i heart procrastinating

Instead of packing, I'm blogging. SMART. We leave for a few days in NYC tomorrow and I haven't really begun to get my stuff together. Knitting? Do I bring the sweater for Owen, the baby gifts to finish... ? It might be 80 degrees over the weekend. Oh, and cleaning: must remember to hide things from the parents who are coming to check on the cat. I could color my hair (again; the Manic Panic washed out in less than 2 weeks), except that now it's really time to pack.

I was going to finish this post with some recent cooking exploits, but again, I'll put it off (or see my flickr page). Spike is showing 1000 Ways to Die (it's horrible but I can't resist the Bernie Wrightson-esque comic panels). Very Distracting.

The Apple has Landed

Today the new store opens in the Back Bay, and it's coooool. Thanks to the excellent Digsters, I was able to check it out before the masses sully its pristine glass. But I was cheated out of a first to review (oh well) on Yelp. There will be tons of photos swarming the Internets--it's the biggest store in the states and #2 worldwide. The stairs are the one of the coolest parts. Looking up...
...and looking down.

2nd blog aniversary

So I missed my own blogiversary on May 6. I'd been meaning to update the layout anyway, and needed an excuse. While I'm not exactly a fan of how much room is over on the side, the new & improved functionality of laying out in Blogger was pretty cool. There might be some more tweaking as I go along.

taking the rest of the day off

Friday I took the day off to write, knit, and explore a couple of neighborhoods. Happily, I managed to do everything!
First stop, Adams Village, to Greenhills Bakery--one of the best sources for Irish brown bread in Boston. While I didn't actually have the brown bread, I'll definietly go back. I was totally overwhelmed and hungry, to I went with the cinnamon roll. I walked around, although there's really not a lot to see. We considered living over there, and it's really quaint.
On a whim, I walked down to Lower Mills--both not too bad and no mean feat, either. It's a straight shot down Dorchester Ave. Lunch was served at Common Ground Cafe, which has a reputation for being excellent but the interiors are very woody--like a Hobbit's hole or a 70s holdover (or both). The other reason for its notoriety is that the cafe & market are run by the Twelve Tribes, an obscure Jewish sect (for lack of a better word) that's pretty hippie-ish. I sat and knitted while I had a really leisurely lunch. They were nice enough, and the food was really good. I kept walking, visiting a couple other shops. The high-speed trolley from Mattapan is back up and running, so I took that back to the Red line. Then I went home and Yelped all about it!

I'm finally tackling my first real sweater. Last weekend I went through some of my yarn stash (as the flickr shots will show), and found a fun camouflage self-stripe, so I'm working on that for Owen. Mostly, it's so I can practice increases and actually reading a pattern so I can knit my own sweater. It should be done by the fall; one sleeve is already 2/3rd of the way along.

I've also been doing a fair amount of cooking; more to come.

what a little nightshade can do

Last summer when I dyed my hair pink, I still had leftovers of the 2 almost-rans: violet & Manic Panic's Deadly Nightshade. To get out of my gray-hair funk, I went with the nightshade, since it's slightly more conservative.

I forget how the grays really pick up color and reflect it=no bleaching necessary. I love it. It's a fantastic purple-y plum color. Plus, I still have half a jar!

(Owen & I are playing with Photobooth. He especially loved the twisty effect but I vetoed it.)