November 2008

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Photo Overload

November 30, 2008 in Musings, cats, photos | No comments

I’m not gonna lie. I took all of the photos in about a 2 minute span–except Sake’s cuteness which occurred about a week ago. The past few weeks have been a rush of visitors and holidays and I don’t think to take my camera out until after the fact. Sorry. Add that to my giddiness about skipping church today. No reason why, I just did it. I guess I get a bit “churched out” too.

Here’s Sake. She’s laying on a pillow my mom made. It says, “Dear Santa, Define Good.” So cute.

Here’s what I’ve been working on lately. PJ pants, and a baby kimono. I was so excited to see Stitch had come out. I was first exposed to Quilting Arts in Long Beach. But, I’m beginning to be really disappointed by their new magazine. First U N I F O R M Studios mentioned an error in her skirt pattern. And I haven’t seen it correct on the Stitch site yet! Then, when I worked on the kimono, besides having instructions that confused me–a pretty advanced sewer, I’m quite sure there was mis-information in the diagrams provided. It not only frustrated me, but I could see a beginner throwing their hands up and saying this is “too hard.” I don’t want someone to be frustrated by little things like that. Please, Stitch, make use of people to try out your patterns. I’d do it myself.

Here’s my babies with Scotch modeling his Santa hat. He isn’t sure of it yet.

Here’s our Christmas decorations. The tree is still on the ground, though I am tempted to hang it up-side-down from the hooks already in the ceiling.

And the mantel is decorated with a green boa. I’d like to say that was my plan all along, but actually the boa was thrown in the Christmas decoration box as we packed to move, and I just set it on the mantel jokingly. And it looks quite cute. :)

And only the kitties have a stocking. It was a gift from our upstairs neighbor and her dog, Junior last year. Scotch had the biggest crush on Junior. If Scotch got out, he’d run upstairs and roll around outside of their door. Also, when Scotch would hear them heading out for a walk, he’d run to the window to watch them. Silly cat. :)

I hope your holiday seasons have started out Merrily. Here’s to more frequent posting!

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Musings

November 26, 2008 in Musings | No comments

Hello again.

Our friends came and have gone home. It was SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD to see them and get a little infusion of them. Kendra is pregnant and due Jan. 19, so it is cool and crazy to see her with a mama bump. Karl is silly as ever, but I’m just now realizing it. We spent hours laughing, watching comediennes on Hulu and You Tube-Demetri, Eddie Izzard, Jeff Dunham, the “Hot Pocket” guy, and even a little bit of Blue Collar Comedy Tour. We stuffed ourselves silly with Cheese Fondue, Rice Krispie Treats, Cinnamon Toast Crunch (rice) Krispie Treats, Cawaffles (cake mix poured in a waffle iron). We visited the ocean, Half Moon Bay, Stanford’s Art Museum and the outside of the church on Stanford’s campus–gorgeous. There was a concert going on, so we couldn’t go in. And we chatted a lot about life. Everyone seems to have their little and not-so-little burdens. It is so much easier to make a  go of it when you carry a bit of theirs and they carry a bit of yours.

I didn’t take any photos–not sure why not. But I did manage to by a santa hat/beard kitty outfit combo at Target. I’ve been oogling it since September-not an impulse buy. Also, I’m attempting to put our Christmas tree on the ceiling. So look forward to a bit of Christmas humor soon. :)

In other news, I started responding to e-mails with my iPod touch. It doesn’t recognize the name “Katy” and suggested I meant to type Mary. I figured if I left it alone it’d stay “Katy.” Nope. I was wrong. And since it registered that the name was my signature, it automatically put that as my “contact” name when sending e-mails. So it said Mary sent an e-mail. Someone let me know about it–thanks, Grace. And I think I’ve cleared it up, but who knows, maybe I have an alter-ego. :)

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Updates

November 19, 2008 in Musings | No comments

I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately. But I feel like I’m bouncing back. Yay! The tree is up. Thank God for plastic ornaments that look kinda like glass-Ikea rocks. Scotch is working on his swing. I think he knows about Tball because he is pretty good. Friday some of our really good friends are arriving. We’re super-excited to spend the weekend with them. So enjoy the holiday festivities and I’ll check in later.

