So you think you can knit

I've been kicking myself 'cause I rarely torment you, er share, my knitted creations. My excuse is rather sad: I need a tutorial on how to photograph them. 'cause when I remember to get an action sort of photo, they're cool but when I'm left to my own devices, well, that's never a good thing.

Here's the hat I made for the future Ms. Mina...

Action shot is super cute, right? WAY better than my still life.

Nothing says knitted love like a roll of paper towels.

Seriously, I need help. This is a cry people. Step up.

In case you too need a Baby Brunhilde Hat, you can knit one with the fabulous kit you can purchase here. Of course to find that link, I just found two other projects at Bella Knitting that I can't live without. Oh, the torment I endure for you, my dear 2 readers.

Speaking of torment, don't go to Morehouse Farm. Torture. There are literally 6 different patterns that would solve all of my family Christmas gift issues. And just to torment you further, the site is not, hmm, how do I phrase this politely, easy to navigate so you find all sorts of other things you need to make while looking for that one thing you saw last week and forgot to bookmark. Or, maybe that's just me. And they're super nice and they ship quickly and the shop looks like I place I need to go to ('cause you know I'm always hanging in New York). Its all bad.

Sorry I'm late my blog blew up

So I'm not sure what happened but I lost all my formatting today. I swear I didn't change anything. (This is becoming a theme this week.) So, this will have to do until I have the time and energy to figure out something more fabulous.

'nite Molly

Just one little week

"Oh Mama, what's a week?"

Last weekend we went to the wedding. You can also find wedding pics here.

Woo.

Because my blog is all about me

and my short-term memory, here's something I've been meaning to look up on the internets and happen to stumble upon today.

Knitting with plastic bags!

Although Dick & Jane have dibs on the majority of my plastic bag collection, I do have extra.

Sawtelle, the untold story

Ok, seriously, have you ever eated at a restaurant on Sawtelle that wasn't good? I mean, some of the places aren't life changing, but they're at a minimum good. That just occurred to me.

You're welcome.

So Regina & I went to Fabulous Fiber Fest 2007 (summed up beautifully in both pictures and words by Ellen). I enjoyed it, got my annual fill of people in ren faire costumes without having to actually go to the ren faire, bought some fabulous yarn, regret not buying more yarn, and did lunch. A good time was had by all.

(Don't worry, I'm getting to the above random Sawtelle mention.)

Blue Marlin...I've walked by this place about a hundred times and have even glanced at the menu. I'll be honest. It scared me. But, not one to turn down a challenge and a promise of yummy food, in we went.

The menu is fantastically random. Apple pie, green tea ice cream, risotto (with either cream or tomato sauce), hamburger steak plate, the list goes on. Being a risotto expert, I decided to try the wild mushrooms risotto. And let me tell you, the title didn't lie, there were multiple mushrooms in it and it was really good. And, let me tell you another thing, I'm really picky with my risotto.

So yeah, next time you venture down to Sawtelle to eat at Little Hong Kong Cafe, don't be sad when you see the paper on the windows, the door locked and a really random ransom looking note that says no solicitors in several languages, go a few doors over and try Blue Marlin instead. You won't be disappointed.

Bad Newz for Vick

Obviously, 18 - 36 months in jail doesn't seem like enough punishment for creating, running and profiting from a dog fighting ring. But, if he loses his NFL career, then yeah, that'll do.

The Interwebs: For Good or For Evil?

B posed an interesting question, and one that has hit a wee too close to home. Is it over-reacting to take *any* mention of anything where someone could maybe find you or your family off the web?

We have blogs and websites and photosharing and myspace and all of this other stuff to better keep in touch with one another. And just like being listed in the phonebook, all of this is done quite innocently. These sites allow people to vent about life after divorce, to share their designs and really just keep up with one another.

Personally, I don't think of myself as they type to be stalked and didn't really feel that my sharing anything would harm anyone, especially myself. I mean, I don't talk about work or family in any negative or revealing way. I don't even talk about people who have inflicted harm upon my wee Honda.

If anything this blog has been a positive outlet for whatever I feel the need to talk about. I mean, after writing and editing and proofreading, I've spent about 70% of my need to talk about a specific subject. That isn't to say that I won't ever mention it again, but it definately cuts down on how many times I need to talk about it. And really, that's a public service for everyone.

But, once that has been violated, like a pedophile looking at pictures of kids, or someone posting anonymously saying bad or threatening things, is it ever the same? Do you throw your internets defense up forever? Or, is it like some drunk driver hitting the wee Honda? I'm scared to drive but I get over it about a week later.

Just a thought.

Red Scarf Project

Yarn + Needle = Doing something nice for someone else.

Since ya'll know I can be a bit chatty with my posts, I'll let someone who really knows about this tell you about it. I'm going to make one and ship it out. If you want to join in, let me know and I'll ship it for you! I'll even toss in a Target Gift Card for the recipiant for every scarf ya'll give me.

