A bit more on Ft. Myers

If you're in this area during Spring Training, I really can't recommend catching a game highly enough. The stadiums are small, pretty, new and the fans are super friendly. And, for the crafty girls out there who would sooner poke their eyes out with knitting needles than spend 3 house watching baseball, I've brought both knitting and needlepoint to the games and security couldn't have cared less. Total bonus.

Assuming they survive the recession, next time we travel down there, I'm going to hit one of the Italian markets. In our travels I saw two which didn't really surprise me given the number of east coasters who migrate to this area.

In willing violation of my own no chain rule, I took Todd to Five Guys for lunch on Saturday. He had never heard of it and based on recommendations from friends who had eaten at other branches, I knew he'd like it. What I didn't know is that they have huge open boxes of peanuts to keep you busy while you wait for your food. Yeah, they had Todd at the door. He agreed with my overall review of the place: GREAT burgers, so-so french fries and therefore very similar to In'n Out.

Welcome to Sunny Florida

Growing up in L.A. gives you such a skewed vision of the world. And, my latest trek to Florida illustrates many of those visions and their obvious flaws.

1. I never knew that there were baseball teams that played baseball INDOORS.

Huh? I had sort of heard about domes but growing up watching Dodger games and not really being the biggest baseball fan ever, I just assumed everyone played baseball outside.

Yeah, not so much. There are domes and some baseball teams are forced to play in them. Such is the fate of the sig. other's favorite team, the Twins. So, with Spring Training in effect, we headed back down to Ft. Myers to enjoy a few games in a beautiful stadium OUTSIDE.

2. Flying in winter is the same as flying any other time of year.

Duh, right? My flight to Dallas was early as was my connection to Ft. Myers. Easy!

Yeah, not so much. Todd, flying in from Minneapolis, scheduled to arrive 10 minutes ahead of me, was over three hours late due to a snow storm, de-icing and all fun related to flying in winter.

In case you're wondering, the airport in Ft. Myers has free wifi and super friendly housekeeping staff who genuinely didn't mind that I moved a chair and table next to an outlet so I could work.

Awesome office, right? That view is actually of Todd's gate (C9, at the end) and no I wasn't breaking my computer at the time this picture was taken. I was having network connectivity issues and someone nice remoted into the laptop to fix it.

3. Its easy to find good non-chain restaurants when you travel.


Don't get me wrong, L.A. has its fair share of chain restaurants. But, there are tons of mom'n'pop places to tempt you. So of course, going to another city, finding good local food should be easy.


At our hotel:


Todd: "Any recommendations for dinner?"

Jenna: "Only rule is no chain restaurants."


Front Desk Girl: "Hmm, any particular price range or food type?"


T: "Nope, whatever is good."


FDG: "Are you willing to drive because my favorite restaurant EVER is about 15 minutes away."


J: "Sold, where to?"


FDG: "Vapiano's. Its like Subway but classy. They make all your food in front of you fresh to order. Its SO GOOD."


T: Perfect!


Judging by her description, I was thinking a family place with an open kitchen or even a cool old school cafeteria.

Yeah, we didn't know it was a chain until we got there. (You can sort of tell by the whole "package" of the place.") But, I will admit the food was really good and well-priced and they don't charge you for sharing. (I hate it when restaurants do that.)

You get this card and you take it to one (or all) the three food stations (pasta, salad and pizza) and they charge you based on what you order. They also had a bar and a small dessert section. At first blush you'd think it would be great for groups who want separate tabs or people dining together with completely different eating habits. Oddly, we only saw one large group. Instead it was families, seniors, couples...really a huge cross-section of people. I think its a great idea, even if it is a chain.


4. Its always warm in Florida.

This one I know is stupid. But everyone winters there and I know they get some cold weather but I didn't realise how cold. Don't get me wrong we had a beautiful Friday and Saturday. The game Friday was sunny and fabulous. Saturday we drove around Captiva and Sanibel islands and walked on the beach. But Sunday. Yeah.

Before you assume I really let myself go, keep this in mind. I'm wearing the following under Todd's sweatshirt: Short sleeve tshirt, long sleeve tshirt and a fleece zip up hoodie.

During the game I'd say it was windy and in the 50s. I mean look, Todd even put on his windbreaker and that's saying something.

See, even on vacation you can learn something!

So I didn't give up, exactly...

I started the England recap and then the economy fell apart and all sorts of other real-life drama and I just felt weird blogging about my trip to the UK. But there is some good information you all need....like where I bought yarn. This is important.

On the L.A. Stitch & Bitch board there are posts weekly asking advice about where to find good yarn shops when visiting (fill in the city here). As we're all L.A. based knitters, I felt a little odd doing this. I asked the google instead.

Now, the google had lots to say and many suggestions, but the best site belonged, oddly enough, to the London Stitch & Bitch. Not only does it have a list of the shops, but the address, hours, websites and most importantly, maps.

Oh maps, how I do love you, especially in London. If you want the best map of London, you want an A to Z (pronounced "A to Zed"). I found mine at a used bookstore in Pittsburgh but you can get them EVERYWHERE in London (drug stores, book stores, newsstands) and they're 5.50 pounds, so not expensive. You can find anything in London with this, even random yarn shops.

First stop was All the Fun of the Fair. I chatted about this shop in my previous London post but since this is a knit shop round-up, it still deserves a mention. It is the size of the closet with the merchandise of an entire craft fair. You have yarn, needles, notions, gifts...this is seriously one stop shopping. Its a great little shop with fantastic staff.

As you can tell, we're not on ground level. There's this fantastic open-air mall just off Carnaby Street. Though, don't even try to find this place without a map. As with all of the charming yarn shops of London, they are not jumping out in front of you.

Next up, I Knit. We went there after we hit the Tower. I'll admit, I was a little freaked out that we were going underwater to get there. (The shop is super close to the Waterloo Tube Station and to take the tube to that station, you guessed it; you go underwater.) But, once I got over that, super cool.

The people who work at this shop know and love their merchandise. And, they know and love their knits. They were stocking the shop and showing each other stuff on Ravelry when we walked in. I felt so comfortable. After Todd started working on his Blackberry while I looked at the yarn and they told him he HAD to sit down and relax while I shopped, I absolutely knew these were my people.

At this shop I picked up some lovely natural locally grown, sheered, spun, loved, tended to yarn in a gorgeous dark natural brow. The most difficult thing about shopping here was trying to limit myself on what to buy. As I did on every yarn stop, I asked the staff what could I not find in the U.S. Since these guys are proud to carry tons of locally grown, spun, dyed, etc... types of yarn, there was a ton to choose from. They could even tell me the exact part of the UK the sheep my yarn came from live.

Third and final stop was the most famous of the bunch, say it with me now, Loop.

Ok, for a shop this famous, it was tiny! Not, All the Fun of the Fair tiny, but considering everything I had heard about it, I was surprised. Now, that isn't to say that they didn't have a ton of stuff, knowledgeable staff and a class full of people downstairs...it was just smaller than I expected. But, as evidenced by my bag, size did not stop me. There was lovely fair-trade African bamboo yarn not available in the states as well as a skein of orange cashmere spun on an island that I needed.

One thing I will say about Loop is that it resides in my new favorite area of London. We got off the tube to walk over to the shop and we never wanted to leave. For lack of a better word, it was just lovely....shops and restaurants and people walking dogs. When I win the lottery, I'm renting a place here for a month.

I had a great experience at all three shops. The staff was friendly, the merchandise was well-priced (you can't blame a shop for the exchange rate!) and the shops were just so fantastically charming. And, with all three, when you think you've walked too far, you're almost there. (See map notes above.)

Alright, to Tuesday....

Now that we've all voted to change the world and make it a better place, we can now return to blog posting about mostly nothing at all...like trips we've taken!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - We head off to London on the 9:15 train. Our cab driver to the airport described London as a mistress. She's beautiful, and expensive, very interesting, but not somewhere you can afford or handle forever. I agree. I adore London but can only afford her in small doses. One thing the cab driver didn't mention was that affairs often cause high drama. And, without getting into too many sad details, on our train into London, we had a two hour delay due to some drama. But in true British fashion, they were efficient, quick, and got us on our way as quickly as they could.

Once in London, we took the tube towards St. James Park. On our way to the park and to my favorite attraction in Britain, we walked by the Royal Mews. Not the sort to walk by horses, we did the self-guided tour.

In all honesty, I don't know if I'd recommend this. I say that because of one thing:

These are the only horses we saw.

When you say mews, I think of a place where horses live. So, Todd and I were just a little sad when these were all the horses we were going to meet. We did see and hear about the amazing carriages that carry and have been gifted to royalty over the generations. We learned that many of the people who care for the horses actually live in the Mews with their families. And, when you look up above where the horses live, you can see the apartments with flowers on the window sills. Seeing a glimpse into royal life and those who care for the entirety of that life was cool.

