirates and indians.) Apparently it's some sort of bachelor party thing??? Just after I took this photo two things happened... I was yelled at that photos weren't allowed for security reasons... and the group of monks began to sing walking in a winter wonderland.

After 2 days at the show, Mike & Shirley kindly invited us all over for cocktails and nibbles before we were to head to dinner at The Orange Tree. This will be our last gathering at this house as they've sold it and will have moved into Solihul before we return next spring. To the left are the boys,of course having a great time! To the right is a photo of Robin and myself at dinner!

Looking forward to going back in February!

Tying up loose ends...
I'm off to the UK tomorrow for a quick work trip. So I wanted to answer these before I went...

Interview for Delia of Wine and Needles
(whose blog cracks me up -- we have the same sense of sarcasm!)
1. You comment often about your jail cell...what would your Ideal job be?
2. What's top on your dream list of items to knit (whether it's because it's unreal or because you want to learn a new skill before making it)?
3. What are your top 3 wines?
4. Plastic? Bamboo? Wood? Metal?
5. And, because I agree with Cheryl that this should always be the last question (in honor of the undercover celebrity) Shag, Marry, Push off a Cliff: Mike Ditka, Owen Wilson, Iggy Pop

Want to play? The Official Interview Game Rules:
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be
different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the
same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five
questions.

Delia was also cool to send me the link to the pattern for the Hot Lava Cardigan that I liked from her site. Go check it out.. I think it's quite adjustable.

5 Things I Miss from Childhood
Marjorie has tagged me for this chain-letter revelation. I'm tagging Kathy, Celia, Dani & Lolly.
If you want to participate the chain-letter part works like this: remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog’s name in the #5 spot; just check to make sure the links are still attached if you copy n’ paste.

1) Nepenthe's Misadventures
2) dynamiteknits
3) purly brites
4) hkknitter
5) Kimberli New York

1. I miss sitting in the lower field amoungst wild strawberries and lazily picking and eatting them straight from the plant.
2. I miss cool summers in my parents very old house...it was built to encourage the perfect cross breeze and seeing the milkyway right over my house, then looking into the field and seeing all of the lightning bugs. So cool!
3. I miss hopping on my bicycle and zooming to Deb's house with tackle, gear and freshly caught night crawlers for an afternoon of fishing in the river (rainbow trout! Yum!) I remember thinking that some day I'd be SO OLD that I'd need a license to do this... One of these trips up to NH I will pick up a license and go fishing with Deb and her daughter at our old spot. THat...that will be a GREAT DAY!
4. Life being simple and slow. (Although I could only handle that for a few weeks now!)
5. Having such a HUGE GARDEN (with good sun) and canning and freezing everything we grew to eat all winter long. The pickles, tomatos, corn, peas...I could go on and on!