Bill and I went for a bike ride this evening. Normally we ride on Sundays, but I’m trying to adjust our schedule so that Sundays can be more of a go to breakfast and the farmer’s market and relax kind of a day. Not that biking isn’t relaxing, but it is exercise and so is a little bit like work. Plus, we need to have a free morning so that we can go to breakfast! Yum!

I’ve been walking the last two days and was not up for it this morning. I needed to do something different and asked Bill if he’d be up for a ride after work. As usual, he was game.

It was a very nice ride. It’s been in the 70s and gorgeous. The trail wasn’t too crowded. There were commuters as we expected, and it was nice to see families out and about.

Of course bike riding requires us to make numerous Tour de France jokes. At one point we were going up a small incline and Bill “sprinted” past me. Our conversation went like this:

B: I was going for the stage win.
M: Oh. I thought you were going for the sprint bonus points.
B: I do have more of a body of a sprinter than a climber.
M: Should I call you the God of Thunder?*
B: Only after I have beans.

*The God of Thunder is the nickname of Thor Hushovd, winner of the green jersey and best sprinter in this Tour.

Bill cracks me up.

The other highlights of my day involved my striped scarf and rearranging furniture. We have an extra desk that we’ve tried to sell on Craig’s list but have not had any takers. As it turns out, this is a good thing because I am rearranging the office area and I think the other desk will work better. I am going to use the desk that is there as my sewing table and my current sewing table is going to become my cutting table and my cutting table is going to be taken apart and stored in the garage and we will have a big net gain of space. Yay. We moved that furniture around but I still have to put the rooms back together. Photos after I get that done.

And then there’s my Noro striped scarf. Or, as I like to think of it, the explanation for why I typically have multiple projects going. Because it’s tedious. I thought I was at the halfway point yesterday. I had just a little bit of yarn left and it took me hours to get through that little bit. Ugh. But now I am past the halfway point and should be able to coast to the finish line. (still have bikes on the brain). This pattern is a vehicle to show off the yarn (Noro’s silk garden). I don’t think mine is as striking as some of the others that have been done, but I think it’s still pretty and it’s all because of the yarn. I originally started knitting this as a Christmas gift for my grandmother, but I think I am going to keep it. I need another scarf like I need a hole in my head but I think it will look great with this cute pink coat that I have. Instead, I am going to knit my grandmother a scarf out of this Manos, which I actually think will be better for Chicago and is softer.

Yep, I’m already thinking about Christmas. I’m trying to get a head start on things while I have time. Plus, it is going to be another Handmade Holidays (ie a lot of gifts will be handmade) and that always takes time and planning. I do not want to be as stressed as I was leading up to last Christmas. We’ll see how it works out.

And that’s all I got. But I think it’s enough for now.

I really want to like camping. I camped with my parents when I was a kid, but I’m pretty sure I liked it because mom and dad told me to like it. I haven’t really camped as an adult, until last year when I decided to try it again. We went to Assateague and I got eaten alive and did not have very much fun. Bill didn’t think we would be camping again.

I read an article in Sunset Magazine about the 50 best campsites in the West with a list that were local. So I made us a reservation at Pinnacles National Monument, about 100 miles south of us. This past weekend, we went camping.

It was one of the best weekends that Bill and I spent together. Especially so because it had the potential to be horrible. We had incredibly inconsiderate neighbors, I got a a blister within the first mile of our first hike, I was really struggling at the beginning part of the hike (which was the hardest part and pretty much straight uphill), it was HOT (95 on Saturday, around 100 on Sunday), and did I mention we had incredibly inconsiderate neighbors? But it was actually great.

We did a 9.25 mile hike on Saturday. It was a loop, with the hardest part in the first 2.9 miles. After the first half mile, we hit the intersection with High Peaks Trail which basically went straight up. As I mentioned, I got a blister shortly into the hike, but it really only bothered me when we were going uphill. It was a long stretch going uphill. My lungs were on fire. For every minute we spent hiking, we rested. And took in fluids. It was hard to remember to look around to take in the view. Reaching the top felt like a major accomplishment. It was also short lived because as soon as we hit the top, we started the descent. It was nonstop switchbacks on the way down. While it was easier on the lungs, I felt it in my legs and glutes. There was a ranger station at the bottom of our descent, and it was a great spot for a rest and some lunch. We were also able to fill up our water and use the rest rooms. The rest of the hike was mainly flat, and a little bit easier (although after you’ve been out for 4 hours, easy is a relative term). The highlight of the hike was our trip through the balconies cave. This was another potential problem spot because Bill is claustrophobic. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was amazing. We had to scramble and duck and crawl and scoot and it was dark so we needed headlamps. Bill was great and actually enjoyed it.

