Thanks to.....Wednesday Jan 3rd

I had a great day today. I got a good night's sleep last night and I felt really good today.

I am thankful for......

• a great, productive day at work
• Finally, I got back into the gym tonight to work out. That was fantastic
• a quiet night at home
• cable, I am watching Top Chef for the first time and am now hooked
  
• for Moe, who sits next to me purring as I write this
  

Project 365 Day 3

Here is my picture for today:


Random I know. It's a little LED star thingy that. I think the thingy is kinda cool.

As you were.

Thanks to....Tuesday Jan 2nd

What I am grateful for today

• Work was relatively stress free. I was a bit concerned today would be crazy, but it was completely manageable.
• We finally got the Christmas tree down and the decorations put away.
• That I have the flexibility to work from home when needed.
• I had hives and they are clearing up, that's something to be grateful for.
• For the fairly mild winter weather we have had here in MN lately.
  

Project 365 Day 2

Here is my pic from today:


This morning I was running a bit behind for work. I finally was able to get out the door and tried to leave. Tried is the key operative in that sentence. My car was frozen shut. I have one place to unlock my car and that lock was frozen. Hence, I had to head back inside and work from home until it got warm enough for me to get into my car.

Here is my working from home spot. It's cozy and there usually is a cat that sits behind my head. Today it was Murphy.

Sorry the shot is so fuzzy, I had my morning cup of coffee and for the life of me I couldn't steady my hand.

Thanks to.....Monday, Jan 1

I am pretty tired this evening, but overall a great day. Here is my daily 5.

• A great conversation and a couple of drinks with old friends.
• A fab sig other.
  
• A great home.
• The sunny day today. It snowed in Mpls last night and with the new snowfall and the sun, it was a georgeous day.
• 3 great cats.
  

Project 365 Day 1

This is Duff, my adopted child. One of the coolest cats I know. Duff (or the D) is DJ's cat and I love having him around. He's big, he's got personality and he's a great cuddler.

I gotta say that I missed an opportunity today for this. Every New Year's Day, a group of friends that I know gets together for drinks/food. This year the group of 15 dwindled to 4. We still had a great time and good conversation. I wish I would have taken a picture there. I brought my camera and everything, I just didn't pull it out. That will take some time, getting used to taking pictures. I rarely take photos. This is part of the reason I am doing this, to "force" me to take more pictures.

The Restaurant Tour

Related to one of my new years resolutions, I decided that I should try one new restaurant a month (or at least a place I haven't been to in years). I asked DJ to accompany me and he agreed. Here are the places I haven't been and am interested in trying. Please let me know if you know of any other Mpls area restaurants we shoud check out.

• Town Talk Diner
• Babalou
• Falafel King
• It's Greek to me
• Temple
• Chambers Kitchen
• Mill City Cafe
• 112 Eatery
• Pizza Nea
• Red Savoy Pizza - Visited Friday Feb 23d
  
• Oceanaire
• WA Frost
• Taqueria La Hacienda #2
• Chen Heng Restaurant
• Masa
• La Belle Vie
• Cosmos
• Vincent
• Mortons
• Amore Victoria Restaurant
• Saji Ya- visited Sunday January 25th
  
• Nami
• Luci Ancora
• Ruam Mit Thai
• St. Paul Grill
• Mama Maria's in Hudson, WI
• El Nortino

New Year, New Post

Hi All!

Yes, it's a New Year! I am posting. Unbelievable isn't it.

Anyway, I have been doing some thinking about 2007 and goals that I would like to accomplish. One of them has to do with actually posting in this blog, so hopefully you will be seeing more posts from me in the year to come.

Here are some resolutions/things to strive for in 2007

• Back to the Blog- I am going to try and do the 365 day project. If you are a blog reader I am sure you have heard about it. The goal is simple. 1 picture a day for the entire year. Keep in mind I am no photographer, but it still sounds fun. DJ is going to do it also so we may need to get a new camera. We have a Canon SD300 (I think) that works great and DJ had a very nice Nikon D50 (which is too much for me to operate at times). DJ also gifted me one of his old Sony cameras last year, which I could use for while, so I don't take his trusty Canon from him.