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Updates

November 14, 2008 in drafting, family, food | 1 comment

Here is a photo of one of Eric’s delicious creations this week. He grilled NY Strip Steak, made a curry sauce with Splenda, yellow curry, and soy milk, and added crisp French green beans on top. Yum.

Here’s what the sewing room looked like right before Eric video-taped me sewing. He is planning a Nooma-inspired video for the Wednesday Advent services. I’ll try to post it once the video is finished or after the advent service.

There was a birthday today. So I wrapped up one of those chocolate bars. Yum!

Lastly, I finished my draft. Here’s me taking self-portraits while standing on our bathtub. The skirt is a bit difficult to make out since it is flesh-colored.

I didn’t iron so… But I think it’ll work. I

Also, we finally got Eric’s test results in. They are better than July’s. So we’re celebrating. It is so difficult though. He earned a black belt at 16, and was a varsity wrestler, so he is no stranger to working hard. Yet, he gets winded so quickly when we work out together. It is hard to see how weak his body has gotten. Also, he gets sick a little over half of the time he eats. Which is difficult for him. It is hard to watch. And, when we’re out socially it is difficult to explain that to others.  Sigh.

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Six

November 12, 2008 in Musings | 2 comments

Kelli tagged me.

Here are the guidelines.

* Link to the person who tagged you.
* Post the rules on your blog.
* Write 6 random things about yourself.
* Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.
* Let each person know he/she has been tagged.
* Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. One of my favorite memories of all time was a horse drawn sleigh ride. I was either in first or second grade because we lived in Alaska. My great grandmother had come to visit. The sky was clear and we saw the Northern Lights on our drive out to where the sleigh was. There were tons of blankets on our laps–I lived out my Little House on the Prairie obsession, pretending to be Laura. Two large horses pulled us around a lake. It was beyond magical.

2. Living in Alaska, there is a lot of hot beverage drinking to stay warm. As a kid I disliked coffee and hot chocolate. Instead, I drank hot Tang. I haven’t seen hot Tang on a menu in a long time. Yum!

3. Eric and I passed a significant dating milestone when I was doing a forward bend in yoga and passed gas.

4. I would love to study with la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. The grad school I’m looking at has opportunities to do that–but logistically it is just about impossible.

5. I used to be (and honestly still am) freaked out by aliens. I saw the movie Fire in the Sky when I was probably too young. I don’t really think they exist, but… **shudder**

6. Raw meat grosses me out. I enjoy eating steak, and hamburgers but not if I have to cook them. If it weren’t for Eric cooking meat, I could pretty easily be a vegetarian. I’m particularly picky about fat and gristle.

I’d love to have these people share.

Grace
Jill
Laura

Peace,

Katy ^_^

P.S. One of the spelling words in third grade this week is “throughout.” When I was grading spelling sentences, one of their favorites was, “I throughout the garbage.” I laughed out loud the first time I saw it.

Flickr

November 11, 2008 in cats, drafting | 1 comment

Here’s my drafting images for now. I’m a bit worried. I’m thinking the front should have larger dart than the back, but none of my resources are helping much. Too bad I’ve gained 2-3 inches since I drafted something 4 years ago. Arg..

Here are the kitties. We didn’t get another one, they are just sleeping next to a similarly colored teddy bear.

Something I found. There’s a birthday to celebrate this week. And, I may need to break into it before then!

I had to clear these off before I started. Do I have too many needles? They were out from my wisemen sewing stint.

Lastly, here is some eye candy for skirt ideas. Thanks, for the tip, Jill. It is fun to see fellow bloggers getting featured in these kinds of publications.

