Mostly dead
Ran a marathon! Worst idea ever.
Flaky Cake —&—
New Orleans
Right now I’m in New Orleans for a much-needed vacation from work and regular life. My sister moved here for her residency and we’re staying in her beautiful house that is right next to Magazine street. So far, it’s been pretty much exactly what a trip to New Orleans should be: good food, drinking (on the street no less), looking at cool buildings, and listening to great music.
I’ve been taking a lot of pictures and will post some when I get back. For now, my Flickr stream is full of iPhone pictures in bathroom mirrors. Enjoy!
Knitting Gifts, Part I
I really enjoyed knitting gifts for Christmas this year. I’m usually pretty excited about people unwrapping the presents I give them, but this year I actually spent more time anticipating my recipients’ reponses than I did anticipating what I would get. I think it was because I made the gifts for everyone on my list and I felt really good about everything I made. Although, there may be a slim possibility that I’m actually becoming a kind and thoughtful, unselfish person (I wouldn’t count on that, though). Despite that introduction, I’m not going to talk about Christmas gifting right now because I don’t have all the pictures yet. Instead I’m showing you this:
Red Vines Cabled Collection
I made that set for my mom because she finally moved someplace cold (Boston) and as a result could finally use something warm. I’m ashamed to say that in all the years I’ve been knitting I had never made anything for her. (But it’s not really my fault! She lives in the desert!) Anyway, I think I made up for it this year. (More in the Christmas gift post.)
Secondly, I made these:
Endpaper Mitts!
One pair for me and a similar pair for a friend of mine. I can’t speak for her, but I wear mine ALL the time. I have a better picture of both sets together, but my camera has disappeared. I’m always baffled that anything can disappear in our little apartment. (Any chance it made its way into your bag with the slippers, Ashly?)
My work has a two-week shutdown around Christmas so I had a nice, long, relaxing break. My sister gave me her old piano and I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to re-learn my favorite pieces and picking out new stuff to play. Andrew and I have also discovered old seasons of The Office and 30 Rock on the whole instant Netflix thing and have been watching them obsessively.
My Second Half
I can’t believe I went two months with no posts! Right now I’m in Portland, staying with Caitlin and Patrick in their beautiful house. It’s been such a fun visit and now it’s snowing! I have a lot if knitting to show, so I’ll write about that in a little while.
A couple weeks ago I did the half marathon. It went really well, much faster than my first half. I felt strong the whole time and I passed people up until the very end. I’m still not what you would consider fast. My time ended up being 2:13. I expected to be about 2:20, and my goal was 2:10. I think I was the running the slowest in the beginning with the mass start, though, so I don’t feel too far from my goal. I know that the last 5 miles were at a pace of 9:57, which is great for me!
Anyway, it felt great, especially since I was so sick the week before I wasn’t even sure I could run it. The highlights were having friends there to cheer for me and the music along the way. There was an amazing bagpiper in a tile-lined tunnel and a taiko drumming group just past the turn-around point.
I got a coupon for a massage discount at Sano Spa in my race packet, so I scheduled one for a couple hours after the race. It was great! The spa had a private outdoor garden and jacuzzi and delicious spa food. After the massage I was free to pad around in my robe and slippers, grazing and relaxing in the garden.
Beach Vacation
Just watched a school of dolphins surfing right in front of our rented condo balcony.
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