• Back to the Blog (again)- I also am going to journal 5 things at the end of the day that I am grateful for. I used to do that and I found that it helped my outlook. 2006 brought a lot of things to celebrate and I am sure that 2007 will be the same.

• Get back into exercising- Dec I rarely worked out. 1 time per week (perhaps). Like the rest of the world, I need to get back on the wagon. I have 1 month until our trip to Belize and I do not want to be on a beach unless I feel good. Working out helps that. If I loose a couple of lbs that would also be good, but the goal here is to change the behavior.

• Eat when I am hungry- No more mindless munching for me. I need to get back to listening when my body is hungry.

• The Restaurant Tour- I asked DJ if he wanted to try 1 new restaurant per month. He agreed. We haven't been going out to eat all that much, since we are trying to save cash, but 1 time per month shouldn't be too daunting. I'll post a list separately and update as we cross them off. If you are in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area please list places you like.

• Get back to saving money- It's simple. I need to stop the bleeding from my checkbook. The goal is to put $250 per month away.

• Pay Down Debt- I need to get rid of my credit card debt. Goal is to get my debt down by 25% by Jan 2008. That is an aggressive goal, but it's doable. Just quit using it, move the balance to a lower interest card or ask for a lower interest rate, and pay as much as I can per month to it.

• The move- The big plan for the year is for DJ and I to move to LA. DJ moved here to be with me, but the time has come for us to leave. It will be sad to leave loved ones behind, but I am ready for the change. I've lived in Minnesota all my life. The winters are hard on us, so we are off to sunnier places. The plan we currently have it so put the condo on the market in the spring and go from there. Hopefully it will sell so we can be down there by summer. The only thing I have to research is capitol gains. If I have to wait for 2 years then we can't sell until the end of June. DJ has a couple of job options and I am pretty sure I can work my job from LA. I just need to seal that deal with my boss. I will post more as the move approaches.

• The de-cluttering- Associated with the move- I need to get rid of crap. It's that simple. I have gotten rid of some stuff, but I still have a ton. Goal is to start packing up boxes to donate and have a huge sale when we move.

• Learning- Goal is to take 1 to 2 classes per quarter, in whatever I am interested in. This would fall under the following categories- Sewing, Cooking, Language and anything else I can think of. Heck, I could perhaps even take a digital photography class to help me in my 365 day project. I have a good start on this one. I am registered for this class in a couple of weeks. Should be fun!

I know it is a pretty hefty list, but one should aim high, right? I'll be sure to post more as 2007 passes.

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous 2007!

I am a crafty biatch

Hey there, I know it's been a very very long time since I've blogged. I really haven't been into doing the blog thing lately.

In recent news I took a sewing class this evening. About a year ago, I bought a sewing machine at a garage sale. It was an old Kenmore for about $30. The problem is I had no clue how to use it. I finally got around to taking a beginners class at Crafty Planet today and made this..


That is a knitting needle holder. It came in pretty handy. Behold the inside.


It holds most of my knitting stuff very nicely. Prior to making this, I had all my needles shoved in a bag. This works much better.

It also has a cute ribbon.


I had a ton of fun with sewing. It took the instructor some time to get my old Kenmore running, so I used one of the classroom models. It worked great. I thought that sewing was pretty relaxing. I am planning on taking another class in December to make a pair of PJ bottoms. Should be fun.

Finished Project

DJ, you said it would never happen, it would never materialize. Well lookie at this:
Believe it or not I actually finished one of my sweaters. This went on the needles last winter. The pieces sat forever, not finished, simply because I am too lazy to seam them together. I finally did it this last week and finished up the neck.

Not bad, huh. Here is the back:

The pattern is old Rowan (I really miss that Kim Hargreaves isn't designing for them anymore). It is Martha from the Cork Collection. Yarn is Rowan Cork that I bought on E-bay for a song.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It is comfy and warm.

Now, perhaps I can actually get to some real knitting. I just need to decide what to pull out of my stash for the next project.

It's starting to get cold here in the Tundra so it is time to settle in and knit.

Salad Toss?

Ok, first of all, my job is seriously like an episode of "The Office".

My job is implementation/project management/sales service. This week happened to be National Customer Service Week. Telecom Giant Inc made a big deal with sending out posters and giving us these cheesy t-shirts to wear. Wed local management has a lunch for us customer service folks. Hey it's a free lunch.

