When you procrastinate your ways to procrastinate, what does that make you?

Yes, it's true, sometimes I can't even procrastinate efficiently. Remember waaaaaaay back in, oh yes, March, when I told you about the fun little game I played on Facebook wherein I made gifts for five people by the end of the year?? Yeah, that one! Well, the last gift was received earlier this week! In February! So, either "end of the year" meant December 31st and I failed miserably, OR, "end of the year" meant twelve months from the day I joined the meme, in which case I made it with weeks to spare. I'm just going to put the blinders firmly on and say it's the latter. Even though I'm pretty sure it was originally worded in such a way that I don't really get that out.

I already showed you Byron's java jacket, but I'm going to re-show so it's a complete set. And, you're a rather captive audience, hmmmm? Hehehe. I also made small modifications in the same pattern for gifts for Julie and I'm Still Calling Her "New Friend" Veronica. I love these so much. I can't believe I haven't made myself one yet. The little cable is my favorite. :)

Quick and Basic Coffee Cozy by Andrea Piernock
Patons Soy Wool Stripes and Classic Wool
Size US6 dpns

I also showed you the beginning of Don's gift, but it went through a bit of transformation after it's last cameo... Don's a cool guy and a bit nerdy (which is why I love him so). I remembered him talking about a certain graphic novel many years ago when it first came out. And when the movie version of that graphic novel came out last year, I hoped that a commemorative hat would do the trick! Turns out I was right! I'm so glad he likes it. :)

Time Thief Watch Cap by Antoinette Buchanan
Unknown yellow acrylic blend with felt applique
Size US8 dpns

Speaking of nerd boys I love, Gator's best friend Wiggins was also on the list. Yes, we call lots of people by the last names around here. We're fun that way. Anyway, as a classic geek, I figured he could always use another place to stash some dice. And a dice bag shaped like a die was just too good to pass up.

D4-Shaped Dice Bag by Claire Nordlow
Red Heart Super Saver yarn
Size US8 straight needles

That's five! Whew! In the interest of full disclosure, it was the dice bag that did me in. I wanted to finish it before I started the last two gifts, but I was stymied. It was a little big fiddly to put together and get the numbers even. So I procrastinated it. I only finished it around New Year's. It turned out it wasn't so bad in the end. And I love the finished project. It was totally worth it, I think.

That's how one procrastinates the procrastination. You'd think it would take more talent than that, frankly.

_____

Amy Amy!

Since I've moved back to Columbia, I've spent very little time with my friends here. Partly it's because I just kind of holed up with Gator for awhile when I first got here. Conflicting schedules are to blame in some cases. But, really, a lot of it has to do with the fact that I just kind of drifted out of contact with a lot of folks over the last three years. They got new routines with other people, got into new relationships, moved, had kids, etc. And now that I'm back, I'm just not a normal part of their lives anymore and it's hard to find time to smush one more thing into a busy life. I get it. I don't take it personally. Technically, anyway. I know I'm as much to blame for the drifting as anyone. I went off and had an adventure. I made new friends. Just because I decided to pop back into town is no reason for anyone to drop everything and accommodate me. But, even though Gator is awesome and my very best friend and I like him better than anyone on the planet, he's... Well, he's a delightful homebody. And a tiny bit antisocial. (Those that know him can stop chuckling now. I know. I understate.) I like to gad about! I like to do fun things with all manner of fun people! I like adventures! I'd like to have adventures here in College Town and then maybe, maybe, I can learn to love it more and not pine endlessly for Beer Town. And as much as I love being with Gator, not having girlfriends to gad about with makes me lonely.

So I became determined to hook up with my old friends, even if I had to become a nuisance. The other problem is, I lost my old address book with everyone's phone numbers in it. If their number wasn't programmed into my landline phone (and it only held 10 numbers, so those were mostly family and almost none of my friends were in it), I didn't have their number anymore. I didn't have a cell phone before I moved to Milwaukee. Yes, I know. I wish I still didn't have one, ridiculous things, but that's another post, I reckon. ANYWAY, I had to pester my friend Amy via Facebook for weeks and finally we managed to exchange digits (I know, it shouldn't be so hard but somehow it was!) and set a day and time to get together!