130 is like REALLY old

You can't eat someone who's 130 years old...I don't care how tasty he would be with a nice butter sauce.

A Shoutout to Ohio

I'm seriously jealous of you Ohio people this week...this warehouse sale would be the ultimate Christmas-shopping-for-people-who-own-everything-and-get-it-for-cheap opportunity.

The Winning Swatches

Couch

Chair

Carpet

Chair

Lamp and window shades

The Whole Room Put Together!

Design Challenge

Here's the house.

Put together a few swatches for the living room. I'll post the winning combination tomorrow.

Man fakes, women enjoy

So Carla knows like half of L.A. (all the kids I don't know); one of her former acting class buddies invited her to his one man show. Now, to be completely honest, I wasn't expecting much. I've been to a small play or two in this town and sadly, the small ones tend to disappoint.

Holy crap was I wrong on this one. Go see Men Fake Foreplay at the Hayworth. Ticket link here. The last performance is on the 24th so you have a few weeks. Seriously. Not only is it funny as all get out, but its raw and honest and just a great show. Carla and I are still calling each other up talking about different things Mike said.

Here we are, great show, great company, now all we need is great food. We head over to Sonora Cafe on La Brea. You all know it; its been there for about a zillion years and you've driven by it about a thousand times. We walk in and its just gorgeous inside. The staff is friendly the chips are yummy and the drinks are fabulous. We order a few appetizers (I mean its after 10, a whole meal isn't sounding like much of an idea) and here they come. I hate to say it, but my guacamole kicks their guacamole's bootay. That shouldn't be. Their guac was bland. Sad. Alone. Needing love and attention. Next we move onto the chicken soft tacos. Its the same. They look purty, but like your hot 21 year old date, that's all you get. Hmmm. Carla felt the need to say something so they knew. Since she's the super model cute one, not to mention the super nice one, I nominated her. Needless to say, the manager did the right thing (without her asking) and pulled the guac off the bill.

Review: Go have drinks here. The ambiance, the staff and the drinks themselves are worth a visit. Though, I need to hear from someone that the food for dinner is fabo before I return for a meal.

Speaking of beauty...

Ok, when is this trend going to hit the westside? Serioulsy, $15 one hour foot massage?!? Sign me up.

Not much to blog about but I seem to have much to blog

Made the annual pilgrimage to the land of humidity and no a/c, also known as my grandfather's house. As I've mentioned time and again, my grandfather kicks substantial amounts of boo-tay. 91, lives alone, just had his driver's license renewed (after new glasses and a full physical exam) and is on NO medication or vitamins. Yes, we're related...odd, I know.

Anyways, to be completely honest, there isn't much to blog about in Penn Hills. I spent most of my time there trying to triage my grandfather's abused 3 year old Dell full of spyware and viruses. Yes, dear readers we had McAffee software installed with supposed self-scanning and downloading. But sadly the viruses had vanquished McAffee despite my trying to run new scans and upload new software.



But on this trip, I did make two unexpected discoveries:

1. Because of the violent fist shaking and computer crashing, off I went to the evil empire, to try to resolve the bad virus/spyware situation. I chatted with a very knowledgeable and very nice kid who really couldn't have been more than 18 despite his white shirt and black tie status and ended up trotting back to grandpa's house with new software. This stuff worked and only $14.99 this week. (mental note, check at the Westwood store to pick up a copy for home....they were out on Tuesday when I stopped by...) So yeah, affordable software that actually worked.

2. So, the traffic doGs were on our side when mom was dropping me off at the PIT airport. (Anyone who has ever spent ANY time in PA knows all about PENDOT and their love of torturing roads for no apparent reason.) I had a few hours to kill and as luck would have it PIT actually has a pretty happy mall in which to kill time and excess travel funds. Since my nails were a wreck and I had oodles of time before my flight, I stopped into the spa that I always walk by when I arrive but never have time to explore.

Three fabulous things about this spa:

a. When you're waiting for your appointment you can sit in a fantastic massage chair. That was worth the over-priced manicure right there...how long was I there before my appointment? half an hour? Freakin' fantastic to not have to sit with the masses in those horrible chairs or my usual spot on the floor by the gate.

b. My manicure is still rockin', which is unheard of for real nails. Its been days and nary a chip in sight.

c. The ladies who work there are super nice, like genuinely nice.

I will tell you this...a customer was there while I was waiting for my manicure. She wanted to get her brows done. So the nice girl did them. She hardly did a thing, seriously, I watched the whole time. The lady was not happy with the "work" requested a pair of tweezers and insisted on "fixing" it herself. The poor cosmetologist was just horrified...so embarrassed. But here is what I was thinking...what exactly are you expecting from an airport spa in Pittsburgh. You need fabulous brows, hit Chroma or Anastacia, not an airport spa. Now, I know I live in la-la land and not everyone has access to Lisa or Anastacia but there are actual salons and spas in places away from L.A. and if you really care about your brows that much, uhm, then take care of them.