We also met this guy, who is an obvious resident.

Pressing on, we gawked at Buckingham...

That annoying black bar in the picture is part of the gate that goes around the palace. To take pictures you have to go through the bars. (I would have edited it out but picnik isn't behaving. )

Its mildly amusing to see hundreds of tourists leaning through bars to take pictures. Of course, it might have been more amusing to them to see one tourist taking this picture....

From Buckingham, we walked through St. James park.

See the London Eye in the background? It didn't move the entire time we were there.

From St. James, we embarked into the Cabinet War Rooms. I adore the Cabinet War Rooms. Why? Well, thank you so much for asking...

I really didn't enjoy history. Memorizing dates and royal lines and all of that stuff isn't fun. And, I'm not good at it. Staring at note cards, being quizzed by mom really didn't help my appreciation for those who came before me.

But, humanities...putting all the pieces of a culture together, art, music, politics, literature, fashion, etc... that's what I love. That's when history comes alive. And that's what the Cabinet War Rooms do. After the end of the war, everyone just left. And the map room, it is exactly as it was all those years ago, down to the sugar some dude was hoarding since there was rationing. To me, that's history.

Now, of course, some of the museum had to be recreated, like the bedrooms and such whatnot. But to see how the war was dealt with, below ground, to see how staff lived and worked...that's just amazing.

As we came out of the War Rooms....
It sort of sums up London for me: light, dark, still, moving, old, new, simple and complicated.

That was deep...anywho...

From St. James, we walked down Pall Mall so I could meet my London co-workers and see the London office.

From there we walked to Fortnum & Mason, also known as the Queen's grocer. The food is spectacular and, during my last visit, I saw the Edge in a fabulous green top hat and tails escorting an appropriately aged, dressed, and quite attractive woman to some sort of an event there.

We walked Bond Street to SoHo where we ventured to All the Fun of the Fair. This marked my first knit shop in London. The shop is tiny but incredibly bright and easy to navigate. They have not only yarn and notions but all sorts of hand knit treats like cupcakes and tea cosies and bunnies and bears for sale. I really enjoyed my time there. Now, my only rule of yarn buying on this trip was to buy only what I cannot get here at home. For some reason shopkeepers were amused & delighted by his request. After being introduced to all of the yarn that fit my description, I bought two large skeins of organic undyed wool and two normal sized skeins of bamboo sock yarn.

We walked around Carnaby Street down Regent Street and around Piccadilly Circus and then took the tube back to Kings Cross. The 19:15 Cambridge Express train brought us back to Cambridge for a late dinner, email and bridal mayhem.

So ends Tuesday.

I don't know about you but I'm tired. Just writing about it was exausting. Looking back, I don't know how I did all that walking.

Back to life

As I've been properly chastised by my favorite pharmacist for not taking any time off after my trip to the UK, I figure that means, I'm home and back in the swing of things.

Well, mostly.

Looks like I'll have to hit the hard stuff (herbal tea) in order to convince my body that sleeping 6 - 8 hours in a row is a good idea.

So yeah, here I am. The laundry has been done; the dogs have been walked; and the pictures are uploaded. I guess all that means is now I'm ready to start the England recap. I know, try to contain your excitement. It might be a bit much considering election day is tomorrow.

Nonetheless, let us begin at the beginning....

Saturday, October 18, 2008, I needed to get from Los Angeles to Heathrow carrying the following:

1. Wedding Dress

2. Work Laptop

3. Camera

4. Medications

5. Bridesmaid Dress

6. Purse

7. Jewelry

8. Knitting

9. Reading Material

10. Velvet wrap for above Bridesmaid dress

As you can imagine, this would, er, exceed the usual carry-on allowance. But shout "I'm carrying a wedding dress to England and its not mine!" gets you all sorts of sympathy and help from airline crews. All of that gear flying in both coach (from L.A. to Minneapolis) and first class (from Minneapolis to Heathrow) was accepted and stowed by the crews. I was shocked by how nice everyone was to me.

Sunday, October 19, 2008 - I'd be happy to tell you all about flying overseas in first class. But, when I've done that during conversation, I get the overwhelming sense they want to hit me when I describe the fully reclining chairs, the warm towels and such. So, we'll skip all that and get to England....We made it to London where the future bride was kind enough to meet us. Back at Barton House (seriously, that's how you address letters to their house), we were met by the welcoming committee.

After proper introductions, we we walked a bit, ate a bit, and the bride did her song & dance to try to keep us up as late as possible to aid in our time adjustment. She always does this for me, which is sweet, but by 8pm I was more than ready to snooze. If I was up at 4am the next day, so be it, but I needed sleep.

Monday, October 20, 2008 - As amazing as it was to fly 4,000 miles in first class, I will warn you of one thing that crosses coach/business/first class lines...drink lots and lots and lots and lots of water when you fly, especially if you're flying for a long time, like 8 or more hours. Really. Trust me on this. You want to drink HUGE amounts of water. I slept too much and did not drink lots and lots and lots of water and yeah, I had a bit of a rough start on Monday. But, I will tell you that Motilium 10 is the best stuff ever.

After my recovery from dehydration (ironic that you can't keep water down when you're dehydrated) and a croissant, we jumped onto a tour of Cambridge. If you're looking for a low impact way to see the city, this is a good way to go. You don't have to worry about your guide being good or crappy or funny or whatever...they hand you some headphones, you plug in, choose a language and off you go. Considering my rocky start and my guilt from keeping Todd from seeing the city, this worked quite well. And, we saw stuff that we wouldn't have on foot like the American WWII Memorial, and some of the colleges that are on the outskirts of town. (Did you know it takes 6 years to get a veterinary degree at Cambridge? Its the longest undergraduate degree program at the university.) I was also able to point out which school the bride went to (Churchill) as I wouldn't have been able to otherwise as it was on the opposite side of town from where we were staying.

We only hopped off the tour once, per Todd's request, to examine more closely one of the local attractions:

Yup, Staples. Though, sadly, the easy button did not have an accent. We were disappointed. Defeated, we jumped onto the next bus to enjoy the rest of the tour. Dinner followed by email brought Monday to a close.

Greetings from Cambridge

Sorry for the radio silence on all fronts. We have a badly behaving router so we often lose the connection.

A few observations:

• The pound is dropping daily...a great excuse to use credit cards so you can take advantage of the better exchange rate.


• Brown and black are interchangeable. You can wear an entire black outfit with brown shoes and apparently this is acceptable. I don't pretend to understand.


• All women, old and young alike, wear fun socks and tights. I am not a freak. I simply live in the wrong country.


• Chicks here wear the BEST boots but the boots in the shops are all ugly. Quite mysterious.


• Nobody uses cell phones on the train...even though the ride is well over an hour. Now, I'm not saying that people are more polite. I've been slammed into and cut off more on this trip than in my entire life but people are incredibly polite with cell phones on trains.
  
• Bikes and buses share the same lane. Therefore, you will often see a cyclist dressed in business attire, on a fairly old bike (also common here) with a basket on the front being followed by a double-decker bus.

Alright back to my maid of honor duties...

Hello Interwebs!

Usually I'm happy to be a wealth of knowledge (not that you wanted it) for the four people who read my blog. But, today I am asking for your guidance.

You see, Todd & I are going to England. And, well, I've been to England. Several times. Its like this thing I used to do every year. And then there was that summer between 10th & 11th grade where I spend the summer at Oxford. And then there was that time I went with my Dad for Christmas. So yeah. I've seen some stuff. I've done Stratford-upon-Avon and Canterbury and Bath and Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall and all sorts of castles and manor houses. But he hasn't. Hence my issue:

I have to go on a tour. I know, its vaguely offensive. Here I am going to an English speaking country and I'm going to go on a tour. But, I have a really good reason...Its like the only way to get to Stonehenge and Bath and Salisbury without renting a car. 'cause I'm not renting a car in the UK. That's just crazy. And, its not like getting to the tour is super easy. We'll have to get from Cambridge to London to get to the tour. Which is fine. But, if we're going to that trouble to spend money on a tour, I want to ensure that we go with a good company. I don't want to be that tourist in the back of a van with the roof cut off with some random guy yelling about made up celebrity homes, er, old British sights. I mean, living in L.A. you see all sorts of tour companies so you get a little suspicious and dare I say careful about your bookings.

So, interwebs, what tour company can I trust? I found Gray Line and Viator.

Help. I don't want to be in the van with the top removed with some random dude making up stuff.

Holy Crap its October

I know, Queen of the Obvious today, eh?

A few things to announce:

1. Its October. Holy crap. Although I've laid the groundwork for Christmas gifts and crafting I'm freaking out just a little thinking about how behind I think I am. This doesn't mean I am actually behind, it just feels that way.