Last night we went to Murry's, an awesome little restaurant here in College Town that I had not been to in almost four years. It's exactly the same as it was, which is kind of comforting. We had one of their most famous menu items: Green pepper rings. They are like onion rings, but green peppers. And they're covered with powdered sugar. Yes, you read that right. Powdered sugar. Oh, I know what it sounds like. It sounds horrible. It sounds like the worst idea ever. But. They. Are. AWESOME. There's some sort of magic that happens when the ingredients touch each other and they are transformed. It is a delicious example of something being far greater than the sum of its parts. I should have taken a picture of the dish itself but I did not because I was too busy eating it. But I did take a smooshy face picture of me and my AmyAmy (that's what I call her):


Our hair didn't used to match that well. Hehe. We picked right up like we hadn't been apart at all. It was really great. We talked and talked and talked. And ate, of course. The seafood linguine is really great there, too. :) We've already got plans for more fun!

So the College Town adventure has begun! Next I'm going to pester my friend Sarah, again via Facebook, into seeing me! I'm gonna get all re-friended up in no time!

_____

Recovery

I've mostly recovered from my sickness -- just a little bit of coughing and sniffling left. But much better!! I no longer have that hit-by-a-truck feeling! This is a vast improvement!

So, since Anne and Andy have gotten hitched (and Anne successfully defended her dissertation on Tuesday -- Yay, Dr. Anne!!!), I can show finished pictures of their wedding gift. I had showed some of the in-progress photos because I wasn't sure it was actually going to be their gift for a while there. Here is the funky fresh ripple afghan in all its glory:


I made it as long as my sofa so it would be nice and big for cuddling up under. I also tried to photograph it with an artful drape like they do in the pattern books, but I think I ended up with more of a "here's what it looks like wadded up on the couch" vibe:


I attended Anne and Andy's gift opening brunch, so I got to see them open it:


I hope they cuddle under it to many a rousing football game this winter!

Pattern: Easy Ripple Afghan by Susan B
Yarn: worsted weight stash acrylic of many types
Hook: size US H

I also started on a Christmas gift for my MIL, that I'm calling the Waterlilies Scarf. The Easy Dropped Stitch Scarf pattern looks really nice in the Monet colorway of Red Heart and really does remind me of his waterlilies paintings. If the sun ever shines here again, I'll get a nicer photo that shows off the color. But for now, this will have to do:



Much catching up to do in the lab -- hope you're all having a fun and productive week!

_____

In which I try to distract myself from sickness

I'm home quite sick today, but as the medicine hasn't kicked in yet and I can't sleep for the coughing, I thought I'd make a quick post. I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking today.

Nov. 1 was my friend Anne's wedding. It was a total blast.


Aren't they adorable? It was an autumn-themed wedding with different rich shades of brown as the main colors. The (cheese)cake was stupendous:


I was a posing fool. I posed with Rachel:


I posed with Veronica:


And I posed with the bride herself:


I wore the Maui shrug that I crocheted (mostly) during the Olympics. I liked it. It made my little black dress more festive. You can kind of get a sense of it, but the photos that really featured it didn't come out. I'll have to just play dress up one day and have a photo shoot. Someday.

The wedding was awesome and I had a great time. Congrats Anne and Andy!!

Then Tuesday night, while I watched election returns, I finished all the blocks for my Inga's Haekelbeutel:


Yesterday I pieced them, but I'll save photos of that for later. Can't blow all my news at once -- you never know when I'll have news again!

Okay, I think maybe I can try sleeping now. ::cough, cough:: Well, maybe not.

_____

At least today's word is scientific...

A week ago Saturday we had an Anti-Bachelorette Party for my friend Anne who is getting married on Nov. 1. It was an "Anti-Bachelorette" party because, for some outlandish reason, Anne is not into barhopping while wearing a tiara made from replicas of male anatomy. Go figure, right?

So we congregated at Veronica's apartment, provided Anne with mimosas on-demand, played games, and watched The Wedding Singer. We did give her a bridal tiara and a magic wand, but we did not require her to wear them in public (nor were there any body parts of any kind represented therein).

