6am is way too early to be catching a flight…

Here’s what’s been going on, list style:

1. We’ve purchased an Xbox 360! A month or two ago, Scott entered a contest to win a copy of the game ‘Rock Band’. Lo and behold, he won! Only problem: we didn’t own the system needed to play the game, so after some discussion, we purchased the system. We’d been planning on buying the system anyway, so we had it budgeted for this year. We’ve had fun playing Rock Band both by ourselves and with friends, over our internet connection; I’m hoping to have a Rock Band party sometime soon so we can all play together under one roof.

2. A week from today, I will be in sunny Orlando, Florida for a work-related conference! I’ve never had to travel far for work, so I’m excited to be venturing somewhere for training. We fly out Sunday and return sometime Thursday afternoon; I’m looking forward to being able to relax a bit after how busy I’ve been in the office.

3. Scott and I are going to Mackinac Island for Memorial Day / our anniversary! I’ve heard neat things about Mackinac Island over the past year; it’s located around where the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan meet, and from what I’ve seen and read, it reminds me a lot of some areas of Cape Cod and the Islands (’the Islands’ being Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket). Apparently, cars aren’t allowed on the tiny island, so we’ll be doing a lot of walking and/or biking to get around! We stay from Saturday to Monday, and we leave the same week I get back from Florida, so I’m going to be a traveling fool at the end of this month.

4. I’ve started going to the gym again. We’ve started going to a different gym in the area, and so far, I’m enjoying it. I’m going mainly for strength and flexibility training; my muscles are still getting used to being used for functions other than walking from the parking lot to the office and sitting down in a chair. I’m definitely happy to be more active than I have been in the past, though I haven’t quite been able to go the three days a week I usually want to go. I’ve been managing twice a week for now, and I’m hoping to devote time for three days a week after work slows down a bit.

Oh! I also found out this weekend that I’m going to have another niece or nephew around the end of this year! My sister in law, Scott’s brother’s wife, is expecting her second child. They all came to visit this weekend; my nephew’s growing up so quickly! His second birthday’s at the end of the month; I can’t believe it’s been two years since he was born. Time’s passing so quickly.

Now, off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday afternoon. Weekends go by too fast!

Soon. I’ll update this soon.

Today’s questions come from Christina, who has lived in the same two places in Indiana as I!

1) How do you like the Bend? Do you see yourselves living there a long time or moving closer to family eventually?

Now that I’ve made friends here, I don’t mind this area. When I moved up here three years ago, I hated it! I didn’t have a job, didn’t know anybody, never went anywhere or did anything because we had no money and I had no social life. We did spend some time going out when we did happen to have extra cash, but that first year or so before I landed a full time gig, I just wanted to move back to Massachusetts!

That being said, I don’t see staying here for the rest of our lives. It’s nice now, but I never really envisioned living so far from the east coast. One day I’d like to move back to New England, but I’m not sure when we’ll do it or where we’ll end up. I miss the ocean and being so close to cities, and not getting laughed at when I call a shopping cart a ‘carriage’.

2) What are some of your favorite places in Bloomington?

I haven’t been back down to Bloomington since my friend Denise’s wedding, in July 2005! I hope some of the places we loved are still there. I loved heading to Dragon Express when I worked as a lab consultant supervisor; right after I visited the consultant in the music building and before I made the trek alll the way out to the Education building, I’d stop in for a meal of hunan chicken. Yum.

I also loved Asuka, a Japanese steakhouse that opened in… 2002, I believe. I used to like Ekamae for Japanese food before it closed, and I miss getting my alcohol at that huuuge Big Red on Walnut (or College, can’t remember which street is which now. How sad is that?)

When we’d go out, we liked going to Yogi’s and the Irish Lion, both of which I miss. I used to LOVE The Den for really cheap, really big styrofoam cups of soda to drink during my computer science classes. I also remember standing in line to buy a Radiohead album there when they still sold music! I also liked Nick’s the few times I went there, but I did NOT like Kilroy’s. Not really my kind of place.

I hope we can go back to Bloomington sometime this summer to visit our old favorite places. Neither of us have many friends down in town still, so I’m not sure what else we’d do but go out!

Anyway. Lisanne asked me a few questions, and I’m finally going to answer them.

[1] What food(s) from the northeast do you miss the most (i.e., something that you can’t necessarily find there in Indiana)?

I miss Celeste frozen pizza. It’s what I ate on the weekends when I lived with my parents and what we’d buy for easy lunches at the Cape. It’s the only frozen pizza brand I can’t find out here. I also miss Friendly’s, both the restaurant and the ice cream, which was sold in grocery stores in my area. Instead of a birthday cake, I’d request a Jubilee Roll from Friendly’s, and in the summers, we’d eat a Watermelon Roll. I haven’t had one in years.

I still insist that seafood tastes better in New England than it does here. Especially lobster. Mmm. Nothing beats fresh lobster.

[2] What’s the longest length of time you’ve ever gone without being online?

Next month marks ten years since I started using the internet. Ten! During the past ten years, I’ve had little stretches here and there where I’ve not had internet access. Most summers when I’d spend a week at the Cape with my family, I’d not go on the internet at all; if you stayed at a cottage within walking distance to the beach, would you be surfing the net instead of sitting by the water? I think not!

I also will not go online when we visit Scott’s brother in southern Indiana. They live in an area where dialup is their only internet option, plus we only see them every few months or so and would rather spend time with them instead of waiting to check email, read blogs, and so on. I’m never really bugged when I go without internet for a few days, as long as I have other things to do!

[3] Is there anything special you’d like to do this summer?

