Self-compassion is a vitamin that feeds me constantly.

February 18, 2008

Self-compassion is a vitamin that feeds me constantly.

Had a nice and relaxing weekend and got quite a bit done at the house. I'm having a dinner party next weekend for a dear friend who is moving to VA next month with her dear hubby. They had plans to retire out east and they found this fabulous house and so it's all happening very fast, but my dear Sandy will be far away. But now I have another reason to visit the east or south (to me it's the east coast, but it's also called the south, I'm confused) which I've never been to. I've only been to Florida for one night to board a cruise where we went to the Caribbean.

Mamacita and I met Friday night for a drink at a hotel where she sometimes meets a group of older widowed women. She hadn't been to join them for awhile and maybe they found another place because nobody else showed. So we finished our glass of cabernet and then drove to a bbq place to have some dinner. We had a really good dinner, I had a chopped salad with portabello mushroom and Mamacita had the baby back ribs, we shared and it was yummy. Gary did not come home this weekend so we had a little more free time.

Yesterday we went to the beach and did some shopping on the main street of Belmont Shore. A nice little community where there are really cute shops, some artsy places, gift shops, a shoe store that the owners have had for 60 years. The weather was perfect, sunny, with a cool breeze. Then we drove down to Seal Beach and had a late lunch at Walt's Wharf which has really good seafood. We both had the clam chowder and Walt's Special Salad which was yummy. They have fabulous sourdough bread too. It was also a martini lunch as we were celebrating what would have been my Father's birthday! Mamacita had a Mango Martini and I had a Fig & Pomegranite Martini, Yum!

Here is my finished Fair Rosamund Tam. I loved knitting this, doing Fair Isle or colorwork is very satisfying and a nice break after doing socks. I cannot wait to start the cardigan that goes with this, but I'm reluctant to start because I want to get some more socks done. But now I feel a little more comfortable knitting Fair Isle and so I'm not intimidated to do a whole cardigan. Here is a link to the designers page of patterns for Twisted Traditions. I love her patterns and she's nice too.

Lipstick worn today: Chanel Rouge Allure in Attitude ~ a favorite color of mine.

Perfume worn today: Angel by Thierry Mueller ~ it was a tester I have and honestly, it is not my favorite. It's a little spicy and just feels off for me. I'll have to throw that one away.

I lovingly release the past. I am free.

February 15, 2008

I lovingly release the past. I am free.

There is no official Friday's Feast posting. They are having issues, not sure what the problem is, so I've decided to do my own Friday Feast and I invite you to leave me a comment with your answers.

Mitchypoo's Friday Feast

Appetizer: What is your favorite snack food?

My favorite snack food is salty chips and fattening ranch or french onion dip.

Soup: If you could travel to anywhere in the world on the spur of the moment with no limitations, where would you like to wake up tomorrow?

I'd like to wake up in Venice tomorrow morning. I would find great places to eat, take a gondola ride, visit art museums.

Salad: What is your favorite natural smell?

Lilac Blossoms

Entree: If you could change only one thing on your body, what would it be and why?

I'd get rid of any of the remaining bulging disc in my back so I wouldn't be limited in any movement.

Dessert: What is something that calms you?

Knitting!

Lipstick worn today: MAC Satin in Twig ~ a natural brown color. This is a very neutral color and goes with a lot of outfits. I'm wearing jeans and black today, so it's perfect.

New Beauty Item I'm Using Today: Azulene Eye Treatment by Earth Science.

I finished the Fair Rosamund Tam last night, here's a pic of it before I finished. Wow, I love this pattern and doing Fair Isle Knitting. Very satisfying. I'm itching to start the cardigan to go with this, but I may get some socks done first. I'll post finished pics tonight. I'm debating if I need to block it or not.

I recognize my body as a wondrous machine, and I feel privileged to live in it.

January 16, 2008

I recognize my body as a wondrous machine, and I feel privileged to live in it.

