On the Cusp....

It's hard to believe I was last standing in October and now here I am on the verge of stepping out of December and into a new year. Although I haven't posted in forever, it only seemed appropriate to close out 2008 with one more post with a New Year's Resolution to blog more frequently since I really do enjoy it.

November came and went quickly with a quaint by lovely feast at my sister and her husband's house. Every immediate family member lives in a different state so getting together is usually quite difficult. The big gathering of most of the clan is always at Christmas. Usually all of the kids go to the parents' house but the lack of off-time from work for the youngest meant the holiday gathering was to be held in Tampa, Florida. (Ah, yes. Puts a different spin on the idea of a white Christmas, doesn't it?) It was wicked hot while down there (apparently the hottest winter Tampa has seen in many years... lucky me!) but I had a wonderful time catching up and laughing with everyone. My family was very gracious with the gifts and my mother, a fellow knitter, bought me a blocking board (yippie!) and knitted me a gorgeous basket-weave, lap blanket! Such a wonderful heirloom to have!

Since getting back to Atlanta and having another week off from teaching, I've been knitting and reading (or listening to audiobooks) non-stop! I've gone through some fantastic reads (children's literature) which have included The Looking Glass Wars Series by Frank Beddor which is the "real" story behind the book Alice in Wonderland





































as well as The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud.

This story is about a djinni summoned by a young boy studying to become a magician who is trying to get back at an older magician who embarrassed him. The book is told a good bit from the djinni's POV and he is hysterical! I've actually been doing the audiobook version of this and am obsessed with the narrator. I've done many books on tape and the reading of this book may very well be the best reading I have ever listened to. I highly recommend the audio version if you plan to get this book!!!! ( I can't wait to tackle the other two books in the series!) FYI: Don't let the cover discourage you from reading this book. The cover is the only scary thing about this book. :)

The main knitting project I am currently working on is my Baby Cables Sweater. Such a well-written pattern by villapeikko on Ravelry! It's knitting up quickly and, as you can see from the pic, I am really enjoying it. :)




























Good Health, Good Cheer, and Good Karma your way,

r

L5P Halloween Parade!!!

If you live in Atlanta, one thing everyone must go and experience or participate in is the Little 5 Points Halloween Parade! L5P is the deliciously, eclectic part of Atlanta that embraces many lifestyles and people ranging from Rasta to Gothic. Halloween is this neighborhood's Christmas. This year's parade was amazing as ever with a wide array of people, costumes, and good fun. Here are a some pics to give you a taste of the hella good time had...



















Photos courtesy of jillandjohn.com

In the Raw

So I've been looking more into trying to eat a more raw, healthy diet. I picked up Ani's Raw Food Kitchen book

which contains living food recipes. I looked through the recipes (which look pretty damn good) so I decided to look the author up online. I came across Ani Phylo's website. I really liked how informative her website was and I loved that she has several links to youtube videos showing her making several recipes. (I'm a very visual learner so I love any video or tv show that demonstrates cooking!)

I decided tonight to give one of Ani's recipes a try...her cacao pudding recipe from her website. Holy snikies! What a delicious recipe! It literally took 5 minutes total, prep time and actual making, to complete this recipe and I was so hella happy with it! Everything is raw and organic and crazy yummy! Definitely many thumbs up for this one and I definitely plan to try many more recipes now. Here's my finished pudding! Num Num Num!

So Much to Say and Share

It's been a hella long time since I've blogged and I definitely have some catching up to do. Since my last entry, school has been in session for almost two months (Wow!) and the change in the weather has finally started to occur. Fall and Winter are my favorite times of the year so I'm in absolute heaven right now with the cooler weather!

Over the last week I decided to tackle a bunch of unfinished projects. So far I have finished a scarf for my older sister...



...along with my first fair isle project, the Composed Mitts from Interweave Knits Fall 2007 issue.


I'm now trying to tackle for the bizillionth time my Frieda Sweater. Keepin' the fingers crossed. ;)

I've also been doing a bit of cooking and baking. I just finished baking the most delicious banana nut bread. I swiped this recipe from a friend to knit with's blog.

My latest results...


I've been prowling on Ravelry quite a bit the past few days and was checking out skrillaknits's blog and oh me oh my! She was sharing the coolest techie information. For those who have iPhones or an iTouch (I have the latter) you can download an application called Stitch Minder which is a stitch counter. Very cool!

All right! That's it for now! No, wait! One more thing! I just realized a couple of days ago that people are actually reading my blogs AND posting comments! I'm such an idiot. So, my apologies to all who have written comments and wondered why I never responded. I promise now that I know, I will be responding.

Much love and good karma to all,

r

I Heart Organic!

I started off my day with how I wish I could start everyday...shopping at a local farmers' market! Today I went to Morningside Farmers' Market for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Everyone was amazingly friendly and all the vendors were extremely helpful in explaining how they prefer to prepare some of their unique products. Here was what my feast looked like all spread out at home.

Yep! Even the fresh flowers are from the market!

As you can see, bought chicken, cucumber, blueberries, blackberries, cherry tomatoes, squash blossoms, granola, lettuce, purple peppers, and whole-wheat sourdough bread.

I also bought watermelon, Japanese eggplants, green beans, herbs, and heirloom as well as beefsteak tomatoes.

After taking everything home, I went out and rounded out my shopping spree with some new measuring spoons from Anthropologie along with a couple of cookbooks.


Simply Organic: A Cookbook for Sustainable, Seasonal, and Local Ingredients by Jesse Ziff Cool


Wonderfoods:Amazing Ingredients & Recipes for Optimum Health by Natalie Savona

Now...what to eat first?

Bon Appetit!