Two co-workers and I head up around noon, hungry, ready to see what is for lunch. We walk into the conference room and look at the goods.

Our "appreciation lunch" consisted of the following:

• A bowl of lettuce, mostly iceberg, with a few pieces of romaine
• A small bowl of dressing packets
• A side plate of some cut meats and cheeses.
• Some deserts you could tell that were purchased at Costco. My co-worker said the chocolate cake thingy tasted like freezer burn.

We saw this and looked around, assuming there were sandwiches that went with the salad. There wasn't.

Delightful.

We ate our salads while we listened to our director had a recognition call. She sounded like the fake cheerleader.

Yeah.

The best part I was in my cube later and we were joking about the lunch. A sales guy that sits right next to me asked if we had tossed salads.

My response back. "They didn't even toss our salads, We had to toss our own salads"

Mouth open insert foot. It was pretty funny though (assuming you get the other meaning)

I am still here

No, I have not died or fallen off the face of the earth. Life happens, I've been busy. Below is the abridged version of what's been up with me.

• Work has been crazy busy. I am working on a project that is killing me. This too will pass.
• I started a pottery class a couple of weeks ago. It's fun. I still haven't made something that is fit for firing but I am learning. Throwing clay is a lot more difficult than I initially thought it would be, but I am slowly starting to get it. Hopefully I will be able to produce something over the course of the 10 week class.
• It is fall here. Fall (the whole 2 weeks of it) is my favorite season. I took a walk around lake Calhoun yesterday. It was stunning. The colors are peaking around the lake. There was even a bald eagle in a tree along the eastern edge. Very cool.
• I still have been working out. I took a cardio training class on Wed and today is the first day that my legs aren't sore. Walking (especially down stairs) was very difficult on Thursday and Friday. That class kicked my ass, which is a good thing.
• I lost 5 lbs without really even trying. It has to be going to the Firm for classes.
  
• DJ is out of town this weekend. I stayed in on Friday, caught up on my magazines, drank wine, watched the Twins loose and talked to T in NYC for 2 hours. Pure delight.
  
• We went to the Summit Big Brew yesterday. When we first got there at 6pm the line for beer was very, very, very long. The wait was over an hour. This was a Bad Thing. Thank god they figured it out and pulled up another beer truck. Saw Cake play, they rock.
• I say really stupid things when I drink. Ask E.
• It was a year ago today that I met DJ. What a year can do to one's life.
  

Now you are all caught up on what's up with me. It's sunny and supposed to be 80 here today. I need to go out and enjoy it.

Corporate Rant

Please note I've had a horribly rough day. This and the fact that things have been festering with me about my job lately. This may sound very bitter, if it is, that's my current truth and where I am at.

I work for a Fortune 500 company. The current rank (according to CNN Money) is 18. Do the math, figure it out, but I am sure it doesn't vary from any other stockholder driven American corporation today.

As an employee that interfaces with current mid to large level corporations for said company, I am not sure what the actual focus is. We, as employees, have heard a lot about continuing to support our customers throughout the current changes we are going through. They say the commitment is customer's first. Great, I am all in. I am all for the customer and doing what is right for them, but at times you feel like you spin you wheels. You can't do anything. It seems to me, that certain corporate cultures doesn't empower employees to do what is best for the customer. Here is some thoughts that I have had swimming in my head.

• Empowerment- In order for your employee base to do what is best for the customer and put them first, they need the access and the tools to get things done. It seems that the more segmented that departments are, the less that gets done. It destroys teamwork. Operational departments that are there to serve the customer have matrices that are intended to better procedures, but it shifts the focus from doing what is right to what will better serve the results that are shown. In my humble opinion the right decision isn't a hard and fast rule, most of the time this is ultimately is a judgement call that is made by an employee. It's a HUMAN decision.
• I understand that the bottom line is important to you large corporate types. Stockholders rule. I get it. But for God's sakes quit saying you are a customer focused company when you keep laying off people. This is beyond "trimming the fat". This is contributing to a negative morale and corporate culture. Everyone that I have worked with lately, is running rapid. This makes people feel overwhelmed. When people feel overwhelmed they tend to become defensive. "It's not my problem". Give us the appropriate resources if you truly think the "Customer comes first". A lot of these people are great but overwhelmed. Any overwhelmed person can not make a healthy contribution to an environment. This distracts from a teamwork environment and makes it a "I'm too busy, it's someone elses problem" world.