2. Its hot people. For the non-L.A. people, holy crap. Yesterday was the first day gramma turned on her AC all year. Now, that's hot. And not in a good way. Because the baddogs are by definition seniors and they both hate the fan blowing on them, I had to send them into grammas room last night for fear that they might melt in mine.

3. Just 17 days from now I leave for the UK. This marks a few things.

a. I haven't been outside of the US in 4 years. Considering I had been going to the UK annually from 1997 - 2004 , that's pretty huge. As someone who prides herself on traveling as much as she can, to think I've stayed in the US for the last 4 years is a wee weird. I mean, I've been to Oregon, Hawaii, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, New York, Nevada and Arizona in those four years. And that's pretty outstanding. But that's all the U.S. That's home. It'll be good to get out of here, to have to look the opposite way to ensure I don't get hit by a taxi, to take trains and be on the lookout for cheap food, not to think about the exchange rate when I need to buy something, to have people think that I have the funny accent.

b. My best friend is getting married. And this means that although she's been living in the UK since 1997, this marks her actually really not ever moving home.

c. I have a total of 24 hours on an airplane (and we're not even discussing self-imposed layovers in Minneapolis) and that means I need to figure out projects to bring. (See Christmas gifts above.) This might sound easy to non-knitters. You bring a few magazines and a few books. But, when you're going to be away from home for 10 days and you're faced with a huge amount of time in airports and airplanes, its pretty stressful.

d. Its a thousand degrees out (see above) and I have to wrap my head around packing for dreary London weather. And a wedding. And a rehearsal dinner. And I still don't love my bridesmaid's dress so I'd like to find something else that's in a jewel tone tone in a fairly sleek silhouette. But the dress I have fits and its free and I should get over it. And really, I haven't see anything I've liked any better than what I had in the closet.

Holy Crap. Its October.

When did this turn into a craft blog?

Whatever, probably more interesting than posting videos from my cell phone (high quality!) of my dogs rolling around in the grass. Or maybe not.

Anyways, a few of you were curious to what I bought at the Knit & Crochet Show. Wonder no more. I present you with the Basket o' Portland Goodness!

We'll start with top center, the red paper looking stuff. This is a Habu linen (3 skeins). This stuff is so magical that Regina had to talk me down from buying about 9 skeins in 3 colors. And by talking me down she told me to work with it and if I needed more she'd bring it back from her next NY trip. That's a good friend.

That multi-colored stuff was free in our gift bag. Its Red Heart Heart & Sole with Aloe. Yes, yarn with Aloe. I'm not creative enough to make this up.

Next is that lovely purple cone...Habu silk & stainless steel. Of course now that I'm reading the description, I might need a second cone.

Next we have a thingy (technical term) to attach snaps. Bolt had the cutest purple cowgirl style snaps (which got buried in the picture) but as Regina pointed out, how am I going to put them on anything. So yeah. There's a snap application thingy. And, since I had the snap application thingy, I then found more cute snaps at Knittn Kitten.

The lime green yarn was in our Knit & Crochet Show gift bag. Coats & Clark. And that's all I have to say about that.

Fabric is a vintage cowboy print from Knittn Kitten.

Zippers from both Bolt & Knittn Kitten.

Pink tomato pin cushion from Knittn Kitten, 'cause you know, I needed a pink tomato pin cushion. Apparently there was a blue one. But I didn't see it. So that makes the blue tomato pin cushion a rumor.

Multicolored skeins of yarn are all Dicentra sock yarns. The BRIGHT fuchsia is also Dicentra but its not sock, just lace weight. And for me.

In the middle, below the Habu linen paper we have a purple Habu skein in either cotton or bamboo. I can't remember.

On the needles (Size 0!) we have Habu cashmere and under that are all the needles I bought (sizes 1, 2, & 3) from Village Spinning & Weaving. Seriously, they had every circular needle ever thought of by Addi. I'm sure they had other needles as well, but the BOXES of Addi were busy overwhelming me so I didn't notice.

Not pictured as it was in my work craft bag (for lunchtime) is my turtle WoolPet. I'm working on him right now. But hers is cuter. But I think I'm ok with that as she does this as a living and this is my very first needle felting project. So, there's that.

Yup, perfectly restrained in my Portland shopping.

Hmmm, maybe that video of Dick rolling around in the grass would have been more interesting.

Portland - Saturday/Sunday

Saturday began with a fairly disappointing breakfast at Burgerville but was redeemed with Coriolis Sock Class with Cat. The techniques this woman comes up with are amazing. If you knit socks and you want to step up your game, go see Cat. She has this new technique called Houdini that's available on Twist Collective and she says she's going to write a new book and include that (or was it about that anyways...) so if you're looking for yet another way to knit a sock, now you know.

Though, I have to confess, we might have allegedly missed a bit of the afternoon class. As luck would have it, our class was sold out and several of the women in there really wanted and needed Cat's help. And, Cat was going to go over everything she did in the morning class in the afternoon as well. Armed with our class handouts and one of Cat's sock books we hightailed it out of downtown and off to our Aberta Street & Knittn Kitten adventure.

We had about 30 minutes between shopping and our dinner date at Bay 13. The dinner itself as well as the company was outstanding. After dinner we went somewhere for dessert. Before we could get to dessert, our dates had to go home. But, this turned out to be a good thing. As they drove us back to our hotel we passed Powell's. I had never heard of this place but as I learned its a book lover's fantasy land. Apparently the biggest bookstore, period.

Our original plan was to relax for the rest of the evening. I mean, work had been crazy for both of us this week, we got to our hotel after midnight on Thursday, we were out partying with Jim on Friday and now, here, we have downtime. I sat silently in the car as we rode back from the hotel trying to gage how far we were staying from this place.

Yeah, right, downtime. Once we got back to the hotel I hopped on the computer to see how to get to Powell's. Sure it was 9pm. Sure, it was in a part of town that could be a smidge sketchy late. Whatever people! We're talking books here! And, once I saw the map and saw that Voodoo Donuts was ON THE WAY to Powell's. Yeah. That was easy.

We downloaded directions from the Google and made our way to the Skidmore Fountain Max station and up to the bridge. As luck would have it a fairly cute, fairly scared looking female crossed our path and we asked how to get to Powell's. She pointed us in the right direction and off we went.

** Public Service Announcement ** Ladies, do not do this alone at night. During the day this area is fine. But, at night, there was a reason that fairly cute girl looked scared. You should not be walking around here alone.

After a brisk 10 block walk, we made it to Powell's. Wow. I spent about an hour in the knit & crochet books. That was followed by general crafts and Halloween. Wow. Other than picking up a random book as a gift on my way back from the bathroom, I was able to (mostly) control myself. I picked up 2 knitting books, 1 gift book, 1 reusable tote bag ($1) , a tshirt (gift) and a mug (gramma gift). Serious restraint!

On our way back we stopped at Voodoo. Though, I must confess, we were still so full from dinner we simply admired our donuts until the next morning.

As you can see I opted for the Voodoo dude and a traditional chocolate cake donut. Though my chocolate cake donut originally had the anarchy symbol on it, the frosting smeared on the way home. I'll be honest, the chocolate cake donut isn't anything to write home about. I wasn't my favorite. The Voodoo dude was quite tasty. As you might guess it had a raspberry filling inside. This serves two purposes, a good visual for a voodoo doll and keeping me to just eating around the filling thereby keeping me from getting sick from eating too much donut. (I'm not a filling kind of girl.)

Regina got the other donut they're famous for...

That's right, the maple bacon. Like my chocolate cake donut, she also got her own buttermilk bar 'cause she just likes those. I didn't try the buttermilk but holy crap the maple bacon rocked my world. Like chicken & waffles work together, so does the maple bacon donut. Yum! If you're ever in Portland and you don't happen to be a vegetarian, I highly recommend it!

Full from a healthy breakfast of voodoo, we went back to Powell's for a brief run around of all the sections we missed the night before. Though I can't say we saw all of it, I was able to hit the cookbooks (xmas gift), the pet section (more xmas gifts) and travel. So, I didn't feel like I had missed anything. I didn't see it all, but there wasn't anything I would cry if I didn't see it.

Now, our original Sunday plan included Crafty Wonderland. However, nothing in Portland, other than Powell's, opens before 11. And, with a 1:30pm flight, that doesn't work very well. So, we had to save Crafty Wonderland for our next visit.

I left Regina at the hotel since my flight was a few hours before hers, enjoyed a very healthy lunch, and was home by 4pm.

In case you're wondering, we've already started planning a trip in the spring.

