The day that changed my life. No, seriously.

Did I ever tell you about the first day I met Faythe? We met a long time ago on my first day of sixth grade. See, my early years were spent moving around from town to town in Oregon and Texas when finally, one day Mom, Aimee and I moved in with our Grandparents in Deadwood,* Oregon. We traveled some 25 miles away to Mapleton to go to the same schools most of our relatives had gone to and sadly (or happily, you decide) were taught by the same people my aunts, uncles and cousins were taught by. To be honest, the only thing I remember on my first day of school is my encounter with the only other non-Caucasian kid in my class (and possibly the entire school), a skinny girl with long curly brown hair.

It was recess time and I was sitting on a swing minding my own business when Faythe walked over to check me out. Conversation was slow and shy but eventually we got down to the business of being best friends. It wasn't long until we were kicking Crayon colored rocks water-proofed with Scotch tape around the field during recess. Oh, yes we were definitely suited for each other. We also spent time inventing our own language (of which I only remember one word), learning to juggle and laughing hysterically while people stared at us in disbelief and/or annoyance. I can still hear our loud laughter echoing in the bathrooms as we laughed at...well, nothing. I believe there was even a time or two where we were separated in the classroom and forced to sit as far from each other as possible.

Well, as time has proven, no distance can keep us from being friends and from occupying ourselves with our own forms of entertainment (one of which may or may not include hoarding yarn for our retirement years). And even though we're separated by thousands of miles, we still laughing uncontrollably, causing people to stare at us while we type loudly to each other online. I think it's safe to say we'll always be best friends.

So here's to you Faythe, "Oy!" Thanks for making my life a more interesting one! Even if your heart is supposedly black. :)

Happy Birthday!





*I wanted to point out that the Spotlight section in both the Deadwood and Mapleton links are suspiciously missing. Unless you have lived there.

KnitPicks Felici

Though I have a couple different sock yarns that I'm quite devoted too, I decided to try out KnitPicks Felici in hopes it would get me through this knitting slump. I needed something simple that required no brain power and this self striping yarn seemed to fit the bill. I was a bit surprised at how soft it is considering I bought Essential (made from the same material as Felici) about 4 years ago and it felt like a ball of coarse wool seemingly straight off the sheep. But apparently they changed their "recipe" and it's surprisingly soft, even baby worthy!


I'm loving the fact that I don't have to knit a pattern, it looks great just the way it is. Plus, the colors remind me of the beach - always a good thing! This is Schooner and the photo is pretty close to true color. It maybe a tad bit darker in person.

Hopefully KP will create even more colors, I'm alredy hooked!

Fortune cookies

"You enjoy playing to a crowd."
-- I start training support staff today for a Major Sporting Event.


"You will do well to expand your horizons."
-- You are probably right.

Oh, and I have some lottery numbers to play too. Thank you Peking Noodle Co!


Edited: I've been told that you should add "in bed" to the end of your fortune. That adds a whole new twist to the fortune!

Life Lessons

The day you ask yourself "Does this shirt make me look fat?"* and you realize it doesn't matter anymore and that you're not fooling anyone...that's the day you need to do something about it.



*Or maybe the reality is you make the shirt look fat.

Life at the tide pools

We saw a few creatures at the tide pools.


Like crabs. Little crabs scurried in front of us like spiders (sorry Aimee). They were so cute! The largest one was probably about the size of my fist and purple. The smallest were as small as spiders with coloring that helped them blend in.


What's this thing? It had a hard shell, maybe it was alive under there?


And then we saw this. Some sort of bug that appears to be the roach of the beach! EWWW! Look at all those legs! And the worst part...


There were hundreds of them!! They were all over the rocks, stepping on each other, falling off the rocks in the sand. So disgusting! They give me creepy crawlies just thinking about them.


Ah, nice flowers to take our minds off those bugs.

The Point Loma coast

Faythe left yesterday on a 14 hour flight to Taiwan with Jen and Peanut. I'm sure she'll have lots of stories and photos! While she was here, we visited Point Loma's Cabrillo Monument and tide pools for some downtime. All that yarn shopping can wear a person out! Yarn can easily set us into hyper-shopping mode, but that's a totally different story.

Though the tide was at its lowest, it was a high low tide (that's what the ranger said) so we didn't get to explore many tide pools at all. But there was still plenty to see!

I'll never get enough of the west coast. Nature is so unforgiving and beautiful at the same time. Just look at that rock formation!