Anne loves the game Apples To Apples, so we made a custom version of the game that contained words pertaining to her and her fiance, along with some standard wedding terms. It was a big hit.

Anne did not wear her tiara for the requisite smooshy-face pictures. Darn her.


An important thing I learned was that, with my hair pulled back and a sparkly tiara perched high atop my head, I look frighteningly like Toni Colette as she walks down the isle in Muriel's Wedding. Of course, my forehead (fivehead!) is even bigger...::shudder::


Veronica looked adorable, as always:



And we learned that Rachel's hair was not meant to hold such an insubstantial trifle of a tiara. She requires a full-on crown. Pity we didn't have one.


We ate, we drank, we made merry, we sang along to 80's music, and a grand time was had by all. You simply don't need a giant inflatable penis for that.

_____

Bad news football; good news baseball

So maybe I just shouldn't watch football this season.

I hadn't watched any Broncos games until today and they were undefeated until today. Maybe I'm bad mojo. This is, of course, ridiculous -- my presence or absence in front of a television screen has nothing to do with how the players perform miles away from me. But as far as sports superstitions go, it's completely reasonable. I will ponder this possibility and decide what to do before next week's game.

Since I have no television of my own, I had to go to the Union Sports Annex to watch the game -- they have Sunday Ticket -- and it just so happened that the screen showing the Brewers game was right next to the screen playing the Broncos game. It was maddening. It's bad enough watching two different football games at one time, but to watch two screens showing two games of altogether different sports, both of which I was heavily invested in, was really difficult. Plus, the football game was horrible, while the baseball game was terrific. An emotional roller coaster if ever I've been on one.

Anyway, the good news is that the Brewers won and the Mets lost, so the Brewers are going to the playoffs!! We're all very excited up here in Beer Town, to be sure. Go Brew Crew!!!

Oh, and I made one and a half dishcloths while watching all of this. True multi-tasking, I'm telling you. I had completely depleted my random dishcloth stash when I visited my family this summer, so I really needed to start stocking up again. I think I'm up to around four. Many more to go!

Okay, so I know I promised State Fair pictures a long time ago. But somehow this pressure has become too great and I've just not been blogging instead of doing all the photo manipulation required to present such a post. And, since Yarnthrower reminded me that I made a New Year's resolution to not feel guilty about my blog, I'm permanently throwing that to the back of the back burner for the sake of blogging in general. So there, guilt! Away with you! Ppbbfftt!!

On to a little progress report! The Maui Shrug is indeed finally finished (the one I tried to do for the Ravelympics and failed horribly) but I don't have pictures yet. It really needs to be modeled to be seen properly, and that will require enlisting the help of a second party to snap the pic and looking decent myself for the picture. This will require planning. So it may be a while. I can't help it. I'm vain yet lazy. It's a terrible burden, I assure you.

My friend Anne's bridal shower was a couple of weeks ago and I finished all her gifts in good time and went on to have a blast at the event itself. It was held at a wine bar and there was quite a spread. And I couldn't believe all the gifts she got -- what a haul!! And that was just the shower!!!

My addition to the haul included dishcloths,


potholders,


lid hats,


and a market bag.


I put it all together and made fiber content/washing instructions tags for everything.


She loved it! Here's Veronica, Anne, Me, and Rachel at the shower. It was great!


I have also finished the wedding gift for Anne and her finace, but finished pics will wait until after the giving. Just in case.

Tonight I started the Seraphina shawl. I've never felt the shawl love, but this pattern is calling to me for some reason. I've only got a tiny bit done, so I'll save pics for next time. But I'm really enjoying it so far. In fact, I think I'll get back to it right now!

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My new room mate

Before I say anything else, I want to wish a Very Happy Anniversary to Missa and her dear hubby, Lee, who, as of today, have been married for... well, a long time. But not quite as long as I have. So somewhere around fifteen-y sixteen-ish.

Hi, my memory is crap!