Portland - The Actual Trip - Thursday/Friday

Regina & I flew in to Portland separately on Thursday night meeting up in baggage claim (carousel 10 for those keeping track at home) around 11:30pm. After locating luggage, we hopped into a cab and made it to the "official" hotel of the show, the Doubletree in downtown Portland. Other than having to pay $10/day for wifi, I was incredibly impressed with the hotel. The staff was friendly ("Thank you for staying at Doubletree. Here's a cookie. While you stay with us, anytime you want one, just stop by!"); the rooms were nice. I was a little concerned that they sold Pepsi products (don't judge me for my Diet Coke habit) but overall, it was a nice hotel, the Knit & Crochet show got a great rate & it was central to everything we needed.

Friday morning we got up stupid early as I had to get some work done and Regina had to get her packet. If you ever attend the Knit & Crochet show remember this. Like the spice, your packet is life. You're no one without your packet. Luckily Regina knew this and not only called earlier in the week to alert the show people to the packet malfunction but we got to the show early so she could pick up a new one.

As we were leaving the hotel we realised that we had no clue to where the show was. I had all sorts of maps to Voodoo Donut, Collage, Crafty Wonderland, but the one map I didn't do was the one to the show itself. Awesome, right? As luck would have it a delightful woman with a Ravelry bag was leaving the hotel the same time we were. We followed a nice lady with the Ravelry bag to find the show as we figured anyone with a Ravelry bag is our kind of people. Nice lady with Ravelry bag and her friend were very nice to us as we made our way to the show. Later, we formally met her when we went shopping at the marketplace.

While Regina learned about hairpin lace, I took Magical Mobius with Cat Bordhi. One thing about Cat. She really thinks about knitting. She's a student of the art of knitting and you really feel this in her class. She's incredibly patient and answers every question. She teaches the class in a variety of ways from talking & demonstrating to us as a large group, then breaking us down into smaller groups to show detail and then comes around to every individual to answer questions and see progression. If there is something specific that you want to learn and Cat is teaching it, take the class and you'll leave with a solid understanding and ability.

During our lunch break we wandered away from the convention center and stumbled onto Burgerville. From an L.A. point of view, Burgerville felt like the Portland equivalent to In'n'Out. The food was fresh, the line was long and when I almost cried because all of their Diet Coke fountains were giving me only water, the replaced one immediately. I was in love.

In my afternoon class, we were lucky enough to have a visitor. Annie Modesitt. If you've never met her or had a class with her and you have the opportunity, run, don't walk to the class. Not only does she have a wicked sense of humor but she knits like nothing you've ever seen, ok, nothing I've ever seen. Lightening quick with this combination method....it was outstanding. And, all of these topics I have no interest in like knit embellishments and learning to love lace and not hate charts now sound good to me. I mean, I would toss a few small children aside for a chance to actually learn her combination knitting technique and would toss a few adults aside for the cable sanity class. Seriously, if I go to the show next year, I'm stalking Annie. You've been warned.

After our afternoon session we ran back to the hotel to drop our stuff and to meet up with Jim. Jim & his wife Karol whisked us away to Beaverton to what was probably one of these best meals I've ever had. If you don't read Regina's blog you're probably wonder what fabulous restaurant they took us to in Beaverton. Well, it wasn't a restaurant. They took us to their son's house where he made an unbelievable meal. Mushroom soup, smoked scallops on a bed of spinach, salmon with sides I ate so quickly I can't remember, home made ice cream and all the best local wines you could drink. Unbelievable. And, he did a beer tasting of beer he brewed and bottled himself. And, we saw the hops he's growing for a new batch. And, to have two interweb peoples in your house in addition to the rest of the family you're entertaining...it was too much hospitality. Its been a week and I'm still overwhelmed. Regina & I are trying to figure out how to be adopted. I'm not kidding. Since we didn't drive ourselves to dinner, Regina wasn't able to take Diplohooktius Jimbosei with her. Though, don't think she didn't try.



AND, like the night couldn't get any better, Jim gave me a hook. I carry it around with me. Seriously. Next time you see me ask to see the hook. That's how much I love it. I carry it with me. Daily. And, just to torture me, he has an auction of TWELVE hooks up right now. If you crochet or you know someone who crochets, you need one of these hooks. They are works of art. And, they actually work. I mean, how often can you carry around and use a work of art in your life.

Had enough? Ok, me too. Saturday & Sunday next...

Portland, OR Crafty Shopping

Everyone says that Portland is a really cool town. And its not that I didn't believe them its just tough for me to imagine a city I've never been to. I don't know...one of my personal issues I guess. But, I can admit that I had the same reaction to Portland that I had to Minneapolis.

Who knew this city was so cool?

I heart Portland.

I know, I know, get in line.

When I was surfing around looking for crafty places to shop, there was an abundance to say the least. Therefore, we limited ourselves to Alberta Street and Knittin' Kitten.

The trip to Alberta was inspired by Natalie & her adventures there. We took the bus from our hotel in Downtown to Alberta Street. Right about the time we were thinking that we should have rented a car, we got there. And there was a street fair. And right about that time we were thankful we took the bus and didn't have to drive or park.

The street as well as the street fair itself was a hoot. There were the usual unusual vendors like the political kids and the tie-dye kids and some really cool tshirt kids, and a plus-size apron chick and these kids who painted knitting needles. Then, the parade was incredibly random featuring, well, anyone who wanted to be in it. There was a British style double decker bus, people walking on stilts, a dude riding a bike with his kid, people in random make-up. If you've ever dreamed of being in a parade, sign up and do it next year. Seriously. Anyone can.

We limited ourselves to shopping only at crafty spots. As Regina & I are certified shoppers (kids don't try this at home) we felt it best to just set goals. First up, Collage. If you're into paper and paper crafts, you need to go there. I'm not into paper or paper crafts and I was seriously considering starting. Her stuff was incredible and fun. What a buyer...I really enjoyed the shop.

Next, Bolt. This is a super cute shop. And the ladies who work there couldn't have been any nicer. Natalie covered the merchandise wonderfully so I won't go over it again but if you're in the area, you really should stop by. They had these really cool HUGE wooden buttons. I sort of wish I had added a few to the pile o'stuff I bought. Also, they had EVERY Sublime Stitching pattern, the usual ones, the limited edition ones and ones I had never even seen or heard of.

Close Knit. Cute and CROWDED which is awesome. When have you been to a neighborhood yarn shop on a NON-sale day and its been crowded? But, they were crowded with good reason. They had a great selection of small local brands and the big brands we all know and love (manos, Rowan, etc...) as well as a good selection of books, bags and random items for sale. If we weren't at a knit/crochet show with vendors to match, this would have been much more of a temptation.

Last, I must mention the food. Any search on Alberta Street will bring up the various restaurants and bars. But, that's not where we ate.






When you're walking down a crowded street full of shops and restaurants, how do you walk past this? I can answer that. You don't. It was awesome...a taco truck on a vacant lot with tables and chairs. And, judging by the number of people getting orders to go, I'm guessing this is a fixture and locals grab food and take it home. And for good reason. Yummy and cheap...my favorite combination.

All in all, Alberta street was fabulous.

But we weren't done.

Oh, no. Now that we had food and drink we had the strength to move forward. By the way, did I mention that prior to the shopping we had been in class from 9am - noon? And that after we did the majority of the Knit & Crochet Show vendor shopping that I talked about yesterday? Oh, I didn't? My bad. Moving along...

We took the bus back to our hotel and Regina immediately walked up to a cab and asked how much to get to Knittn Kitten. I'm not sure exactly who, but one of Regina's people knew of this magical place. A vintage craft store? We HAD to go.


And we went.


And it was fabulous. We bought fabric and patterns, pin cushions and patches. Next time I go to Portland, I'm bringing stuff to sell her. (The owner said that the majority of her stock walks right in the front door.) From what I understand from the Portland kids, it can be hit or miss. But, if you've never been its a treasure chest. They have vintage patterns from the 50s through present...power 80's suits anyone? or a 60's mini dress? Vintage magazines ... all sorts of fun stuff. We learned that they were featured in the last issue of Craft (the one with the dude and the weaving on the front.)

Next up, food and a smidge more shopping...

Knit & Crochet Show - Shopping

Ok, we'll get to the great classes, teachers, people, blah, blah, blah....lets start with the important stuff, the Portland shopping.

Since we were in Portland for the Knit & Crochet Show, we'll start there...

The vendors were incredible. Seriously. Lets say you know about Village Spinning & Weaving. And, lets say you don't live in California and you really want to go to Village Spinning & Weaving. Ok, here's a solution...if there's a show that they're a vendor at, its like going to their store only with more books and less roving. Their booth was overwhelming. Among the non-Californians, Village Spinning & Weaving was referred to as "the book people." Everyone loved the book people. They were my personal needle source (more on that situation later).

My favorite individual vendor (non-store) was Lisa with Dicentra. That's her baby and she does it all herself. Holy crap. And, her stuff is AMAZING! For your sake, I hope she gets her yarns & roving listed on etsy 'cause she has a fabulous sense of color. On Friday I was able to buy NOTHING...except from her. I was able to resist all but her.

