A lesson in physics

I flew into SLC last night, and I kept myself busy on the five hour flight with spreadsheets and crocheting. As the plane landed, I was busily working on a hat with one row left before it was finished. Lo and behold, my yellow ball of yarn was jostled loose by the landing and as the pilot slammed on the breaks, there it went..... rolling down the aisle, all the way to first class.

There wasn't much of anything I could do but look at the yellow string disappearing into the dark of the front of the plane and laugh. Well, that and be thankful that I was in row 23 and not 36. The flight attendant who gathered it up and delivered it back to me was laughing as well, so I'm glad I could add to her repertoire of funny flying stories.

Merry Christmas!

My Wish List

Happy Holidays!  

Here are a few things on my wishlist, what's on yours?

1. Euphoria by Calvin Klein for Women, Eau De Parfum Spray, 3.4oz | 2. Trifle Bowl | 3.  212 SEXY by Carolina Herrera for women, Eau De Parfum Roll-On .34oz | 4. Michael Kors Midsized Chronograph Gold Tone Womens Watch MK5055 | 5. Kindle Fire | 6. Butcher Block Prep Station | 7. 12 inch cast iron skillet | 8. QQ-Tech Removable Detachable Wireless Bluetooth ABS Keyboard for Kindle Fire- Red | 9. Magnet Steel Bike Indoor Exercise Trainer Stand

Another "friend"

I came home this evening and this is what I found in my bathroom.....        
Can you tell what it is?                           

Let's get just a little closer.

That's right, it's a snake.  There was a snake in my house!  A very small snake, maybe only six inches long, but a snake nonetheless.  I will say, however, that the snake freaked me out about a 3 on the 1-10 icky scale where spider crickets rank about a 6 and those house centipede things are an 8.

A new friend

Boris met his new friend Serenity yesterday, she belongs to a family in the ward.  She looks just like a mini Boris and loves to play.  He was very cute and pretty gentle with her, and despite the fact that she's only about 3 months old, she was the the one who would steal his treats.

The beach

I spent the week of Labor Day in the Outer Banks of NC.  I'm not sure exactly how many times I've been down there now, but definitely enough that I can say I'm a regular. It's a fantastic place where the sun rises and sets over the water (it's amazing how that can happen on an island).

This trip was pretty low key, but special none the less.  I think that I'd be content to be a beach/ski bum all year round..... please feel free to send donations to my life of leisure fund.

For Shame

Shame on me for not posting in forever and a day- it's just that my biggest project over this summer has been watching all 7 seasons of Bones.

But also...... have you seen this? 

http://dog-shaming.com/

HILARIOUS!

I've already submitted this:

My no good, terrible, horrible, very bad, day

Just so you know, this story has a happy ending.

This already wasn't panning out to be my best 4th of July on record.  I'm less than a week out of surgery and still on crutches, which makes floating down the river, playing croquet, and pretty much anything other than sitting off limits.  Luckily I have some good friends that humored me and came over for a bbq.

And then it turns out the Philadelphia is less than ideally handicapped accessible (or whatever the correct PC term is) when it comes to dealing with large events.  That means that I had to hobble a ways in to lie on some grass for a partial view of the fireworks, still pretty okay. 

The no good, terrible, horrible, very bad part comes in when the fireworks start and Boris gets spooked.   Now, lest you think that I am a terrible person for bringing my dog to the fireworks show, I've been watching him very carefully over the past few days for his reaction to any loud noises, and believe you me, my neighborhood is not what you'd call "quiet".   After careful observation, he seemed to not be phased at all by any noises, so I thought we were safe.  Think again.

At first he hid in the bushes, which was kind of cute, but then he actually got out of his collar and took off.  Luckily I had some able bodied friends with me that were able to chase after him, but after the first few minutes I lost all hope…. I've seen how fast he runs at the dog park. 

We spent a solemn hour and a half trying to get out of the city, and I came home to send emails to all of the shelters and post and ad on craigslist (sidenote,  I think anyone, and I mean revwilliams76 specifically, that would use a situation like losing a dog to scam someone is despicable and not really all that intelligent). 

I followed up with all of the shelters this morning, but really didn't have all that much hope.   I prayed and I know my family and friends prayed, but Philadelphia is big and scary if you weigh 65 lbs and don't know English.   But, thanks to answered prayers and microchips, I got to pick Boris up at the animal shelter this evening. 

He's a little worse for wear, and I think the two of us make a pretty sad looking pair at the moment, but I'm still brimming over with joy.

This is what's up

My foot.  Or, more accurately, my knee.

I mentioned briefly before that I had torn my ACL, and this has been what has taken up my time and attention for the last six weeks. So this is what happened.....

Okay, it's not all his fault, I'm pretty sure I started things off with a nasty fall up at Park City in March with a partial tear in the ACL. I did go to the doctor and they said I had a sprained MCL, but I'm going to declare myself the expert on my knee and say that the pain is similar enough that it really didn't have anything to do with my MCL.

Fast Forward two months to me getting back to being active and running in the morning (my knee still hurt some, but not too badly) and stretching at the dog park after a run. Boris was very happy and running around with an 80 lb rottweiler named Jada, and I just happened to be in the way. A partially torn ACL vs. 140 lbs worth of dog is just not going to win, and I heard that "pop" finishing off the job.

