A Life Auto Reboot

Yes, I know back in May I announced that I'd be writing more often... then life happened.

Change and lots of it all at once.

The Shake-up...

After over 11 years my position was discontinued during a

downsizing and merging earlier this month. I'm not the only one cast off (which doesn't make me feel better about it.) It's been difficult to just stop. I'm no good at "relaxing." What does relaxing really MEAN anyway?

(I don't just sit still well.)

The Good news...

My feller and I are waiting to hear from the sellers bank on a house we're in contract for... and I'm packing up to leave my beloved apartment after over 11 years here (I've accumulated a lot of stuff and can't wait to have a BIG house to be able to use it all in!!)

The Bad News...

Add to that my 24" iMac hard drive frying last week in the middle of a back-up. The computer no longer even recognized that it HAD a hard drive. Yes, it's under warranty and it's being replaced -- and yes, all info is toast but I wonder if any of the in-process back-up will be usable. That brings us current!

How have I been spent my first two unemployed weeks (thankfully on 4 months severance)?

After having my resume written (first time in 12 years - scary - I have a great woman I can suggest if you're in need), I've been getting my resume out there for jobs that won't go against my 4 month non-compete, watching World Cup matches at various spots around town with friends who have taken work time off to see them, gardening, reading, cooking (I've got some great recipes to post!!) and writing up some hand knitting patterns (3 of which I fear died with the iMac crash) for a book I've begun to write.

Wanting Work...

I'm interested in sample making (sewing, knitting, crochet), writing (crafts, cooking, travel) and teaching (fashion, craft, cooking) jobs if anyone has any leads out there. I can do hat related jobs after October 9th, 2010.

Part-time and freelance are also VERY welcome!!

The garden...

I've picked beans, lettuce and peas from the garden. Yum! The tomatoes and basil have jump started in the heat of the last week.

Live Entertainment...

My fella and I joined his boss & family to see Cavalia at the Meadowlands in NJ. A beautiful show indeed!! You can see when it's coming to a city near you at the link above.

Movie Entertainment...

I've enjoyed a few movies ($6 morning movies at any AMC theatre in NYC!!) I've especially liked The A-

Team and Toy Story 3 3-D. The A-Team completely surprised me. It was much funnier than I had expected it to be. Totally entertaining. Toy Story 3 brought me back through my own childhood. The loss of a favorite toy. Really a great moive. Get Him To The Greek had funny parts. Please Give was OK. On video I can recommend The Ramen Girl for any of you foodies out there (one of Brittany Murphy's last films.) It fed of my passion for Ramen.

Randomly --- Been researching for a new blender and really want the 5200 Vitamix. Does anyone out there have it? How do you like it??

I have no idea what to do career-wise next. It's all a bit foggy. It could be a blessing that I may not be working as we move and can unpack. I may travel a bit at some point after the move. Regardless my gut says this is a blessing - I'm just not yet sure how/why.

That's the update for today. Time to go watch this afternoon's match and work on a UFO. I've been attacking my UFO box between new designs. There will be hand knits and sewn gifts for Christmas this year!!!

Happy Sunday all!

Hello Gardeners -- A contest at hand

iVillage and Triscuit are having a contest for all of the Home Farmers out there!

It started began on May 4, 2010 at 9:00 A.M. ET and will end on June 1, 2010 at 11:59 P.M. EST.

No, I'm not affiliated with either brand/sponsor but it looks like a fun contest!

Head to the WEBSITE, upload up to 5 photos of your fruit/veg garden with captions relating to Home Farming through the community or at home.

Official Rules are found HERE. Good luck and happy home farming!

More FUN

With my new camera at the ready, I've been taking more and more photos! My Flickr Page is getting increasingly full (and I have so many photos from my March/April journey still to edit and add!

These past few days I've been playing with taking Macro photos in the garden.

I love looking at the little things from the garden, blown up to a large size!


More images can be found HERE.

Back to the garden before I head to work! Only 2 more days in town! Oh, and they should have my apartment back together with the furniture moved in before I dash to China on Monday! This means I can move back in after I return from China!!! Yeah!!!