So Regina & I wandered off to lunch between classes on Friday and saw The Naked Sheep car parked on the street.

And, I'm pleased to report that the people who own Naked Sheep are as friendly as you would think people who own a light yellow beetle with their logo on the car would be. I mean, how can you be mean when you have sheep on your car. Even though the lady in front of me in line at their booth was buying about 10 times the amount I was, they treated me exactly the same and rang me up just as quickly. I've added them to my list of interweb vendors to shop from and people to visit on my next visit to Portland.

**Ed. to add - If you're interested in seeing a picture of their booth and a write-up of everything The Naked Sheep had to offer at the show, go check out their blog. I was completely taken with the Wool Pets (as everyone else seemed to be by the buying frenzy) and the hand-spun yarn was just incredible. And, I've now learned through the blog that it was Cheri and Bradley who were so nice! So people of Portland, go shop there. And send me a tote bag, ok?

Ok, next on the list is a company any knit aficionado has heard of and I've heard about their yarns but I wasn't ready. It didn't matter how much you warned me, I wasn't prepared.

Habu.

That's right, I said it. I even went out and bought size 00 needles so I could knit with their yarn, and you're talking to the queen of size 9. I don't do small. But I do for them. The yarn was overwhelming and wonderful. Who knew silk & stainless steel could be soft or that someone would make a yarn from African plant fibers.

And, last but certainly not least was the friendly crew Abundant Yarn & Dye Works. I wasn't planning on buying anything Sunday. We were just stopping in to see what was going on before I left for the airport. But they were so nice and excited about the yarns they carried and how they were from sustainable farms and local and all this really cool stuff. And then I found it...a yarn named with my middle name so obviously I had to buy it.

I mean, duh.

*Poof* (Knit & Crochet Show)

Yup, that's the sound of my head exploding yet again.

One of the reasons I love what I do for work and I've stuck with it now for 7 years is that every day is different and every day I learn something new. And, that's one of the reasons why knit, crochet, dying and embroidery have held my interest as well. There is an endless amount to learn.

Though I do have a walking encyclopedia at my disposal, not to mention my personal library full of books and magazines, nothing quite prepared me for the Knit & Crochet Show. Sure on the surface its a bunch of knitters and crocheters descending upon the Convention Center. There are classes and vendors and I was ready for all of that. What I wasn't ready for was the amount you learn and the people you meet in this long weekend.

Here are the people I met this weekend, in no particular blog order:

Drew.
Annie.
Cat.
Jim.
Jennifer.
Laurie.

Here are the people who now have my paycheck:

Dicentra.
The Naked Sheep.
Habu.
Village Spinning & Weaving.
Abundant Yarn & Dye Works.

And I'm not even talking about the nice people in my classes or the vendors who don't have my credit cards or the other people I met whose names I've forgotten or blogs I didn't write down or shops I visited in Portland or the nice people I had dinner with. I just need to put my head back together and I'll start breaking it down.

More to come in my next post....

Where was I?

Oh yes, food at the fair...

After enjoying our "Veggie Fries" we made our way to visit with all of the crafts and veggies on display. (No, not in the same building, in case you were curious...but they are across the street from one another.)

As you would guess, Minnesota takes their crafts very seriously. The sheer volume of knitting, crocheting, felting, weaving, etc... is something to behold. With my trusty cell phone in hand I tried to get a few of my favorites as well as demonstrate the volume. Lets see how successful I was.

That's a lot of blankets. And that's just one case.

Its about 90 degrees out. Need a hat? Perhaps a scarf?

Ok, here's my favorite item displayed. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who felt this way.

If you want to see more of my fantastic reflective shots of the crafts, feel free. I'm getting hungry so lets move to the veggies.

Giant pumpkins!

As you can see in the background, its a whole room of veggies. There area behind the pumpkins are all the largest varieties. On the outer band of the room are all of the best of winners. Todd was impressed by the volume of varieties of pepers. Yes, he's easily amused. Of course, this is coming from the person exicted by the angry granny TP cover, so really its all relative.

Enough with the healthy stuff. Our next new culinary taste were the always popular cheese curds (from a different vendor...we live life on the edge people!). I really wish someone would rename cheese curds 'cause to a west coaster, that just sounds bad. But really, there is nothing bad about deep fried cheese. That is all good. Next was the porkchop on a stick. Not new to the fair by any means but we had never had it before. Apparently we didn't go to the stand that made these famous but ours was pretty darn tasty.

We also had the Nitro ice cream (always a favorite of mine) and Todd tried the Bell Pepper rings. As you would guess, instead of onion rings, they're deep fried bell peppers. Sadly, they're not on a stick but Todd liked them.

As a take home bonus I did a bucket o' cookies. They load up the bucket above & beyond so you can't close the lid. Here's a suggestion to all of you dropping cookies or feeling that you HAD to eat a dozen in the first five minutes to shut the lid...grab a plastic bag from one of your earlier purchases. That way you can take the excess cookies, put them in the bag and then close the lid on the bucket and eat at your leisure. I know this doesn't sound all that ground breaking but you didn't see the chaos with the cookies. It was cookies everywhere...cookie anarchy really. So with our $1 all you can drink milk we enjoyed the overflow of the bucket and I was able to bring home cookies to mom and the nice people here at work who are moving me from cube to office.

See, with cookies and tshirts and a sweatshirt, you can take the fair home with you!

Minnapolis and a wee bit of shopping

Well Labor Day weekend means one thing to all of us...Minneapolis! What, you didn't go? I thought everyone in California went to the Midwest for the long weekend. Huh.

Anyways, I spent the weekend in beautiful Minneapolis. I kept saying, and I meant it, if it weren't for the (winter) weather, I could totally live there. If you haven't been and you have the opportunity, you really should. They have an incredibly vibrant art scene...plays and musicals and music and modern art and Russian art and all sorts of stuff. I've been traveling out there for 3 years now and haven't even seemingly scratched the surface. And, then there's the shopping. There's a three story Off Fifth right in the middle of downtown, not to mention the Super Targets and boutiques and all of the craft and yarn shops.

Normally, I don't shop in Minneapolis. I confine my spending to food and stuff at the fair. But, the February issue of Lucky recommended several shops in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Oddly, I was able to cut out and keep the page with the recommendations (so not like me) and even remembered to bring it with! I took this as a sign. But, being the level-headed shopper that I am, I immediately crossed off sever shops from my list for this trip...no craft or yarn shops as Regina & I are heading up to Portland in two weeks. Also, no trendy boutiques as I can find that stuff here. That left about four shops I really wanted to hit.

As timing allowed I was able to stop in two, Hunt & Gather and Design Collective. Hunt & Gather is about 3 blocks from the significant other's house. I've driven by this place about 100 times and always wondered about it but never had a reason to go in. So, we kidnapped, er, took his mom's dog for a walk and headed down the street. Todd and Brown Dog hung out outside in one of the many Adirondack chairs while I ventured in.

Hunt & Gather is not for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic. If you're a collector or someone who's looking for that diamond in the rough, this is the place for you. The store is divided into different rooms on two floors separated by the various vendors. Talk about Midwest and honest, when you're walking around this store you are definitely on your own to, well, hunt and gather. No sales people looming over you, no pressure...just wandering through thinking about your grandfather's attic and all the cool stuff you could find there. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without but there were several people having quite a fine time finding their own treasures.

Design Collective was described as off the beaten path in the Lucky article. Uhm, if you mean, one building up from a MAJOR street, one that Todd takes to work everyday, just past the busiest part of Uptown, then, sure, yeah, really off the beaten path. Its a small shop, but the polar opposite from Hunt & Gather. Everything is merchandised beautifully and despite the size of the shop, you never feel too closed in.

The shop has the clothes organized by designer with a little bio at the beginning of the rack. Other than the tshirts, everything was pretty much one of a kind. The shop feels like the various small designer sample sales you find in L.A. And, that's a compliment. The clothes are original and very well made. But, if you're not the size on the hanger, tough luck. There was one plaid skirt, very 50s that I liked but it looked to be about a size 8. So, no need to be a sample size, you just need to be lucky. I will say that if you're in the area and you need a gift or a fantastic card, go here. The cards are incredible and the tshirts, purses, jewelry and odds and ends would make a unique and fabulous gifts. I had to talk myself out several cards as well as some arm warmers. 'cause, you know, I really need arm warmers. So, Todd bought me a very nice tshirt and we continued on our merry way.

We Interrupt These Pittsburgh Lessons for an Important Announcement

OH.
Mi.
Gawd.

My flight was five (5) hours late last night.

But that's not the worst part.

Wait for it.

Seriously.

Still there?

I ran out of knitting!!!

[Cue scary music]

I brought two knitting projects with me. I also brought about eight hours worth of work, and two magazines. I even bought a book in Pittsburgh. But, I didn't plan on being finished with fixing the computer on Day 2.