I was Missa's matron of honor at her wedding, and anyone who has ever stood up at a wedding will appreciate this story of just how freaking cool my awesome BFF is:

When she was planning her wedding and asked me to stand up with her, I asked her what her colors were and what my dress might be like. She said, I don't know -- you're the only one standing up with me, so you pick out the dress you want to wear and that will be the color I use. There were a few caveats, of course -- no fuscia, etc. -- but considering that she knew my taste at the time, it wasn't really an issue. I found a simple, dark green cocktail dress in the JCPenney clearance catalog for 24.99, she loved it, and that settled it. And I officially had the best bridesmaid experience ever. Missa 'da bomb!!!

And now, while we're all feeling all these warm and fuzzy thoughts for Missa, let's throw a few in the direction of my awesome new roomie, Benny! Who's Benny, you ask? Why is he living with you? What sort of scandalous things are going on up there in Beer Town, anyway? Am I going to have to start filtering this blog, you wonder?

Never fear, dear friends! As I artfully communicated in my last post, I went to the greenhouse on Saturday. I went with a friend and had no intention of buying anything because my thumb is notoriously black and the thought of killing something I was attached to, even a plant, at this point makes me unbearably sad. But then I saw Benny. He called to me. "Hey, nice lady! I'm small and cute and springy and you can talk to me and not feel so crazy in your little apartment! And, really, with all those south-facing windows, not having a plant is a kind of a crime against the Planta kingdom." I swear, he really said all of that to me. But I took Benny home with me, so the men in white coats can't come get me because then I won't be able to take care of Benny anymore.

Yes! Stay away from me, social workers! I'm protected by... A PLANT!!!

My room mate, Benny, is cute, yet fierce.

Then I went to TJ Maxx, the home of all the stuff no one wanted to buy at other stores, and found a great little pot for $4. I think it matches the decor delightfully:


In case you're wondering, that is a ceramic fish in the upper left. A wonderfully effed up ceramic fish by a locally famous artist in my hometown. It's awesome, trust me. So is the terra cotta ball thingy in the lower right -- also by him. It jingles if you shake it. Such cool stuff I've been given over the years.

Now that there's a plant on that table, I shall start referring to it as my sculpture garden. And the men in white coats can just try to stop me.

_____

Unfinished business... of AWESOMENESS!

Today we're having a blizzard. Classes were canceled, there were whiteout conditions -- it was a great day to stay inside and, well, it would have been a great day to knit, or (ahem) take down my Christmas decorations (do NOT comment!) or some other nice, indoor, productive thing. So, instead, I futzed around and didn't do anything in particular, really. I did take a pretty impressive nap, though.

But that's not what this post is about, nosireebob! It's about awesomeness, and blizzards are not awesome. Well, they can be pretty great, but not awesome. No, this post is about two things. The first is: Gator got his gift in the mail today! And he loves it! And now I get to show it to you! Happiness all around!


It's a simple rag quilt made with some coordinating flannel I purchased a couple of years ago but had never used. It's not quite bedspread size, but I would totally use it for one. I slept under it (nekkid, even!) the night before I sent it to Gator (you know, for a little extra love in the package. Hee!) and I was not too hot, not too cold. Just right.


The backing is a light grey that makes a subtle border between the squares. The backing is also a courser weave and it frays really well. It gives the quilt a great look, but I washed it four times and the lint trap was as full as full could be all four times. It could probably stand to be washed four more times. It eventually will be. It's all good.

Most instructions online advise cutting the seam allowances every 1/4 inch to encourage fraying. I've made one before following that advice and didn't like the results. So this time I cut ~ every 1/8 to 1/16 inch. Basically, I made the cuts as close together as practically possible. I like the effect much better. Thus, like I said, the full lint trap. But I still dig it.


Purple is Gator's favorite color, so its inclusion is key. And what geek god doesn't love knights and castles and wizards? He asserts that this is a most awesome prize. I hope he sleeps under it and dreams of me. Not riding a unicorn. Don't ask.

My second piece of awesome business is that two people, Laura and Molly Bee, awarded me with the You Make My Day Award! How cool is that? I've never been awarded before! So fun! You guys make my day, too!

Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

I pass the award on to Missa, Becky, Sue, Dorothy, Judy, Dawn, Julie, Laura, Steve, and Tricia. You all make my day, every time you post. Pass it on!