I had to wait six weeks for surgery, but luckily Mom was able to come out and take care of me. I'm pretty lucky to have such great parents. I'm working from home this week and spending eight hours a day in my fancy knee bending machine, but the good news is that I'll be off crutches in the next couple of days and back to full activity in just a short eight months.


And I used to think I wasn't very accident prone....,

In the land of potatoes

My dear friend Jen got married this weekend, it was a lovely affair..... in Boise, Idaho.

Normally Boise wouldn't be my first choice for a destination wedding, but when you add in some good friends, some surprisingly exceptional food, and a hotel with a hot tub, there really is no room for complaint.

Some of my old and new favorite girls.

The lovely bride and her man.

I want this

Bikes

This would be the reason that I didn't make it to church yesterday.

Apparently it's a rather famous international bike race that takes place in my neighborhood and makes it's way up the really steep hill by my house a total of seven times.

Now I really could have gotten out and made it to church. The problem comes in the form of parking when I would have returned. I've not yet been able to get a handicapped placard for my car (oh, did I mention that I tore my ACL?) and I couldn't give up my spot in front of my house and risk having to hobble home from Vermont, which would have likely been the closest spot.

I did, however, hobble the two blocks to see what all the ruckus was about, and Boris joined in.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Mamma!

Chocolate

I'm so happy the chubby challenge for all the guys at work is over. That means that I can bake and not have to eat it all myself.

Chocolate fudge cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream filling.

The New Addition

Meet Boris.

Boris is joining my little family as of today. He came from a shelter, and is about 3 years old, and we think he is a lab/shepherd/great dane mix. His name was already Boris, and I think it suits him, so we're going to stick with that.

This was on our car ride home- he was a little nervous about getting in the car, but you would be too if the last time you took a ride you ended up in a shelter. He's been very mellow so far, but I know he'll have some energy to burn, so lots of walks and runs for the both of us are in store.

It's been 4 1/2 years since I've had a dog, and I've missed it sorely. I know it's going to be a lot more work than I'm used to, but it'll be nice to practice a little less selfishness in my life.

Welcome home buddy.

Velcro

Not only is it a pretty cool invention for sticking things together, it's my new favorite song.

Velcro by Bell X1

S A T U R D A Y Night!

It was a full day of hiking and roller derby.

It was great to get out and do something physical after babying my knee for a month after spraining it. It's still not perfect, but I was happy about being able to hike in the beautiful green woods today.

And then there was roller derby......

I really do want to practice skating so I can join in the fun.

Easter

Please indulge my Easter Egg photography.

Peak Bloom

I made it down to DC this weekend for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, I was a whole 4 days past peak bloom. Normally 4 days would not seem like a lot of time, but cherry blossoms are delicate and fleeting, and that is part of their beauty.

Don't misunderstand, it was still beautiful, you just have to be a little more careful about where you stop for pictures. And maybe this actually make those trees that are blooming just a little late even that more lovely, because it feels like a gift that they waited for my arrival to show off at their fullest potential.

Take it outside

I did a little work in the yard this weekend, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

There's a garden, and a grill and some twinkly lights, and I'm looking forward to many nights grilling and hanging out under the star (that's right, I live in the city, so there's only the one).

Bring on the bug spray!

Another Loss

I've discovered another casualty of my move: my heirloom tomato seeds. It's something that's a little easier to misplace than a basket full of socks, but still kind of sad when I was all ready to plant them this morning and have searched every last place that I can think of in my house :(.

An excuse

Blueberries that need to be used before I leave town = an excuse to pull out the kitchenaid

Yum

This is my new favorite dessert: berry parfait with Greek yogurt, sugar free chocolate pudding, and a dash of cinnamon.

B&A

My mom came to visit this weekend, and we had a great time working on a few projects in my apartment.

Before:

After:

We got a few of my pictures hung up. It may look like I have an obsession with the Eiffel Tower, but I don't. I did visit Paris in college and purchased two small pictures, and then people started giving me pictures and lamps and whatever else people thought I needed. But there are a few other locations up on the wall, so it's not strictly Paris, and I think it looks pretty good.

Before:

The kitchen as a nice little place to cook some food.

After:

A little paint, and a surprisingly necessary, but previously lacking shelf on top of the cabinets.

I also took off a few of the cabinet doors- this will drive my mother crazy from now on, but I like the look of open shelving, and it solves the problem of cheap looking cabinets.

Pretty good for a long weekend. Thanks Mom!

Pie

Look at the adorable little personal pies that I can make now in the beautiful pie plates that my mom made me for Christmas!

Lost

Am getting pretty well settled into my new place, job, life etc. I have, however, encountered one little problem...... I seem to have misplaced all of my socks.

Luckily I got a few pairs for Christmas, and there are a few that made the big move still visible to the naked eye. Normally you just loose one sock here and there to the secret sock monster, and I've grown used to that in my lifetime, but it's a strange feeling to loose most of them at once.

Just thought you should know.

My New Castle

Here, you see all of my belongings (there are too many of them) squeezed into a U Haul.

Luckily, I've found a place that fits them all quite nicely. It's not quite done yet, but well enough for me to feel I can go to work tomorrow (it's been almost a month since I've had to wake up for work, yikes!)

Here's the front room dining room, the front door is just there on the left by the coat rack.

And this is my kitchen.....

And a hallway where all of my artwork and pictures are waiting until they can get up on the walls. and the bathroom just on the right.

The living room and back door (out to my backyard).

And my bedroom, almost like a blanket fort!