I powered through the first knitting project and the first five hours of worth of work without blinking. Then on Day 3 I couldn't sleep so I started and finished the book. And our flight to PIT was late so I finished the magazines before I got on board. But, but, I still had the booties and the 100 page contract. I was good. That's seven hours right there...easy. I didn't panic when they announced would be late. I continued to keep mom calm as they would tell us we would be delayed, two, three, and then four hours. Remember, we're going home. They need this plane in L.A. They won't cancel. Its fine.

I was smug. I took a walk around the mall at the airport...tried on a few pairs of Gap jeans and wandered through the sale at Victoria's Secret. I ate the dinner I bought before we left my grandfather's. I was fine. I knew I had enough to keep me busy and I was content in that knowledge.

After my walk I started with the contract. I fell asleep twice trying to read this thing earlier in the day so I thought I was good. Read. Sleep. Read. Sleep. Perfect! Not so much. Compared to the five hour delay, that contract was gold...interesting....I was taking notes, getting ready to discuss on Monday. And after finishing it, I even found an amended complaint I forgot that I had with me. 145 pages of fun! That'll take hours! As I came to the last pages, they announced boarding. Awesome, home free.

We boarded the plane and sat down. There was a mom with two five year old girls and a small puppy, unable to get seats together. My mom loves the window seat so she happily agreed to trade with the mom. (Mom makes me sit in the middle seat...I know, a good excuse for elder abuse later on.) The only thing worse to me than being in a middle seat is being in a middle seat without being able to get out of that seat easily. Sigh. Fine. Everything is fine. I walked around before the plane was fully boarded, stretched my legs and sat down as the last people wrestled with their lugged. As a reward for that middle seat, the booties.

Woo! Finishing gifts months before they're due. I rock. I'm awesome. The captain gets on the P.A. and announces that we can't finish loading or fueling the plane because of thunder and lightening. That's ok. We're on the plane...another 30 minutes and we're on our way.

30 minutes.

60 minutes.

Everything is fine.

Until the primary color of the booties started to run out.

It was horrible...like something out of a bad dream...the end of the hopalong cassidy yarn...the yarn needed for the majority of the Ugg booties...the best travel project ever...or so I thought.

As I sat there, mid-panic, watching my skein wind down, I looked over at the very cute, very chic girl in the aisle seat to my right. She had on her Seven jeans (actually hemmed to an appropriate length), silver gladiator sandals, white long-sleeve tshirt, scarf and her Marc by Marc Jacobs white leather handbag and Longtemps carry-on. She quietly read her two magazines.

I was sitting there in pink wrinkled J.Crew capris, now-dirty white sweater, old Vans with my roller bag stuffed into the overhead and my carryon crying for mercy under my seat....filled with knitting, work reading, bagels, my purse and other various items I can't remember after four hours of sleep wondering why I can't be the chic traveler. The one who looks cute and put together even after a five hour delay, not the one who looks like she hasn't washed her hair 'cause the water pressure at her grandfather's wouldn't wash a small spider down the drain let alone a full head of hair.

I always want to be that cute traveller. I want to be amused by two magazines and an ipod. But I can't. I guess its the price I have to pay for having this HUGE brain. Huge brains demand large quantities of yarn. Next time, I'm bringing a bigger carryone.

Greetings from Pittsburgh

As I'm sure Steve will be pleased to hear, I've been able to get my grandfather's PC up and running without re-installing messenger and tapping the aforementioned Steve online and asking him for various solutions to problems only a 92 year old with a PC can cause.

Yeah me!
Yeah Geek Squad!

Yes, despite my feelings about the big blue empire, I have to say the Monroeville Geek Squad are by far the nicest BBY employees I've ever met. Not only did they answer my questions but they offered to install whatever RAM I bought into this 6 year old machine and trouble shoot any addition problems. I heart them. If you're ever in Monroeville, I highly suggest this Best Buy.

Are you enthralled yet? Can you just not stop reading in case you miss something else equally interesting? Yup, such is my time in Pittsburgh. I sit in front of a PC for hours and hours troubleshooting viruses and misplaced settings in an effort to get the computer up and running again.

But, we're up which means we can leave the house for shopping! I know you're wondering what a label snob like me could possibly find in suburban Pittsburgh. Well, let me tell you there is quite a bit to find, and always far below retail!

For the Frugal:
Dollar Tree kicks the 99 Cent Store's booty. I would tell you the swag I scored but that would ruin Christmas.

Target:
Oh, the deals to be had! No one does markdowns like the kids in Monroeville. I got a pair of metallic Converse One-Star pants for $8.36. And, since there's no sales tax here on clothing, the pants really were $8.36. But, I did have to talk gramma out of buying me the ugliest thought of a bridesmaid dress for Elizabeth's wedding. It was sorta cute on the hanger but on me...yeah, not so much. I didn't care if it was $10 it didn't make it any cuter. I was able to distract her with the thought of stealing a dress I picked out for her years ago that she wore for a wedding. She was overwhelmed by the thought of getting that out of her closet; when I saw she was weak I put the ugly $10 dress away.

For the Fashionable:
We have Kohl's (and no for the non-west L.A. readers, we don't have that at home). I was able to see and cry at the Vera Wang for Kohl's collection. Woof. But mom did score $5 Talbot's pants at the Talbot's outlet. My grandfather didn't think it was possible to buy pants for $5 that originally retailed for $68. (Yes, dear readers, its true, he doesn't spend much time with us.) He declared shenanigans on the whole thing, shock his head and walked away. He doesn't appreciate our shopping brilliance. That's why we usually hide all of our treasures. Mom showed him in a moment of weakness. It won't happen again.

For the hungry:

Labriola's is a second generation "Italian store" as my family calls it. Its a small grocery that specializes in Italian foods. If you're a foodie, doesn't matter if your a cook, but if you're a foodie, your head will explode. If you're a cook, your head and your heart will explode simultaneously. Its not pretty. Anything Italian you've seen on a cooking show from these special canned tomatoes mom kept muttering about to beautiful imported pasta...and everything was really well priced. And, and, they had all this super cheap ready-made food...like a HUGE pizza with all homemade ingredients for $6.50. They had biscotti and cream puffs and stuffed shells and ravioli...all homemade and ready for you to take credit for. They had a huge deli counter and fresh cheese and eggs and really I just ate two pizelles as I typed this 'cause I was making myself hungry. (The things I do for the blogsphere!)

So yeah, I'll leave you with that. But, I will ask you to stay tuned. Why, you ask? Well, I reply...all of you people who think you're all frugal and earth-friendly and all of that? Dude, meet my grandfather. He can recycle anything, including 25 year old Stoffers containers AND boxes.

I know, you're hoping tomorrow comes sooner so you can read about him.

Container Store's Travel Sale

With nothing but love in my heart and sincerity in my tone do I tell you the following:

The annual Container Store Travel Sale has begun! Woo!

Seriously.

I'm not kidding.

I've been waiting all year for this. Regina and I went to the store weekly (ok, maybe daily) before her trip hoping the sale would start.

And then she went to London.

And the sale began.

Isn't that how it always goes?

But in all seriousness, if you travel at all, their travel accessories really do make all the difference and the sale makes them even better. They have the legal-size-won't-leak bottles and the best packing system. I used to be the exploding suitcase sort of packer. Now, I'm all organized and can actually see everything in the suitcase. Stop laughing. Yes, I have seen the state of my bedroom. No, that doesn't mean I don't pack all tidy and neat. Shut up. Anyways, back to the travel stuff...

I have a few of these folding thingies and a few of the cube thingies. Seriously, they work. Not only do they keep everything nice and neat and wrinkle free (or at least at the same wrinkle level that they entered your suitcase) and they keep your socks and underwear from running amok in your suitcase, or is that a problem that only I have? Then, when everything is dirty, you can cram it into the cubes and obtain all of this magical packing space for all the crap, er, stuff you've bought on your trip. Its scary how much dirty laundry you can pack into those cubes. And, for the stuff that is oddly unworn and clean (because I'm sure NONE of you over pack) you can keep that safely folded away where it won't touch the icky dirty stuff...very handy for lazy people like me who don't want to do any extra laundry if they don't have to.

The following has also been brought to my attention. My mom uses those space bags for compressing all of the down comforters we have. Did you know they have smaller space bags just for travel? For all the paranoid yarn packers out there, you know who you are, the ones afraid they won't have enough projects to last through your trip. Well, the idea was hatched (ok, fine, it wasn't mine, it was Regina's) that you could put the extra projects into one of these bags and just smoosh it down to nothing so that it doesn't take up all the space in your carry-on ('cause duh! you're not checking yarn). Brilliant! Not to mention, another great place for your dirty laundry...just suck all the air out and you have even more space for all that crap, er, stuff you're buying.