I also updated my links over on the right, there. That's a continuing project, but that's what I've added for now. Maybe you can find some new friends in there, too! Wouldn't that be AWESOME?

_____

Long time, no see!

::crawling up from underneath a mountain of research papers and PowerPoint presenttions::

Hi! Wow, it's bright up here. Even though it's overcast all the time and the sun is only up for about 4.5 hours per day, it's still much brighter than my dark corner of studyallthetime-ness. But it has to be done. The only way I accomplish anything is to just remove myself from the innernets altogether. Otherwise, I start "checking my mail" and the next thing I know, three hours have gone by. But I know what Britney bought at the convenience store yestrday, by golly. And isn't that what's truly important? I think I'll be back among the living sometime before Christmas. At least until I start studying for qualifying exams...

Anyway! I promise not to bore you with my exciting stories of learning about paramutation or oxygen-hemoglobin binding kinetics. No, really, I promise! You should really just praise me all day for this.

I poked my head out of the jumble because I'm winding things down so I can enjoy four uninterrupted days of not studying -- I'm going to Missouri to see Gator for Thanksgiving!!! I'm so excited!! I leave very early tomorrow morning for Chicago, where I'm meeting my friend Amanda, who is driving to Columbia. Roadtrip with fun friend and a long weekend with Gator! AWESOME!!

But before that happens, my cool New Friend Veronica (it's been, like, a year. You'd think I'd stop calling her "New". Apparently not.) is taking me to see Debbie Harry tonight! How fun is that? I'm so ready to rock out to Rapture. And now I'm in the Man From Mars! Tee hee.

So, okay, yes. I do get study breaks. And I've even spent some of them crocheting. Cwazy, I know! So I finally (only a couple of months late) finished "Sister" Annette's wedding potholders! I hope she likes them! (Of course, I hope Mick likes them, too!)




Bright and cheerful and cool. I like them, anyway. :)

And last, but CERTAINLY not least, I got the best surprise in the mail yesterday (all the way from England)! A pressie from blog buddy Judy! It's a little crocheted turkey "butt" refrigerator magnet and it came with the most lovely card. Ain't it the cutest? (And don't I look tired?)


Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love making friends on this here Interblag!

And now, excuse me while I go eat guitars... Hee!

_____

'Tis me risin' from th' dead

Arrrr! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers!

As much as I would like to post entirely in Piratese, it just doesn't come across in print very well. Arrrr!

Oh, yeah, Hi! Been awhile, eh? After my company left, I got a wicked cold and the workload this semester is crazy. I haven't blogged, I haven't done any handwork -- I do homework and sleep. Mostly, that's totally it.

But that's no fun to blog about! Luckily, I have a whole passel of pictures from when my Best Friend Missa came to visit me weekend-before-last. Yay!

She flew up from Missouri to see me, obviously, but also to see our favorite band, Rush, when they played here on Sept. 6. The concert was a total blast and we had a ball. Afterwards, as we walked to the bus stop, a couple of college-age guys on bikes stopped us. One had a bouquet of roses in his hand. He offered them to us and we were trying to politely refuse ("candy" from strangers and all that -- it was around midnight in the middle of the city, after all), when he explained that he was just having a really hard time riding his bike while carrying these flowers -- and wouldn't we like some beautiful flowers? So we finally accepted. Unless they contained this cold virus Missa and I both seem to have picked up, no harm came from taking flowers from a stranger. They were pretty beat-up at the time, but I trimmed them and put them in water when we got home and, by morning, they had perked up to be very lovely indeed. Missa beautifully posed with them:



Saturday morning we drove down to the Lakefront and Missa posed,


I posed,


We met some birds,


and Missa tried to get to know one of them better (it flew away seconds after this photo was taken).


We took in a few more sights, then met up with New Friend Veronica for the Miller Brewery Tour. It was fun, free, and included beer. Perfection? Dang close. Missa and I got up close and personal with a large fake beer bottle. Why not?


Missa, me, and V posed together at the back of the High Life Cruiser, a big, very retro Miller bus thing-y that we decided was just pretty cool. Although, I think that great old "Girl in the moon" logo may be the best thing about Miller. They should use it more, methinks.