I did it!.....I bought all the yarn for the Fair Rosamund pattern! I bought the original yarn in the original colors for the sweater, tam and scarf! I'm so excited...but how am I going to get any socks knitted with this beauty on the needles? How do people whip out these projects so fast, I don't get it. And I'm a fast knitter, but there is not enough time in the day. I see other knitters, people who have kids, and jobs and real lives and in it all they whip out a whole project in like days or a week. What am I missing? And oh, where am I going to hide the 41 skeins of yarn for my dear Fair Rosamund? Any suggestions? Because my Mamacita is going to have a fit when the box is delivered and she sees it's MORE YARN??!! And then the questions will come...what about my wrap you were knitting? What about the sweater kit I bought you 2 Christmas' ago and is half finished?......HUH?.... I'll say...I'm working on it. I just put it down for awhile. I need variety.....Do you not know me? Do you not know the habits of a yarnaholic ADD knitter? (like it's her fault!) Ya, I'll blame it on her because certainly she knows how I am.....I mean, she birthed me, she created this creative knitter.

I'm still working on the Firestarter socks, although I did not do even one stitch last night. Tired and stuck watching American Idol and I need to concentrate on this pattern, so maybe tonight I'll finish one of the pair.

Have 3 projects coming up that I can't wait to tell you about....very soon my lovelies!!

(Can you tell I feel good about life?! Even my love life is better right now!)

I love experiencing every age. I rejoice in each passing year.

December 12, 2007

I love experiencing every age. I rejoice in each passing year.

I recently posted about Sinterklaas and I got to thinking about family traditions around the holidays. I had heard from my old boss that she was putting the shoes by the door for her grandkids and she would fill them with candy but I didn't know it was Sinterklaas. Now i know.

So we have 2 of our traditions for Christmas taken care of. The first is that I've ordered our tamales! I'm not sure when this started, I think it was when I worked at a place in the 80's and I did a lot of company functions and ordering of food and one of the girls had a sister who made tamales and we ordered them for work but I also ordered them for our Christmas Eve. And then the tradition became that on Christmas morning after opening our presents, we would have breakfast and it included the left over tamales. And so now, it's not Christmas morning unless we have tamales.

Last year I forgot...someone, I think it was my customer actually, asked if we had tamales for Christmas and I said....oh crap! I forgot to order them. It was like Christmas Eve eve and here is Mitchypoo running around all of East Los Angeles looking for tamales. It was no small feat. Someone told me about this place they use to go to all the time, they had great tamales, so I went there to find it was gone, it was a hair salon now....went to another place, they didn't have any more available. I kid you not, I went to about 4 places before I found somewhere, not our favorite place that had them, and so I took what I could get.

So this year, that same customer came in to make a payment last week, and she asked again, did you get tamales? Um.....no....but it's almost 3 weeks before and I had time, so I went that night after picking up Gary. I told him that we were on a tamale quest and we drove to our favorite place and I was able to order with no problem! So we have a half dozen beef with red chili and a half dozen pork with green chili and a half dozen green chili and cheese! I pick them up on the 22nd because the 23rd and 24th were booked. We in LA take our tamales seriously now, don't we!

So we'll take them and put them in a steamer pot, steam them for about 20-30 minutes and then enjoy! We'll have eggs, maybe a frittata or an egg bake, but the highlight for us is the tamales.

Our 2nd tradition is to have champagne with peaches! Mamacita already got the champagne, we just have to remember to chill it and we always have a can of sliced peaches. We get up Christmas morning, turn on the Christmas Tunes on Sirius channel on TV, turn on the lights, make a really nice pot of coffee (meaning freshly ground beans), open the bubbly, put in the peach slices........and THEN....we can open our gifts! When I was married, I carried on those traditions too and the ex loved it and it made me feel nostalgic and also a little home sick. And I usually got looped because he didn't really like champagne and I'd end up drinking the bottle because it was just us 2. So then the tradition included a serious nap after opening presents! :)

How do you like our pink tree?

Oh, my, look at the pattern I ordered! Is it gorgeous or what!?

I love this so much! I have to make it and it'll only cost about $200 for all the yarn and shipping if I buy this exact yarn which I think I want to do. That would be all the yarn for the sweater, tam and scarf! I saw this on a blog that for the life of me I cannot find and desperately want to because she made it and it is GORGEOUS. If I find it I'll post a link for you to take a look.

When I searched for a pic this came up, I think it was based on this painting. It looks like the drapery detail was incorporated into the trim design. I love this pic too. Hmmm, think I have some research to do. So next year is going to involve some fair isle knitting for me!