OK, really only 2 long drawn out points, but this is the thing. I can't contribute when I am spinning my wheels. I can't promise to deliver when I know my support groups are overwhelmed and are going to criticize what what the customer may have done wrong, versus doing what it takes to fix the situation. This isn't their fault, they are simply too overwhelmed and as I stated above when folks are overwhelmed it leads to them becoming defensive.

Argh. I have used this blog to now vent. If you don't want to read my random ramblings that's fine, I get it. I just had to put it out there. It probably doesn't even make sense, but hey. I believe there is probably a total of 5 people that read this blog, so it won't much matter anyway.

I need either a severe attitude adjustment or a change. I'll let you know what I decide what direction I decide to take.

mmmm....Alpacas

As you can tell from DJ's post. We made it out to the Great Minnesota Get Together on Saturday. Besides eating approximately 10 thousand calories (and 50 bazillion points, this place is NOT points friendly) we were able to see some cute animals.

Meet my favorite:

I first came in touch (literally) with the Alpaca when I got into knitting. They produce a very soft fiber, as soft as cashmere (if not softer). I fell in love with the yarn first. Here is the yarn that I purchased from the farm that had these guys at the fair.


After seeing them on Saturday I did some research and decided that I want to buy an Alpaca. Here is some fun facts that I got from the web while digesting all my deep fried goodness on Sat night:

• Alpacas are gentile, docile and good around children
• They harvest fiber which is sheared once a year (generally in the springtime). The fiber they produce each year can produce 7-8 sweaters.
• Alpacas come in a myriad of natural colors: pure white, the most delicate fawns through to grey tones, from the lightest silver to a warm rose grey, and a true jet black. There are 22 recognized alpaca colors but the fleece also has the additional advantage of being readily dyed.
• Because alpacas and their ancestors are specially suited to the harsh environment of their Andean homeland, alpacas are generally healthy, easy to care for and remarkably disease free.
• Alpacas are very intelligent and easy to train. In just a few repetitions they will pick up and retain many behaviors such as accepting a halter, being led, lifting a foot for toe-nail trimming and loading in or out of a vehicle.
• Alpacas are used for breeding stock, fiber production, companion animals and pet therapy.
• They require less room than other livestock. (3 to 10 alpacas per acre depending on where you live).
• It has been shown that just watching them will lower your blood pressure.
  

There is also some investment facts out there. That got me thinking....raising Alpacas would be cool. But I love the city and want to live there...hmm... I did more reading and found out that you can board them!

Heck, even if I bought one (I saw a few for sale for about 3-5 grand). I could use the roving to make my own yarn. I've been wanting to learn to spin yarn anyway. I bought the yarn listed above for $45 for 200 yards. The price for the yarn is pretty hefty.

I have decided. Someday (not tomorrow, but someday) I want an Alpaca. Who wouldn't want one of these adorable creatures.

A Funny

I was talking to my good friend this evening. He tells me he had a "scary dream" . I asked what it was and he tells me.

"I had a dream you lost your job"

"Wow, that would be awesome"

He laughed and said "Yeah, that's how you are in the dream. I was freaking out for you and you just said you could go back to waitressing"

I don' t know why, but I got a kick out of it.

Perhaps it is a sign.

Stuck

I know that the label of my blog indicates I am a knitting and caffeine addict. The caffeine addiction is still there, but I have been on the wagon with the knitting.

This is not voluntary . I really want to knit again. I just haven't been able too. I haven't knit since February. I haven't been to a yarn store in months. My Vogue and Rowan knitting magazine subscriptions have lapsed. I no longer know the new Rowan yarns. This saddens me.

I honestly think I am "stuck". I have 2 unfinished projects. The culprits are Martha from Rowan Cork Collection and Mary from the Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora Collection. the knitting portion is done. I just have to sew the pieces together. This is my least favorite thing about knitting. For whatever reason I can't get myself to do it. So the 2 unfinished projects have sat for about 7 months. I haven't knit in that long. That is very odd for me. Granted I now have a roommate that entertains me, and I have been reading a lot more. Enough with the excuses. I really need to get those finished, so I can feel like I can really knit again.