Missa didn't get to stay nearly long enough, if you ask me. But it was great to see her, hand out with her, and to have my first official out-of-town visitor come to my humble abode in Beer Town! Yay! It was fun playing hostess and I tried to instill my insane crazy love for this city into Missa. I think I did a pretty good job. I can't wait until she can come back!

::cough::

Seriously, do you think those guys made us sick with infected roses??

::cough::

Yeah, okay, maybe not.

Wherein crazy lady tells too much, probably

Happy Saturday Sky!


Well, not totally happy because it's supposed to rain all weekend and all next week. Not that we can't use some rain, but this may become overkill. Now that I live in the city, I'm not as aware of the precipitation needs of the agricultural base, which is a little weird. But I'm pretty sure a solid week of rain in August is not what anyone was hoping for.

This has been an odd week. First of all, I haven't felt that great. I had a bright idea that I would start on a high fiber diet, because I'm sure my body would greatly benefit and also because Walgreens had a crazy sale on Grape Nuts and frozen vegetables. And at the risk of venturing into the world of TMI, let me tell you that suddenly increasing your fiber intake by over 100% does some freaky uncomfortable and disgusting things to your bod. I recommend that anyone else trying this just take the week off from work. My plan is to be strong, continue on and hope I adjust soon. That, or the regular price of Grape Nuts will force me to go back so subsisting mostly on cheap white bread, peanut butter and Ramen. I can only imagine that the reverse transition would be disgusting as well.

This week marks one year since I moved to Beer Town! w00t! My love for this city has grown steadily during that time to the point where any time I travel to other places I have a running internal commentary of how Milwaukee is better. This happened when I was in Toronto in July and it happened when I was in Chicago on Thursday. I think I'm crazy smitten and people are really starting to get tired of it. You know when your friend first gets a new girl/boyfriend? And if they say one more dazzlingly fabulous thing about the ravishing perfection of said new friend you will possibly jab their eyes out and/or shoot them in the throat? Yeah, I think I may be that girl. Only about an entire city, which is maybe just really, really sick. But I'm starting to think such an attack would be totally worth it because I totally love this crazy awesome city just that much. Hi! Crazy lady right here!

I know the burning question in your mind during that whole tirade of craziness was, "Why was Sus in Chicago on Thursday?" Never fear, I'll totally tell you. See, New Friend Veronica's old roommate Kristen is an intern for the NPR news quiz, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!, which I've loved listening to for about seven years. She got us free tickets for last Thursday's taping, so we motored down with much excitement. Traffic was pretty bad, so we ended up pulling into a parking structure a couple of blocks away from the Chase Tower about ten minutes before taping was to begin. This caused us to run two blocks in an attempt to not be late. Neither V nor I actually run in real life, especially without the aid of industrial strength sports bras, so the actual running was accompanied by a running commentary of how we don't really run and also, "My boobs are flopping like crazy, you?" and "Totally. I may put an eye out any second." I'm sure passersby found this cute and endearing.

So we got there, found the correct door, and made our way to the auditorium. Thoughts of the auditorium in the Chase Tower had always conjured up thoughts of an, oh I don't know, auditorium in a tower. And, while the building is, in fact, towering, the auditorium is actually down in the basement with a low little ceiling and a pretty small little stage. I don't know what else they do there -- probably incredible bank-related theater, I'm sure. On this night, due to some miscommunication, they had overbooked the show. So, while a group of people were standing around hoping for no-shows, we were swept into the packed auditorium and led to reserved seats in the front row directly in front of the panel! Sassy! We were incredibly special! Personally, I think all aspects of my life should work in this manner.

Watching the taping was great fun. The panel included Tom Bodett (he'll leave the light on for you), Amy Dickenson, and Mo Rocca. I think I was the only person there that was genuinely excited that the Not My Job guest was congressman Ron Paul. I think he's awesome (Hi! I live here in my pretty, little, high-up apartment, making googly eyes at my city and feeling it return my love manyfold. I can't be bothered to care what you think of my politics). Afterwards there was a question/answer session during which Peter Sagel almost fell into my arms. Okay, he sort of tripped and almost took a header sort of towards me, but that doesn't sound as cool. After the show, we went and ate McDonald's in the train station with Kristen because we are so classy like that. The ride home consisted largely of V and I belting out Journey's greatest hits which is always a good time in my book.