After being on the trail for 6 hours, were were unbelievably hot and tired and dirty. You can check it out here, and those aren’t tan lines. The cool (and I mean this literally) thing was that there was a pool at the campground. We rinsed the dirt off, put on our swimsuits and took a dip. It was so refreshing. I cannot even tell you how good it felt. Plus, I got to stretch out my muscles a bit. We showered and then headed back to our campsite and had a relaxing evening.

While it was 95 during the day, in the evening it was quite comfortable. We had dinner and played cards and read and made smores. We also did some stargazing and saw a couple of shooting stars. Really beautiful. We slept very well that night. Or I did until I woke up because I think our neighbors had raccoons in their campsite all night. That’s what it sounded like; I was too tired to check. On Sunday we packed up our gear, ate breakfast, and hit the trails.

We did a shorter hike, 4.5 miles. The first part was up to an overlook and it was very pretty. What made it worthwhile is that there was a park ranger at the overlook (she actually passed by us on the trail) but we got to ask her questions and she sold us on the second half of our hike which I had considered not doing. The second half of the hike went up to a cave and then UP through the cave. Lots of stairs. This cave was somewhat developed whereas the balconies cave was natural. By developed I mean stairs and handrails. It was necessary though, because you were going up and quickly. It was neat to see. About 5 minutes past the cave, we saw the reservoir which was unexpected. It was so dry everywhere and then suddenly, this beautiful water. A perfect place to take a short break. We finished our hike, ate lunch, and headed home.

All in all, it was beautiful.

But I have to briefly vent about our horrible neighbors. Bill summed it up best when he said they made an awful lot of noise for two people. Things did not start well when they pulled up at 11pm ( we were snug as bugs in our sleeping bags) and started talking at full volume. So that we could hear every word of their conversation. Including when they talked about their cup sizes and why one sleeps in her bra… And then they turned on their radio. This is the Cliffs Notes version and may not seem that bad, but if Bill thought they were obnoxious, they were obnoxious. Bill had no problem asking them to turn the radio off because it was quiet hours. I do admit that radios in nature is my pet peeve. I hate it at the beach, I hate it while camping. When I’m in the outdoors, I want to enjoy the outdoors. Hearing the trees rustle in the wind. Hearing murmurs of conversations and occasionally bursts or noise either from laughter or kids having fun. To me, those are the sounds of camping. First thing in the morning, they had their radio on but we left for our hike. When we came back to our campsite after hiking all day to hear their radio blaring, I was really unhappy. I mean Really Unhappy. So unhappy that we came very close to going home. But maybe they heard that we were back and out of consideration they turned the radio down and it was tolerable enough. And they turned it off around 9 so I was very happy. And they learned volume control for their voices. Maybe I’m overreacting with the radio thing, but it’s how I feel.

I figured out why I don’t like camping and it’s because so much of it is out of my control. Bugs. Inconsiderate people. It’s a lot of work for an unknown result. But maybe that’s also why it’s worth it. Because even with all the potential for problems, it can be really really great.

So I have to vent about an article that I read last week which really bothered me: “Surgeon General’s Heft a Weighty Issue”. I’m frustrated by the insinuation that if she were thin she would automatically be considered healthy. There are plenty of slender people out there who are not in good health, either because they have jeopardized their health to be thin (anorexia or bulimia) or because they are blessed with good genes that compensate for poor food choices and little exercise. To me it should be about living a healthy lifestyle and how she can help our country attain that goal. How she can teach people with limited incomes to incorporate fruits and vegetables in their meals? How to teach busy families how to incorporate exercise into their daily routines. We aren’t all in situations where are meals are prepared for us by a top-notch chef, with live-in help, and a gym on premises (Mrs. Obama). Even people with such services still struggle with their weight (Oprah). I understand that Mrs. Obama does make sacrifices to fit exercise into her daily schedule, but perhaps that’s possible because she doesn’t have to cook dinner or because she has help with her kids.

My other problem with the article is that we don’t know why the Surgeon General is overweight (and I’m not saying she is). I think most people assume being overweight a result of laziness or too much McDonalds. Could it possibly be from a medication or a health condition? Regardless, it’s none of our business.

Now I’m not saying “yay, let’s all be overweight” but I am saying let’s not judge this woman on her appearance. Let’s look at her qualifications and how she can can help America, and possibly herself, with the fight against expanding waistlines.

One of the ways that I am trying to live a healthy lifestyle is to eat more fruit and vegetables. One of my favorite snacks is fresh berries with about 7 or 8 crumbled up walnuts (for those health fats and Omega-3s) with a service of low-fat vanilla yogurt. It’s fresh, sweet, and it has a little bit of crunch. For me, this is a mid-morning snack because it doesn’t stay with me for very long. I think that substituting cottage cheese for the yogurt would give it more staying power as cottage cheese has almost 3 times the amount of protein than the yogurt and in a smaller serving size.