Apollo decided to brave the cliffs and walk to the other side to check out the scenery. (Faythe and I were too lazy.) Check out the layers of rocks pushed up at an angle. Gorgeous! The wind and water eats away at the soft earth and rocks creating the sand.

At first glance you might think the rocks on the beach below are small but thankfully we have 6 foot tall Apollo as our model showing us actual scale.

The flora in the area is dry, sturdy and usually looks dead. I was surprised to see these delicate flowers, they're inspiring. They make me want to paint.

I have a few more to show you, I'll upload them tomorrow.

Whereupon I break out my tricycle

A month ago I checked airfare from San Diego to Eugene, Oregon in mid July, leaving on a Thursday. With advance warning on a weekday I naturally figured fare would be inexpensive. I was wrong! At $345, it was well above the usual fee. A couple weeks ago I checked prices again and it was at $400 per person! Today I checked and if you're lucky, you can find something for $485! Over a month away! To OREGON! Out of curiosity I checked prices if a person leaves on Saturday and HORRORS, tickets start at $811! Faythe and Jen paid around $900 for tickets to Taiwan!

Hence, we have decided to drive. According to AAA's Fuel Cost Calculator, I'll pay under $300 round trip. Sure, gas is outrageous but is nothing compared to airfare. Even if we factor in food, hotel and driving time, we'll still be saving a bundle. Since we'll drive, you can bet we'll do touristy stuff on the way up. If you have any ideas for Must See's along the way, let me know!

$811, people!!!

A kidnapping

I'm not sure what's up with Faythe and Apollo. Whenever she's around, he turns into a pimp wanna-be! There was much singing about ho's today and even some pimp walking. He even got out of control with his business strategy of offering a punch card to John's and giving awards for frequent uses. *sigh* Faythe, of course, cackled evilly and encouraged him as he went off on his tangents. Even in restaurants and other public places!

After lunch at a Thai place, we went to Cabrillo Monument and then to Bonita Knitting Store. I gave Apollo $5 to go buy himself something while we got yarn. We later found him sitting in the car eating chips and drinking a soda. He seemed happy and content as we drove towards home, until he realized something was awry. The conversation then went something like this:

Apollo: "Honey, you missed the exit."

Me: Silence. "Oh, really!"

Faythe: Silent breathy cackling.

Apollo: "Um, you missed the other exit."

Me: "I see!"

Faythe: BAHAA HA HAHAA HA!

Apollo: Broken and defeated, "Oh. My. God."

Me: "But hey, I gave you that $5, right?"

There was much grumbling and pimp talking at this point until we got to Two Sisters and Ewe where we left him in the car while he played "I Got Ho's" loudly. Happily the store is still offering most of their yarn at %30 off so we decided to try out yak yarn, which is surprisingly soft. It seems like it'll make a great sweater.

After yarn shopping we went to Claim Jumpers where Apollo proceeded to tell the waiter all about the kidnapping and the child safety locks I had imposed on him. HEHEHE. Even the waiter seemed to be a bit perplexed about yarn shopping.

It's been great having Faythe around, I've only thought about work once or twice and not even for very long. I feel uplifted! I'm sure Apollo feels the same, it's given him a chance to work on his pimp walk.



Photos to follow.

Faythe's here!

Today I picked Faythe up from the airport an hour late due to traffic caused by a marathon. I had no idea it was this weekend and when I saw a sign warning me about stops on the 8 freeway, I was totally clueless to the traffic ahead of me. It was a stressful drive, worse than most commute to or from work.

After we picked up Faythe and ate lunch, we went to a yarn store! It was great shopping with someone that appreciates wool, not someone who only likes black or gray. I learned from one of the employee's that the building that housed the Malabrigo mill caught on fire May 29th. For more info, check out their home page here. If you don't know Malabrigo yarn, you should. It's extremely soft and gorgeous! I picked up a few hanks, two for hats and two for a lace project. If you're planning on buying any Malabrigo, I hear it's possible it might be a little scarce to find so get it while you can. My "informant" could be wrong though. You know how it all went down with Cotton-Ease.

Tonight a neighbor was approached by a hooker (though I think he knew she was a hooker and just wasn't willing to pay her $50 price), Faythe got a good photo of a girl in a bikini riding a bike (I don't care who you are, that's never a flattering look), and we ate a little soul food cooked by Apollo and Tee. If you know anything about their cooking, you know one of them cooks delicious food, the other, well, can cause diarrhea.

I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow. :I