It was a really late night but it was so worth it. We're hoping to do it again soon. If I survive eating all these Grape Nuts.

_____

Think a bloody mary would help?

I think I have a food hangover.

Yesterday, New Friend Veronica successfully defended her Masters thesis (Yay, V! Congratulations, you Master, you!), which totally called for a party. V, Anne and I loaded up on the snacks and settled in for a guilty pleasure -- watching the ridiculous dance movie Step Up. Wow. That movie is bad. HI-larious. Completely fun to watch and make fun of.

I ate a turkey leg. I ate spinach and artichoke dip. I ate pasta salad. I ate tortilla chips. I ate cake and ice cream.

It's an interesting flavor combination, I realize.

I had crazy dreams last night.

I still feel bloated and want to sleep for a year.

The irony (the Alanis Morissette definition, naturally)? Today I have to starve cells in preparation for a mating. Starving sounds like a pretty sweet deal right now.

_____

Back in Beer Town

Why, hello there! It looks like you've done well while I've been gone! Love the hair. Been working out? You look great.

So I went down to Missouri and saw my boy! Yay! I had seen him for just a few hours in March but hadn't spent any real time with him since Christmas. I had a wonderful time. Mostly we just hung out and watched movies and ate out, but we did go to the wedding of my dear friend Ryan and had a blast. Now, you'll notice I have no actual picture of bride or the groom, but at least I tried. And someday I may even figure out how to use my camera sufficiently to get decent pictures of things that are more than three feet in front of me. Yes, that's right, I'm blaming the camera. That's just my way.

Gator and I at the reception:


My friend Amy was there:


I made fast friends with part of the Mardi Gras themed centerpiece:


I got to see my friend Nano who came from California to photograph the festivities (but he got a little break):


Other than the wedding, as I said before, Gator and I ate at our favorite local restaurant, George's. The owner is, conveniently, George -- an extremely outgoing Greek immigrant who, for some reason, loves my teeth and was glad to see me back in town. He posed with us for a pic:


Then we posed with our favorite waitress, Becky (not to be confused with blog buddy Becky):


While Gator and I watched several movies (Everything is Illuminated, Junebug, The Night Listener, Clerks II, Borat, American Splendor), I made a set of potholders for the biology department kitchen. Why we don't already have potholders, I'll never know, but now I can be sure that the ones we have are of the highest quality and are supremely attractive. Of course.



Gator's family all got together for Father's Day (of course, I don't have any pictures of that -- that would be too nice and make too much sense. I only sporadically take pictures that consist of fifty million silly shots taken in fifteen minutes then twelve hundred days of happenings with no photo record. It's my way.) I started the Zodiac pattern from the new Knitty for some friends who are expecting. I show pics of that tomorrow -- don't want to show you everything at once! You might suffer adverse effects from the excitment! Also, then I might not have anything to show you tomorrow. We must parse these things out, you know. Now you know my blog strategy. I feel so vulnerable.

After a tearful goodbye, I flew back to Beer Town. At the airport, I was distracted from my endless trek down the concourse by a clearance sale in an airport shop. A clearance sale at an airport shop! Things are truly bad when you're bargain huntin' the airport. Seriously. But! Cuteness! And usefulness! And clearance! A dangerous, dangerous combination, to be sure. The awesome polka dotted bag simply had to come home with me.


Isn't it cute? And useful? I'm such a fan.

So now I'm back and, after some recovery time, I'm back into the Beer Town routine. Or, rather, I'm making up my summertime Beer Town routine. Work at the lab, lay by the pool and knit, work out (yes, I said "work out". I claimed it was a new routine), clean, blog, knit some more (or crochet, whatever), try to keep up on the laundry, try to cook more, early to bed, early to rise, yadda, yadda, yadda. Soon there will be Brewer's games and myriad festivals to report on. It's an exciting time to be in Beer Town and I'm going to do everything I can.

But I'll probably forget to take pictures of anything good.

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