My other favorite snack is fruit smoothies. Living in California I am getting quite spoiled by all the locally grown produce, especially the fruit. We belong to a CSA and in addition, we go to the farmer’s market on the weekends. If I’m concerned that I’m not going to get to the fruit before it goes bad, I cut it up and put it on a cookies sheet and freeze it. After an hour, I remove it from the cookie sheet and put it in a ziploc bag. This way, I have individual pieces of frozen fruit instead of a frozen ball of fruit. When I’m ready for a smoothie, I mix together my frozen/and or fresh fruit (about 3 cups worth) with some yogurt (about a cup) and some milk or juice (about 1/2 to 1 cup, or however much you need to get the mixture to start to blend). If I am using all fresh fruit, I throw in about 6 ice cubes to cool things off. If it needs to be sweetened, I add in some honey. This makes two medium to large smoothies.

And now, for putting up with my rant, I will share my secret with you. To give your smoothie an extra nutrient bang, throw in a handful of fresh spinach leaves. You will not taste it. Will Not. You may see little green flecks in your smoothie but You Will Not Taste It. And/Or, add in some shredded carrot. The carrot is another great way to sweeten your smoothie. But the spinach is my big secret. Try it. Tell me what you think.

Edited to add: The spinach and carrot was something I read in Fitness magazine a few months ago. I don’t normally just throw random veggies in my fruit smoothies. Also, I’m a pretty picky eater so it was a Big Deal for me to try this. I’m glad I did!

After almost four months in California, I’m still getting used to Pacific Daylight Time. Today for example, I was watching the Cubs game which started at 10:30am. I was puttering around the house, picking up, not really getting much done. So by the 8th inning, I’m thinking it’s probably around 3pm and I’ve wasted the day. But really, it was going on 1. Two extra hours!

Plenty of time for a short bike ride. I don’t really like riding during the hottest part of the day, but the tradeoff was that it wasn’t very crowded. We’ve been watching the Tour de France so we had fun making all kinds of tour references. And I did my best Lance Armstrong impersonation, riding low to minimize wind resistance. Of course I could only see about three feet in front of me so I need to work on that position.

And for all my activity, I am rewarded with two numb fingers on my left hand. It must have something to do with my wrist position. Something else for me to work on. It made knitting a little interesting this afternoon. Doable, but interesting.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you can still feel all your fingers!

Bill and I drove down to Santa Cruz today for some quality beach time. I’ve been craving some time by the water. I could go by myself during the week, but this week did get kinda busy. And then today I contemplated staying home today and doing miscellaneous chores, but in the end we packed our bags for the beach.

We opted for the undeveloped beach a little further south of downtown Santa Cruz. It was uncrowded and pretty quiet. Very peaceful. And windy. And a wee bit chilly. Our first clue should have been all the people we saw in hoodies. It was partly cloudy and very pleasant and comfortable when the sun was out, and a little cooler when it wasn’t. We enjoyed two hours outside, listening to the waves and reading our books. It was very beautiful though, especially the little stream I photographed.

It was quite relaxing and next time will be better…because I will bring a sweatshirt!

What a Monday. I woke up late (9:45) and it really threw off my schedule. I putzed around for an hour, delaying my walk. In my head there was a voice going “skiiiiiiiiippppppppppppp” which dates back to my college days and a friend Owen who used to do that on beautiful sunny days that were begging to be spent on College Green or playing frisbee golf instead of going to class. My walk is about the only real expectation I have of myself, the one thing I feel I need to accomplish in a day. I was not motivated in the least but I forced myself to do it and I felt better for it. Once I get started, I do really enjoy it. Look at the sunflowers that I happened past. The big one in the middle was at least 14 inches in diameter. At least. And it was about 3 feet over my head so it was really hard to judge how big it truly was. I heart sunflowers. They make me smile. My reward for not skipping.

The rest of the afternoon was not as pleasant. I cleaned (yuck), had a surprise dishwasher delivery which didn’t actually get installed as there was a problem with the hose and the dishwasher was broken in the box. But the old one had already been taken out so now I am left with an ugly hole in the kitchen and a mess because they took everything out from under the sink but didn’t put it back. We will try again on Friday. I took a little break for lunch and to talk to my mom and then I had to shower and get dressed to meet Bill.

After agonizing for about 45 minutes over what to wear (more a temperature issue than a stylistic one), I left the house and was relatively on time to Bill’s office. Thankfully I had some time before dinner because I wanted/needed to post some stuff on etsy and I was able to get that done. Then we had dinner at one of the Google cafes and then it was on to Coldplay!!!!!!

I heart Coldplay. I really do. This is my second time seeing them on the Viva la Vida tour and they do not disappoint. I love the music, I love them. Chris Martin is funny, engages the audience, is so totally British… What’s not to love? And one of the guitar players reminds me of a guy from the Tudors. They covered Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean and it was so good and so totally Coldplay. You can see it here, though it’s from a different concert. Really, a great evening.