Contentment

I can't believe how long it's been since I've been on Ravelry or blogged! Finishing up the end of the school year became massively out of hand along with an unexpected and quick move out of the current place I was living with Adam and into a new place. (The shooting in front of our house prompted us to take up residence in another dwelling. Wise decision, I think.)

Summer is definitely here now in Atlanta. It's been in the 90s most days which usually doesn't happen until July which so I can only imagine the heat by the time August rolls around! Training for my triathlons has been going well but I had to put it on the back burner for about 5 days since I was dealing with some sort of intestinal infection that had me in a bit of pain. On the mend now and I definitely never want to deal with that again!

Talk of moving to NYC is back in the picture again. It looks like Adam has decided to finally follow through with his passion for photography and there's a few schools in NYC that would really benefit him to go to. I am a mixture of emotions about this possible move. The thought of the experience of living there is exhilarating but trying to figure out where to get a job, where to live and what to do with all our things here in Atlanta is a bit overwhelming. One thing at a time, though.

Here's a lovely pic Adam took of my darling Copper. I love the look of contentment on her face...

Sometimes It Be That Way

Things have hella hectic and busy but in a very deliciously, satisfying way. The weather was amazing on Monday so Adam and I had a lovely impromptu bike ride. A kid attempted to jump out in front of me on the path and I thankfully was able to avoid her but had issues with clipping out my right foot quickly which led to the following pic...



I love getting dirty on my bike! =)

The rest of the week has been packed with IEP meetings (Special Education Meetings) and the paperwork that goes with it but it's all good. The hard work for the next month will mean all my work done before the County lets out for spring break and all will be smooth sailing 'til the end of the school year.

Good karma to those in need,

R

My "Ahh!" Moments

So things are going really well. Much better than the last post. ;) For one, I have rented out my townhome for another year...and to someone I know personally which thrills me beyond belief! It's a massive weight that has been lifted off my shoulders to know my home will be taken care for.

I've also recently stumbled upon podcasts. Yes, I know I'm pathetically late on this discovery comparatively speaking to the rest of the world, but better late than never! There's some really good podcasts on knitting and I also really like the Sierra Club podcast. I would love to know if others out there are listening to podcasts and which ones they like!

Alice Waters' fabulous cookbooks have entered my life and I am so stoked to be using her amazing recipes. Reasons why these books rock:
1) Both books contain a million wonderful recipes for veggies that I have been too nervous to use in my cooking and I feel more confident now with trying them out
2) All the veggies listed also have the corresponding season written with them so you know when to buy the food and when to avoid them even though the grocery stores will still sell them ( Out-of-season=more energy spend on transporting food from longer distances. Boo...)
3) I love Alice Waters' belief that one should derive pleassure from cooking and eating food. I've been concerned a while now with how quickly, as Americans, meals have steered away from the pleasurable and social aspect it once represented.
4) I adore Alice Waters' movement to promote her "Delicious Revolution" in the schools. She has started up a pilot project called the Edible School Yard and the knowledge the children are getting from this project is truly inspiring. As a teacher, I would love to see more students be exposed to such a wonderful idea that is so vital to our health.

Okay, enough preaching. Hope to post soon about the recipes I try and hope you get a chance to check out the books!

Just one of those days..

So...I'm having one of those days where I feel blue and have no particular reason as to why. I think I'm feeling worn down by all the negative energy that surrounds my work environment. I've always been one to remove myself from a situation that brings down my energy but this is impossible right now since it is my job. Thankfully, my other job helps to counteract this negativity but not completely. So, to help cheer myself up I'm going to post a pic that make me smile...



Copper's first time in a pool. She thought I was drowning and jumped in to save me. I love her fierce loyalty...

Looky Looky!

Yippee! I FINALLY finished my first garment! It's the Anise from Rowan's New Shapes. It was an easy knit but with everything going on from the holidays, teaching, bartending, and training, my knitting time was severely limited. I'm back!

I love this cardigan. Very cozy and a nice fit as well. I bought the buttons at Knitch and I adore the way the look. On to the next sweater and cardigan!
(I'm having issues with having the pictures turn the way I want them to. Apologies!)

My Cocaine ;)

I'm pathetically addicted to Ravelry! Hours on the site! I need help....

I finished up my first sock earlier this week. Here's my progress.







I'm not sure if I'm really digging the whole sock thing but it's not bad. Maybe it's because I'm hella focused on my sweaters right not.

I also knitted my friend Candice a pair of fingerless mitts after she saw mine and begged for a pair. An easy gift since they knit up in a couple of hours. I'm crazy pleased with this pair and love the decorative buttons I added on the outside edge. I used Malabrigo yarn for the first time and it's awesome! Will definitely have to use this yarn some more!

Look at me go!!!!

So I'm currently working on my first pair of socks and I just finished the heel flap! I'm really happy with how the sock is knitting up so far and I'm definitely enjoying this project. I'm right on target for where I'm supposed to be for my next sock class on Tuesday so I think I'll take the rest of this time to work on some other projects I've been neglecting the past week. I'm hella stoked tomorrow is MLK Day and I don't have to teach or bar tend!! Yippee!!!


My sock to the heel flap:

All Riiiiight!!!

So, it looks like maybe I get how to blog! I'm hella stoked! Not too much to say right now. I'm able to be on this during the day because I'm home sick from teaching (NOT sick of teaching!). It's nice having the down-time to chill out with my fabulous weenies, Copper

and Meg

and to work on my knitting homework. I'm taking a knitting class right now at Knitch so as to learn how to knit socks. Seems to be going well so far! I'm quite a fan of this yarn (ONline Supersocke Winter Color 887) since it knits up as a faux fairisle. Nice!






More to come later...

My first attempt at this!

Hope this is working!!!!