Peace,

^_^

Warp Speed

November 11, 2008 in Musings, cooking, drafting, family, photos | 1 comment

It feels like days are flying by. Here’s the low-down for the past few. I’m trying out some new skins for Wordpress. I hope you like the new style.

We went for a walk yesterday. I’m obsessing about purple and greens. Like these beauties.

No news on Eric’s test results. Still waiting…

I got a physical at the doctor–it’d been a few years. I am totally healthy, which is something to celebrate. The doctor did say I could stand to lose 10 pounds. So far so good. We joined a gym and I’ve made it to two 5:50 am classes so far. Eric and I go two nights a week too. Here’s a delicious salad I made. Eric is being a sport. It means he’s lost his nightly wine-buddy.

We purchased our first Christmas tree today. It is a wee thing. Here’s the trimmings. We hope to get it up soon. I realize that is WAY early, but I’m beyond excited. We’ve never really had room for a tree before. We chose a blue theme.

An added bonus is the fact that we have a fireplace and mantle! Here’s the current look. I hope to make it festive too!

Jill created a Flicker group for our photos with the draft a long. I will post my progress later this evening. I plan to spend the rest of the day (it is already 3:30!!) drafting and working on sketches to apply for graduate school. I also want to use them in a portfolio I intend to send blindly to a few fashion companies around here. I’m not sure if I’ll do the school thing, but I do want to have everything ready so I can.

If you need a laugh, check out Cute Overload. I don’t think I can repeat this video too many times. Amazing.

Peace,

Katy ^_^

Catching Up

November 9, 2008 in Musings, drafting, family, patterns, photos, sewing | 4 comments

It has been a bit of an “off week.” Lots of blah-ness going around. Friday afternoon Eric and I headed for Half Moon Bay and drove down Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz. The road trip took about an hour and a half. It was fun. The view was spectacular. We stopped at a historic lighthouse. At the lighthouse, everything North was dark and foggy, everything south was sunny and radiant. I didn’t think about taking photos until after that stop. Here’s Eric driving.

Here’s a photo looking over a cliff toward the ocean. In the middle is clouds/fog and then the sky starts. Amazing, but the photo didn’t do it justice.

Yesterday, was lazy and wonderful. Today, I caught up on some sewing. I have re-purposed thrift store graduation robes into Wise Men finery. Here’s a shot of one of them.

I switched purses. This is one I purchased the summer I worked in Paris. It looks like an old-fashioned doctor’s bag. It is dark green. It makes me have such happy memories!

Well Jill over at Inside My Sewing Box, and I are working on a project. We’d love to have you join along if you are interested. First step, that was supposed to be done a while back is to draft a skirt block. I think we’re hoping to complete that by this Friday, November 14. Next step is to create a skirt from our block. The deadline is Friday, November 28. Believe me, we’ve not been good at deadlines. Jill is preparing for a show, and well, I’m just being lazy. I created a cute icon in Illustrator. It looks quite dated (mid-80s) at least to me, but it is a start, right? I’m having difficulty saving it–so hopefully it’ll be up later.

Peace,

^_^ Katy

Life

November 5, 2008 in Contest, cats | 2 comments

Life happens. Right now I feel frozen as everything is zooming past me. I’m not sure what is paralyzing me at the moment, but daylight savings time is not helping. Except I wake up a little easier. It is possible Eric’s leukemia is no longer responding to the drug he is on. We’re waiting for test results. And waiting sucks. Here’s some photos from the past few days. Here’s Scotch taking up lots of space on the bathroom counter.

Decisions to be made about graduate school. And for things like this, I’m a terrible decision maker. Never fully satisfied and always asking “what-if…”

And here’s the kitties this morning. I think maybe I should turn on the heat. The photo doesn’t do the desperation in their postures justice.

Skip over to AfricanKelli’s to see the prize she one from the blog-i-versary contest ages ago.

Peace,

Katy ^_^