So yeah, that's your helpful tip for today.

Florida - the Recap - Part I

Well, Ellen asked, so here's the recap, complete with the requested pictures.

March 17th marks Todd & my 2nd anniversary. So, we did what any intelligent couple does on thier anniversary, we went to Orlando and Ft. Myers. Duh. That's completely intuitive. Sort of like our trips to South Dakota and Mackinaw Island...isn't that where everyone spends their holidays?

The Florida trip was born out of Todd's desire to go to the Twins' spring training. Its not like he's always wanted to go to Afganistan (NTTAWWT), I mean, Spring Training is an easy dream to realize. And hey, aren't there a few theme parks down thataway? Sounds good to me!

We departed Saturday (3/16) from our respective states and met up at MCO (Orlando's finest airport). Oddly, it was quite nice. There's a bit of shopping, what seems to be a nice hotel right in the middle and quite a few dining options. I know all of this as Todd's flight came in about an hour after mine.

From there we checked into our hotel, the Cypress Pointe Grand Villas. We pondered our hotel options for HOURS as Orlando has FAR too many options. Seriously. Our brains hurt trying to figure this out and we restricted ourselves to hotels we could pay for with points. Imagine if we were actually going to pay for a hotel. I don't think the trip would have ever happened. But, Cypress had everything we wanted, including a full kitchen and the possibility of a large bathtub.

Woo! We got our big bathtub!

Before I go any further, I must tell you that unless you stay on Disney property, you must rent a car. Hell, even if you do stay on property you need a car unless you want to eat only Disney food. Just sayin' is all. Our chariot:

Behold the mighty Impala!

And speaking of food, despite the WIDE array of available frightening chain food fare we were able to find Cuban, Mexican and even Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Yummy and affordable. Every night for dinner we spent about $30 for the two of us (tip not included). Not bad for good food in a tourist town.

On Monday we began our day at the Magic Kingdom. Somehow we managed to get really lost on the way over. It seems impossible but you know, we live to dream.

Happy Anniversary AND St. Patrick's Day!

Stay tuned! More tomorrow...

Vacation is all I ever wanted

Woo!

Has it really been a month, dear diary. My bad.

So I just got back from Florida and wow, that was not what I expected. Some observations:

• Lots of billboards advertising vasectomies.
• Only saw five (5) bugs.
• Every minimall and resort in Orlando holds a mom'n'pop grocery store.
• Normal grocery stores are easily accessible.
• Churros are tougher to come by at the Disney parks than you would guess.
• Pretzels are easier to come by at the Disney parks than you would guess.
• I liked Disney's Animal Kingdom more than any other Disney park I've ever been to.

Top 10 Things I Didn't Know About South Dakota

10. There are flies *everywhere.*
9. There's a basketball court inside the Corn Palace.
8. South Dakota is for families but not for vegetarians.
7. Buffalo is good.
6. You can buy Lawn Gnomes at Wall Drug.
5. Sturgis is not just an event, its a lifestyle.
4. Every jewelry store that carries Black Hills gold is a "Factory Outlet."
3. There is WiFi in every town, no matter how small, but cell service is a challenge to keep.
2. ...except in De Smet, SD
1. The Badlands are bad ass...amazing...seriously.

Design Challenge

Here's the house.

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

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.

Thank doG for TSA

Fade in Easter Sunday, cute girl with a blue wheeled duffle bag, and one large black tote bad standing in the security line at MSP airport. Sad, yet wearing her bunny ears ('cause Jesus loves the Easter bunny), she puts her coat & UGGS into a bin, her purse into a bin & tosses the tote and the duffle through.

TSA: "WE NEED A BAG CHECK ON 4!"

Cute Guy: "Think its yours or mine?"

Bunny Eared Girl: "Its mine....Its always mine."

TSA: [holding bin with white purse] "This yours?"

BEG: "Unless he happens to carry the same Betsy Johnson handbag, I'd have to say yes."

TSA: [Beginning to walk to the bag check area] "This all you're carrying?"

BEG: [pointing to the parade of bags on the conveyor belt] "No, not at all."

TSA: [Takes bin to the end of the conveyer belt & riffles through purse] "Where are your lotions?"

BEG: "Excuse me?"

TSA: "Your lotions. Shampoos. Your Ziploc bag."

BEG: "Oh, I don't carry any of that when I travel."

TSA: [confused yet glaring]

BEG: "My boyfriend lives here so I just leave a bag o' stuff with him."

TSA: [digging FURIOUSLY through the understated yet stylish handbag...finally the look of triumph on the angry man-lady's face] "What do you call THIS?!"

BEG: "Nail polish."

TSA: "Why isn't in a ZIPLOC?"

BEG: "'cause I didn't know I had it in there."

TSA: "I'll let it go this ONE TIME but next time have it in a Ziploc."

Yes, that's right. I had a bottle of nail polish, forgotten at the bottom of my bag. Because, if there is something to really fear when flying, its not terrorism, stupid loud talkers on cell phones, or even fear itself, but Lippmann Collection nail polish. Those sparkles are something scary.

I get stopped like this every time I travel. And I don't travel with any of the forbidden stuff. I either have my girly crap waiting for me when I arrive, or I'll buy it when I get there.

And the sad thing is, I wouldn't even mind all the torment if I felt any safer flying. But while they're scolding me about nail polish, who knows what could be taken into the airport through an employee entrance or even security.

In search of the Moose

Yeah, yeah, L.A. city girl blissfully taken with the quaint small-town life. The concept of driving more than 10 minutes (without traffic) for food is just something I don't understand. So, anytime we venture to Southern Minnesota, eating is definately an adventure. One night we drove to Iowa for food. Dude, we went to another state to eat. He!!, I can't make myself drive to the valley for good sushi and we're driving to another state? Well, Southern MN is like a foreign country to me so I just take the same attitude....sure, I'm game for anything.

Here's the latest...

Trimont (about 15 minutes from where we were staying) has a town owned restaurant called the Chocolate Moose. Its the sort of place mom'n'I have joked we should open...cook when you feel like it and close when you don't. Well, we were hoping to eat there on Saturday for lunch (when they usually feel like cooking) but it was Easter "weekend" so they didn't feel like cooking. Seriously, that rules and something that would so not fly in the big city. I told T that is a manditory meal (assuming they're open) for next trip. I mean, a town owned restaurant that serves what they want to serve when they want to serve...freakin' awesome.

Since that was Trimont's only restaurant. (Again, I get crabby when I only have one restaurant per block to choose from here, but when in Rome...) We pushed on, to a "large" town in search of food (Makato for any of you playing along at home). We exit the highway to take the scenic route through town. Uhm, yeah, industry and mini-malls are scenic, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Mankato is a nice place and I just saw the seedy underbelly. Though, I should have had T pull over to take a picture the best adult shop sign ever. Seriously. "Free vibrating egg with purchase of Easter Basket." I mean, what says Easter and Jesus and stuff better than a vibrating egg? Sadly, I had to use the little girls room, so really, stopping at red lights was optional at this point; I wasn't about to pause for a picture.

Speaking of not pausing for pictures, I did not take one that day. Not one of pizza (not that s.ly has been skimping on the pictures of the famed pizza, and btw, Bicko really does live up to the hype), nor one of our dinner companions, (s.ly & Melba joined us for dinner with drinks followed at Herkimer). And, that was d@mn fine pizza followed by drinks at a d@mn fine bar. I mean, color me happy, they had not one but two kinds of cider. Definately picture worthy. Oh well.

Having a rough time

In case you were wondering, there's no Orange Roughy in greater Minneapolis. Word on the street is that its over fished. I'm just letting you know in case you're looking for it and feel like a moron 'cause you can't find it. I'm here to help.

Our food choices that day were odd yet satisfying...bagels for breakfast, Byerly's for lunch and
Torge's for dinner.

Bagels - I really could have lived the rest of my life and never know about Cinnamon Sugar bagels. Soooo good. From someone who swore off bagels, other than an occasional wheat, this was not a good discovery. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Byerly's - For the L.A. kids, this is the equivalent to Gelson's. They have really good specialty food...the soups seem to be a particular favorite in this crowd. As a whole, spendy yet worth it. I'll need to take a bit more time to poke around. We were in a bit of a rush so I didn't get a chance. I mean, any market that offers samples of key lime pie is a happy place in my book.

Torge's - The finest Fairmont has to offer. Well, the finest Fairmont has to offer that doesn't allow smoking. Not that you'll ever go there, but if you do, order the Artichoke Crab dip. I seriously made a mistake by not making this my dinner. It was yum and stupidly I had to not only share but be expected to eat my entree. So yeah, next time, this is dinner.

Mas Por Favor

Thankfully I was in Minneapolis so really, even when going to a Mexican restaurant, I'm not expected to speak any sort of Spanish...which in my life is very important. Really, you don't want me to speak Spanish.