And now it’s time for bed. Because I have to get up and walk in the morning.

When I worked my day job, I would dream of all the things I could accomplish if I didn’t have said day job. I would have time for my etsy shop, time to sew myself a new wardrobe, time to knit my stash, time to finish my needlepoint Christmas stocking (and the hundred other canvases I own), time to read through the unbelievably large pile of books in my queue. And for now, I don’t have that day job, and what have I accomplished?

I don’t really feel that I’ve frittered away my days. I think that I have been keeping myself pretty busy. But not as productive as I could be. I find that when I have a lot going on and my days are more structured, I’m better at managing my time. And these days, there hasn’t been a lot of structure (which, truth be told, has been a treat). I just don’t want to look back and wish I had used my time better and gotten more done. Especially when it comes to my etsy shop. I’ve made an investment in materials and I have the ideas. And I have the time. Now I need the motivation.

On Friday, I started some lavender scented sachets for my shop. I was inspired by fresh lavender at my farmers market. I bought some and dried it and it smells divine. I also had an idea to scent some rice with oils and mix it with the lavender. So I got off my butt and started to put them together. I’m pleased with how they turned out. I will be posting the first batch tomorrow and I have more to sew and more lavender to dry.

I also have a bunch of items to post. Necklaces and earrings. And more things to make. I’m trying to get myself on a bit of a schedule. Have I mentioned that before? Nothing super strict, but I want to get my exercise in the morning, spend a couple of hours working on shop things, a couple of hours working on personal projects (either knitting or sewing or stitching or reading). And I do need to spend a little bit of time maintaining the house. We’ll see how it goes.

Yes, we have been regulars at the DQ the last few days. My dad is visiting and he likes ice cream. Thankfully, we have a DQ near the house, just like we did in Maryland. Actually, I’m not sure if it is actually a good thing. But they have a special menu with 2 items for $3 or 3 for $4 or 4 for $5. We’ve been alternating between the small dip cones (3 for $4) and the small sundaes at the same price! And the sundaes come with whip cream and nuts (yum!). We weren’t sure those extras were included in the special price so it was a nice surprise. Anyway, we have been regulars at the DQ for dessert.

In case you were worried about our extra calorie consumption, we have been working off some of those calories. We hiked the Lands End trail in San Francisco which was beautiful. We saw some dolphins frolicking in the ocean and a seal just hanging out in the water. We walked along the cliffs in Santa Cruz and saw another seal looking for a warm dry spot in the sand. Cute little guy. And we also watched the surfers for a bit. Today we took a tour of Stanford’s campus which is beautiful. And there’s also been time to explore the neighborhood and play catch at the park.

Playing catch is my quintessential dad activity. Growing up we used to play in the street, with gloves and a baseball. No sissy softball or tennis balls here. I have vague memories of my dad oiling my glove and getting it ready in his workroom. I still have that glove too. Anyway, my aim is still as good as it was (which wasn’t very good) and I need more practice because I’m throwing too many rainbows and my release point is very inconsistent. But it’s been fun and dad is patient.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! We grilled out with Bill’s steakhouse dinner - tri tip steak, creamed spinach, baked potatoes and grilled green peppers and onions on skewers (because we have a ton of green peppers from the garden). It was very good! We saw some fireworks and boy was it chilly! I could have used my mittens. I was in jeans and a fleece and I wished I had grabbed a warmer jacket.

I’ve also had some time to knit. I started my Mara shawl and it’s moving along quickly! It’s an easy knit and a super-cute shawl.

All in all, I’m having a great visit with my dad and life is good!

This is the first garment I’ve made in a long time. It’s a summer blouse pattern from Simplicity. This is my second time making the shirt and as a result, I made some adjustments to the pattern. The changes included making the sleeves less full and only gathering the front and back of the neckline; the original pattern called for gathering the whole neckline. The last think I changed is how the neckline was done; I really couldn’t understand the instructions and I had my own way of doing it. The fabric I used is *perfect* for this pattern - it’s from Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern line. It’s a subtle light pink on beige pattern so hard to see it in the photo (click for a larger view). I can usually find something I would do better, but I’m pretty darn pleased with the final result.

I’m diligently working on my circular shawl, except when it’s too hot to have a pile of silk and wool on my lap. It was 97 this weekend so I did pull out my sock for a bit. I felt like knitting but I couldn’t tolerate the shawl. Now that it’s cooled off, I’m focused on the shawl. I only have 5 repeats of the cable edge left and then I can bind off. I’m hoping to have it done in the next couple of days. Yay! This will be my first project where size matters so I’m really hoping I did the math and have my gauge right. I cannot tell you how bummed I will be if this doesn’t fit right.

I hope everyone has fun plans for the 4th!! Can you believe it’s July already???