I'm dying to get to my sewing machine! I've lost so much weight that I have a TON of tailoring to do so that I can make use of my clothing!!!!

Busy!
The cold...it took. Cloudy head, stuffy nose. Thankfully we'd brought back a few boxes of Samahan from Sri Lanka.

I LOVE that stuff!!!

Dissolve into hot water, and drink! It doesn't taste bad either and it gets the cold moving right along.
5 days later I'm left with that linguring dry cough but not much else. Yeah! What have I been up to (aside from planning my next trips -- San Diego & Hong Kong both for work starting later this week...more on that later.)
In no particular order...

I bought these:
plants for my garden after finally singing up for Zipcar! My first experience with Zipcar was stellar indeed! I rented Terry the Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck for 4 hours and dashed up to the Matterhorn Nursery thirty some miles up the Palisades and back, unloaded and returned the truck to the lot from where I picked it up.

Friday night we checked out a French Caribbean restaurant called "A" on Columbus between 106th & 107th streets. I popped my head into this wee little spot (seats perhaps 24 people?) and was greeted with a smile. I reserved a table for 15 minutes from then and dashed to the liquor store up the block for a nice bottle of wine.

Let me state here how MUCH I like BYOB restaurants!!!

If you go, also note that it's also CASH ONLY so hit the ATM before you arrive! Upon my return, Sebastian, the owner, greeted my smile with a big one of his own and showed me to one of the four open seats in the small room. Upon popping open my wine he suggested a few dishes on the petite but lovely menu that would go well with my wine selection. Dan was running a bit late while he wrapped up a school deadline and encouraged me to order a little something while I waited. So I did...the baked Shrimp with rum curry special.

Let me interject here and say there will be no photos of the food as the lighting was very dim and I couldn't get a single one that did the food justice. The kitchen is very tiny and part of the dining room.

The music, mostly 80s favorites, came from a stereo atop the fridge and everyones heads bobbed as you looked around the room. Smiles too. No one looked at me oddly when I pulled out my knitting and sat knitting and people watching until my dish arrived.

Upon Dan's arrival, we ordered two more appetizers, the baked pear with raw honey and Gorgonzola and the pate. Yums all around! We followed that with the chicken and duck entrees, bith served with a nice couscous - yums again!

I was FULL...but when they threw in a dessert I had to eat it up! YUM! He had gotten the Chocolate creme brulee (which he commented was less cremey and more puddingy but good none-the-less) while I enjoyed my French apple tartin - very buttery and not too rich. I can't believe it's been in the neighborhood for seven years (as I have too!) and this was my first visit. Shame on me! I'll be back! Yum!

I also had a lovely meal at Mama Mexico's, after our mani-pedi date, with Jennifer and a tasty meal with Linda and Michelle later in the week at Gennaro. It was a good eattin' week!

Back to that fun word above... KNITTING... I have cast on a new project for my weeks of travels ahead. I'd stopped into Yarntopia this week and decided I HAD to have this beautiful BRIGHT TURQUOISE (#204) yarn - Artyarns Ultramerino4 and a hank in a bright apple green too!

What am I knitting?

The Undulating Rib Socks (pg 93 in the Favorite Socks book from Interweave.) I'll do the heels and toes in the green. Yum! The photo doesn't do the color justice at all!! I'm knitting them both at once on two Addi-turbos. Weeeeeeee!


I'LL BE TEACHING
I also found out from Dona at Yarntopia that I'll be teaching a class on Intarsia in August at the store, and likely one on socks in the fall. So, hop on over to the store website and sign onto the email list and she'll email out the entire class schedule list later this week. Oh, and her downstairs knitting lunge is NOW OPEN! Yeah! It's a great color too! Walls are a Raspberry and the floor is a pretty rusty orange. Fun!


Cooking -- I think I've perfected the steamed Chinese fish. Yum!! I've made it a few times these past few weeks.

It was amoungst the dishes of July 4th. Also Mango Salsa (yum!) and a stone fruit cobbler of sorts. Although I've been enjoying trying out many new restaurants, our wallets and tummies haven't been as happy. So I've been trying to fit in cooking some meals...difficult when I can't use my own kitchen... although I've been told the job will be DONE Tuesday...I have hope!!