I did manage to choke out a pair of baby booties for a friend who is having a baby. But that is less than a 2 hour project. I need to up the ante on knitting. My yarn stash is taunting me.

Below is one of the 2 booties. The other one is with the future mother. This one needs to get to her. Don't ask...

Pattern from Knitting Pretty.

I think I will need to suck it up and get my seaming needle ready this weekend.

I heart the Farmers Market

I can't say any more. I absolutely love the farmers market. You can not get a better deal on flowers, meats and produce and it's top notch. That, my friends, is what the summer is for.

Unfortunately I have only been once before this past weekend. A shame I know, but being out of town a majority of weekends has it's drawbacks.

I woke up late Saturday morning, glanced over at the clock and thought "there's time! I can go!" I woke at approximately 11:30am and was out the door at 11:50. There was no time to be wasted, the market closed at 1. I also needed to get cash, so I raced out of the house, ready to roll.

After stopping at a gas station for cash and driving around for about 10 minutes looking for parking I was there at about noon. I had a whole hour of shopping pleasure.

I wasted no time. I grabbed my bag to carry the soon to be purchased goods and raced down the block to my destination. Aha! People! Plants! Strollers (although I am annoyed by their blocking presence)!. Here at last.

After zig-zaging row by row. I left with my goods in tow. This was approximately 55 minutes later. It didn't take long to load up on the following:



1 whole pineapple
2 fillets sushi grade fresh tuna
1 lb frozen free range ground turkey breast
1 bunch flowers
Approximately 1 lb of fresh blueberries
1 container strawberries
1 large bunch bananas
approx 6 large tomatoes
4 links gourmet chicken sausage (and mighty tasty I might add)
1 bunch fresh asparagus
6 ears sweet corn (for 2 dollars!)
3 cucumbers
3 green peppers
3 red peppers
12 fresh from the farm eggs.

Jackpot! I did go a bit nuts, but it was FUN! We enjoyed some of the goods Saturday evening. We had the tuna seared, mine with a bit of wasabi. The asparagus was sauteed with the red peppers. Toss in a bit of garlic and balsamic and it was a damn tasty side dish.

We also, will have a ton of fruits and veggies to put away this week, but that is a good thing..... right?

I can't enjoy the market again until memorial weekend. I am thinking of buying a bushel of tomatoes for $10 (so CHEAP!), so I can try to make a tasty pasta sauce for winter.

You can't beat the Minneapolis Farmer's Market.

Phew....

For those of you who don't know, I quit my health club late last spring. I was getting sick of the environment and needed a change. I figured I would take the summer off and run (or walk) outside to get exercise.

When I was in New York over Memorial Day my friend Kim and I talked about heading to the Firm together. I was excited. The Firm is a GREAT club. Fantastic, upbeat classes that completely kick your ass. They also have been rated as one of the best gyms by Glamour and Self. That tells you something. I went there regularly a number of years ago, took kickboxing, yoga and other classes there. I also shared a personal trainer with T and got into pretty decent shape.

Kim had wanted to go back (since she used to go also) and I did too. This is the thing. We didn't want to go alone. I am telling you the place used to have this kind of intimidation factor. It's urban, raw and sweaty. There is loud music pulsating throughout the warehouse space it is located in. That and the fact that I remembered everyone running around with half-clothed perfect bodies. We decided to go again together. This way we could force each other to go and get back into the swing of things.

We first went about 2 weeks ago. The place has changed a bit, but it still holds the high energy feel and pulse that it used to have. They also purchased the gym upstairs so they now has an open gym (this was not a thing they used to have, it was all classes..gym was personal training only). The perfect bodies are still there, but the clientele has normalized out a bit. Overall a good thing.

We took a kickboxing class and it was great. I was sore for 2 days afterwards. I can tell that this is the beginning of a good, good thing.

We headed over there tonight for a cardio circuit class. This class was packed. It ends up that the instructor, this high energy guy, used to live next to Kim. He comes over chats us up for a bit and tells us that there are ear plugs available if we need them. I tell you they play the music that loud. It's great.