For lunch we did the sky room at Macy's. I was impressed. The space was bright and spacious and food was very yummy. If you've never been there, you have different options, Mexican, salad bar, Asian, deli and grill. I had Mexican, T had salad bar and L had deli. Every one's food looked good. (If L wasn't a good 5 inches taller than me, I would have totally taken her sandwich.) And, seriously, for the Midwest, my food was solid bougie Mexican...a great stop for lunch.

For dinner we went to Maza, more bougie Mexican. Its owned by a local restaurant family and located in downtown Mpls. Its casual yet upscale... expensive but without the pretension or dress code. And you know, they delivered. The wait staff was knowledgeable yet not condescending, which is a tough line. The drinks were yum (if you like girly, do the Cucumber Margarita) and the food was well portioned and very different. Though, one word of warning. If you are a hot wuss, meaning you can't handle spicy dishes, think about your choice of restaurant. I tend to fall into the spice wuss category and this was really in my upper threshold. But, in all honesty, this was T's birthday dinner, not mine, and he loved it, so it was the correct choice. And, all of my friends dig food spicier than I do so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone.

You definitely get what you pay for. Go there. Tonight. Yum.

Best of the Best

Did you know there are people who drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff for the Champagne brunch at Little America? Yeah. We didn't quite understand that. Don't get me wrong, it was a d@mn fine buffet, but I don't think I'd do that drive.

After brunch, back to Vegas. Again, over the Dam. But this time, for people heading to AZ, there must have been a 3 hour line to get over that Dam. We couldn't get over the line. We wanted to yell, go back, take another route. But there was not time...we were driving too fast. Heh.

Very excited, we checked into the Belagio. Let me tell you, Steve Wynn really did create a masterpiece with this place. From lobby to pool to guest room, this place is gorgeous. You really can't ask for something prettier. We were in a standard room, and even had to take one with 2 queens instead of a king, and still it looked new, it was spacious and the bathroom rocked...I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

However, I would not eat there, order room service or try to talk to hotel management about any of the issues I'm having.

Anyone who knows me knows I come from a service background. I'm pretty damn nice to people and tend to over tip. I understand if they're busy and stressed and really only bother someone only when I really need to. That being said, they locked me out of my own credit card so I couldn't charge things to the room, they didn't honor our dinner reservation and wouldn't seat us...instead placing us on a waiting list, room service ordering was challenging and the manager who promised to make everything right, didn't.

Lets be honest, I paid $160 for a room at the prettiest hotel on the strip with a tub I could have entertained several friends in...I got the good end of that deal. I would stay there again but I would make reservations at Valentino's or any one of Pierro's restaurants (all located away from the Bellagio), and just not expect anything in the way of service, instead, just enjoying my beautiful room and my beautiful hotel.

Looks like a movie set

I know, cheesy, but seriously, the Grand Canyon doesn't look real to me. I mean, look at the back of the picture. I just expect someone to punch through the canvas or something.

It didn't help that it was a perfectly clear day, with highs in the 70s. It was seriously picture perfect, something out of a movie....something you'd expect from la-la land.

***

We took the Grand Canyon Railway to the canyon. For two people that spend far too much of their travel time in a car, this was an excellent option. If you have the means, I recommend it. But, do one of the first class cars. The lower end options looked painful...crowded, no a/c, a whole lot of not good.

We did the dome car and it was very cool. And I'm not just saying that 'cause it was a dome and had air conditioning and it was first class and we had our own "hostess." Well, actually I am just saying that. And, what seemed to be incredibly cheesy entertainment, was actually quite fun. There were singing cowboys, a "robbery" and a wild west show...very fun. But, keep in mind, as the website tell you, this is an old restored train. You might have technical problems. We did. And it was fine. But, that's just something to remember.

Something else surprising...the food at the Canyon. Most everything (including most recently the train) is owned by a private company that does public park stuff. We ate at the Arizona Room. As you can see from the chandeliers, this place rocked. For a national park, I have to admit that the food was quite tasty. Though, I'm sure it helped that the big boss sat down at the table next to us about 5 minutes after we got there. (If you want bad food, you can find it next door, but it was nice to have the choice.)

The Canyon was amazing and I definitely want to go back. Of course, I want to stay at El Tovar which will require more than 10 days advance notice, but that's ok. Someday we'll be capable of making travel plans more than 10 days in advance.

Get your kicks

After fueling up on the breakfast buffet at Mandalay (quite tastey I might add and looked *much* better than the lunch buffet they were setting up), we headed out to Flagstaff.


One thing you should know is that there are two ways to Flagstaff, the slow way or the long way. Not knowing there was a slow way or a long way, we took the direct way which translates to the slow way since you have to cross over Hoover Dam. Now, we've been to the Dam before so we knew we were in for some traffic but we didn't know it would take an hour to go 3 miles. Oddly enough, it didn't really bother us. It just was what it was. But, I'm just warning you in case you need to cross over it for *any* reason.

After surviving the Dam we were lured to Seligman by the promise of root beer in a frosty mug. (Well, one of us was lured by the frosty mug and one of us was lured by the promise of a little girls room. I'll let you guess which of us was lured by which.)

Finally we arrive at our destination. Seriously, if you're going to Flagstaff, I can't recommend Little America highly enough. I booked the hotel based on the website and let me tell you, Karen didn't let me down. The sign for Little America is a bit motel-ish but the service was amazing, the concierge knows her Flagstaff food in every price range, the rooms were really nice and the price was beyond reasonable.

One last thing and sadly, it was WAY too dark to take a picture, but we had the BEST pizza for dinner that night. OMG, fabulous. Seriously, you need to go here. And if you do go, bring me back some 'za.

Oh, and here's the obligatory tub picture:


And a taste of my new obsession of taking self-portraits in every well-lit mirror:

Bathtub Revolution...continued

Yup, its a bathtub. That's why we got the "Honeymoon" Suite. But, in all honesty, if this were my honeymoon and that was my suite, I'd be cranky.

I so dig Mandalay Bay. I've wanted to stay there for YEARS and the pools were all I hoped they would be. But, let me tell you, the room was boring at best. Now, they're totally redoing all the rooms. Of course, the new rooms are more spendy than the old ones (which I learned after booking ours.) But yeah, the tub was nice, the room was huge and boring and the wave pool rocked. I can't wait to go back!

Though, I need someone to explain the $20 inner tubes for the lazy river to me 'cause I know I'm going to pay for one next time and I need to justify it. Heh.

Seriously Freezing

Ok, I'm so not being melodramatic when I say its cold. I once knew a person who would often accuse me of getting cold looking at ice cubes. But seriously, do I need more proof than this?


Guess where this was taken? No, really, look at that frozen water stuff on the ground, now just take a guess. I can wait so take your time...

Would Scottsdale, Arizona be one of those early guesses? I think not. But, that's where I took the picture this morning. Part of Scottsdale Road was closed off and I saw this while waiting in line at the light to turn left. Freakin' ice. It was in the 20's while I was there. Hello? This is supposed to be the high season. People are supposed to flee cold climates for the desert. Asthmatic freak right here...I don't need cold air messin' with me. I paid top dollar of my hotel room for ice? I did not see ice on the hotel webpage when I was making my hotel selection. I want my money back. Well, I'll pay for the jacuzzi and the nice fireplace, but I want the money I paid for a warm climate 'cause I didn't get any of that.

Cowboy up

Ok, when I was told "yeah, sit at my table...its the cowboy table" I didn't take it literally. I guess I should have.



Yup, this was on the wall next to the table. This is the center table across from the serving area of the kitchen...a spectacular view. As much as "Top Chef" or whatever that goofy Fox reality show is called, it is pretty close to how a kitchen is supposed to run. Watching these guys work was like poetry in motion and I really do mean it. "If you have the means, I highly recommend it."*

Unless of course you go the restaurant hungry, then I would say you should sit as far away from the kitchen as possible since you will eat or at least want to eat every d@mn thing that you watch being plated. I mean, everything looked amazing. Seriously. As luck would have it, at this point, we had been eating for about 24 hours straight so a vague sense of willpower (i.e. sharing dessert) was felt at the table.

*Ok, you really should know this quote and if you don't you should be embarrassed and ashamed.

Warning: Vicious Attack Dog

If you go to the ranch, you'll be facing this. I know. I feel the fear through the net. You shake just looking at this wild creature. And then there's the dog holding that odd red & blue tennis-ball-for-feet creature.

Yup, upon our arrival, Laslo was at his appointed back gate station guarding the ranch from evil. When your home is gated you must bark to let all that pass know you are in charge of the property and all neighboring properties. As we all know, bicyclists and construction workers are very threatening.

By Popular Demand

The craptastic photos. Ok, well, not all of the craptastic photos, just a select few.

Enjoy!