Of course! We’re actually going on a trip to Mackinac Island over Memorial Day to celebrate our three year anniversary, and we’ll be heading out to Massachusetts in July to visit my family. My mom’s planning on coming out in June sometime, and we want to do a tour of the Michigan wineries in the area. We’re planning on residing our house this summer too, and nearer to fall, we want to relandscape. So lots of things on the horizon; I’m excited!

You still have time to ask me questions! Ask me anything (well, within reason, of course), and I’ll respond.

Today I leafed through a few notebooks I kept while in high school. Starting my sophomore year of high school and continuing until I graduated, I filled a few books a year. I initially used these notebooks as a place to doodle and draw in the summers with my cousin, and later on I drew out website designs and wrote bad poetry within the covers I decorated with pictures from magazines, fruit stickers, and used bingo card sheets. I’d draw people, make lists of songs I liked and bands I was getting into at the time, and of course, I’d write poetry. Bad poetry.

I cringe when I read my old poetry. I wrote about boys, boys, boys, and how different I was from everyone else around me; typical angsy teenager fare. Still, I am embarassed. It’s funny, thinking back to my teenage years, back when I’d sit in my room for hours, listening to music, waiting for that one song to come on the radio so I could record it on one of my many mix tapes. (I still deem mix tapes superior to mix CDs and even playlists, mainly because of the love and care that went into a 120 minute tape. Everything had to fit just so; it sucked when a song would get cut off because you reached the end of the tape. But, I digress.) I’d write my poetry and keep my bedroom door closed, listening to the Beatles and thought I knew it all, man. Again, typical teenager stuff.

I am glad I did keep some sort of record of my life back then. I’ve been writing in a paper journal since the age of ten, though I didn’t start writing longer, more in depth entries until about ten years ago. (Before this, I’d write roughly once a year about my crush of the moment. Riveting, yes.) Though I didn’t write a masterpiece while sweating in my non-air-conditioned bedroom on the first floor of my parents’ house, I did keep an accurate record of my life. It’s funny, looking back at things.

Spring inspires me. I feel more awake and alive today than I did a month, two months ago. January and February are my least favorite months, and while I don’t like March much either, it’s when things start warming up a little bit, a sign of things to come. But I love April. I love flowers and leaves and hearing birds outside, taking walks around the neighborhood, driving home from work at 6:30pm, windows down, sun still shining. (Yes. Today I left work at 6:30. Not too happy about staying late, though I honestly don’t have to stay late much, so I’m not too too mad when I have to at times. But still.) I’m looking forward to traveling and being near the ocean, sitting outside and drinking beers with my husband and friends, talking and laughing and enjoying ourselves.

I just love this time of year.

to this -

all because of this -

and now I am sad. I knit these socks last summer while camping in Missouri with Scott’s family; I don’t believe the temperatures dipped below 95F so I spent the weekend in the shade or in the water, trying my hardest to stay cool.

I love this pattern. However, I knit these socks slightly too big for my small feet; I ripped both so I can knit them a bit smaller next time around. Of course, I’m totally knitting this pattern again because I love it so much. I’m hoping I love it even more with the socks fitting my feet this time around.

Of course, these won’t get knit until I finish my Jaywalkers. (On a sidenote, I’m glad I printed the pattern when I did, as Magknits has been taken down. Which is too bad.)

In other news, I’m very psyched it’s the weekend. Oh, glorious Saturday and Sunday mornings, how I covet you so.

I’ve been drawn to blues and blacks and whites recently.

Scott’s mother, our sister-in-law, and Scott’s aunt embarked on a trip across southern Indiana and northern Kentucky on Saturday for a shop hop; the three of them purchased ‘passports’ from one of the shops, then had to get the passport ’stamped’ at eight different shops in the area. Eight. I was along for the ride during round 2 of the hop, which took me to five different shops throughout the area. I was interested. I like driving around a state I had only been to twice prior; once to Louisville about five years ago, and again to help his grandfather move into his old apartment a few years ago. I love new states.

I knit. Everyone knows I knit. What everyone does not know, however, is that I quilt. A little. Scott’s mom taught me how a few years back and got me a basic sewing machine for Christmas that year, but I haven’t devoted much time to it so far. I have a few quilting books, even, and I’ve put together a few tops. She said I did a good job for not having done it before, and I had a good time figuring things out. I think I like quilting because of the mathematical parts; measuring, fitting things together, finding a way to put the pieces together. It’s like a puzzle, somewhat.

But now I want to do more quilting. I saw some patterns I liked (how could I not; I did go to five different quilt shops, each with their own assortment of quilts adorning the walls, of course I’d find a pattern or two I liked!), and I’m pretty sure I can improvise a pattern and figure out what I need to do without buying a book. It’s pretty fascinating, the art of cutting up fabric and sewing it back together in patterns. I always liked geometry and tesselations as a kid, and I do have a minor in mathematics, so it’s no surprise I’m drawn into quilting.

001.365. I hope I stick with this.

I believe I’m going to attempt the 365 project again. I tried taking a picture of myself once a day back in August and again in October, failing after about thirty days both times. This time, I hope to take pictures every day, even if I loathe the photo immensely. I want to stick with it.

I wanted to mention this in my last post, but my husband started a blog, titled Zero Comments. Please, don’t let his blog live up to its name and leave him some feedback! He’ll be writing about politics, gaming, and life in general, and he has a post now about who he’s backing in the 2008 US Presidential election and some reasons why. I’m looking forward to reading more of his posts.

I will hopefully write more about my weekend tomorrow. I spent most of my time in a car in Kentucky, knitting my sock and looking at fabric. I had a good time.