LOVED the class. I not only got a great workout, but I had a fantastic time. There is something about the vibe of the place, the music pulsating and people crammed into a room sweating their asses off that is fun. Perhaps it is a sexual thing..who knows..who cares. It was FABULOUS!

I've decided....the Firm is my new gym now. Once summer slows down I will be heading back there regularly.

Normal-C! Review and Very Random Ramblings

I was finally able to get the final showing of Normal-C on Sunday night. This is the show that DJ was doing slideshow stuff for and I had a free pass. I really had been wanting to go, but the late showings were too late for my in bed by 11pm ass, so the Sunday showing at 4pm was perfect.

I really liked the show. It was entertaining and it also made one think a bit. Overall a great show.

Some words on Courtney. It amazed me how much of herself she put into this. She really puts it all out there and I have an immense amount of respect for it. I met her for a total of 5 minutes prior to the show. I could immediately tell she was an open person. She really put it all out there for the show. I envy people like that, since I am not at all like that. I guess it must be the Midwestern rearing, but I am a tough nut to crack :).

She did a segment on the Female Midlife Crisis...This which occurred for her in her mid-twenties. I also found that I had a similar situation. Not necessarily a mid-life crisis of sorts, but some sort of restlessness. Society sends us strong signals to do things in an "acceptable" order. Go to college, find a nice job, find a nice mate, produce offspring, move to the suburbs and live "happily ever after". Excuse the tangent here, but I don't think that's for everyone and at this moment in my life I know it isn't for me. Hell, my twenties were a time of self-doubt and reflection. Who was I? What do I want? I was also a lot more insecure at that time. Not that it all was bad, I partied a lot and had a lot of fun during those times as well.

Now that I am in my thirties I feel a lot more settled, but I still don't feel that need to continue down the 2.5 kids and dog route. I still feel like there is so many things I want to do that are in store for me. I haven't found the job that is for me. I understand that most folks don't love their jobs, but why give up that search? I am not ready to settle into corporate America for the rest of my working days. I want to travel, I want to figure out what I am meant to do for a living and I want to experience new things. There is way to many things I haven't done yet. The older I get the more I think that kids may not be in my cards. I want to experience my partner and share things before you have to deal with the stress of bringing up a responsible human being.

Wow, what a tangent....Excuse the roundabout random ramblings...But hey....

Life IS about the journey, n'est pas?

Minnesota Summers

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Things have been busy here in the former Tundra, since it is now summertime.

Minnesotans do a funny thing during the summer. We cram a year's of activities into the months of June-Sept. That is 52 weeks of activity into 12 fun-filled weekends. With what you may ask. That's a difficult question. In my younger days it used to be weddings. Now it seems everyone is hitched, so that changes the focus a bit. We have been heading up nort' a lot lately to various cabins. Us midwesterners love our cabins and going up nort' as outlined in DJ's previous post. Actually, the more I think about it, we are a lot like birds who migrate. We head south for the winter (snow bird snydrome) and we migrate north for the summer (even if it is only for the weekends). Cabins are great and fun and all, but after a while you crave a weekend at home.

And, that, is exactly what we did last weekend. Relief at last..

Friday was a fun filled time for Ms. Jackson's birthday at the Herk. After a few APPS, drinks and coversation, we headed next door to the VFW. Yes, that is the VFW. Now, you would expect to sit in a VFW when you are a ho-dunk town for a cabin weekend, but there we were in Uptown Minneapolis, at the VFW.

I may have been a bit skeptical at first, but it ended up being great fun. They have karaoke at the VFW on Fridays and it was a good crowd. That and the fact that our waiter didn't have any teeth made the place pretty entertaining.

You can see video of the extravaganza here. Ms. J pulled out all the stops for the karaoke, which she loves. I did have a bit too much fun though. Thank God that DJ forced me to drink to huge glasses of water and take some advil. I would have had a killer headache the next morning if I had not have done that.

For more fun...pics from the evening are here.

The rest of the weekend was quiet. We headed to the Uptown Art Fair on Saturday and hung around the house. I didn't move from home on Sunday and finshed my book. The book was fab. I'll post more about that later.