Well, now I'm 30

Thanks so much to the people who called or sent birthday emails, it was lovely to know that you all were thinking of me! Sorry I wasn't there to get the phone calls though, I was on my way back up from the Redwoods.

It was a good trip, though it rained the whole way down. We took the dogs for a walk up a hill under the tall, tall trees (it was a closed gravel road, so dogs were ok) and a long walk on the beach. It was nice enough that evening to have a campfire & grill some dinner too. The next morning dawned sunny & clear, and we went to the beach again (briefly) after breakfast ("California Eggs Benedict" with avocado & tomato instead of ham really wasn't that great). Then we visited the HSU Marine Lab where we got to see assorted sea creatures in tanks, including intertidal animals in touch tanks outside. I got to show the boys an urchin's defense mechanism when it senses a sunflower star- it flattens its spines, stick out its pedicellariae, and runs away!

On the way up, Eli & I stopped at the Prehistoric Gardens, but only had enough time to take photos of the dinos you could see from the parking lot. As it is, we got home much later than anticipated, and had to rush around getting things ready for a murder mystery dinner party we were hosting that evening. But everything turned out well in the end (my tiramisu turned out perfect), and we had a lot of fun! I just wish those games allowed you to invite more people- 6 is so limited! We're going to try to write one for ourselves now.

This weekend was pretty rainy, so I had a dye-a-thon. I had bought some cheap Easter egg kits, and used those and food coloring to dye a bunch of yarn.
(please click to see whole pic- blogger doesn't play nice with picasa, even though they are both Google programs).
I used a lot of different methods, including my first time hand-painting (the orange, and another purple one that isn't pictured). Dyeing is fun! My knitting is going slowly- I really need to stop doing patterns with lace repeats in them, they take so long.

Tomorrow I'm babysitting my little friend Emily, whom I used to nanny (she's 6 now). I haven't seen her in a while, so it should be fun. I think we'll go to the yarn shop to kill some time & buy me a pair of needles to make a tank top while in Kauai. I hope I'll actually finish it in time to wear it!

I love living here

This past weekend was bloody perfect weather- sunny & in the low 70s. Our garden is loving this rain/sun pattern. We went hiking both days with the dogs, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Saturday we went out to South Slough to see all the skunk cabbage in bloom (but before they become odiously odoriferous). Here is a picture of me with the dogs along a boardwalk through the marshy areas. If you look closely, you might be able to see how gloriously sunny it is just past the edge of the trees in the open meadow.

Saturday we went hiking on an old (closed) logging road. The dogs had fun sniffing cougar scat and tromping through mud puddles in the low spots. Stitch even pulled me into the mud at one point, but I was wearing my waterproof hiking boots, thank goodness.

Friday we had people over for a sushi and game night. The games were pretty fun, and some of the sushi was tasty. Next time I guess we need to make sure people who know how to make sushi rice are in charge of it- we made half, but other friends took on the challenge of the other half and unfortunately it turned out poorly. But it was so fun to hang out with everyone, and meet one guy's new bride (she moved here from New York after their wedding). We really should do those night more often. I just wish some of the other people could come too. Babies do a doozie on your social life, don't they! Heh.

As for knitting, I've been on a hat-o-rama lately. I told a kid at the HS (my buddy when I was taking gymnastics) that I'd make him a slouchy beanie. Originally he wanted Rasta colors, but then he delivered me 3 skeins of super-bulky in burgundy, charcoal, and creme. I assumed he wasn't able to find the colors he wanted, and made a ribbed, slouchy beanie with charcoal top & bottom, and the Rasta colors striped in the middle. He saw it at the beginning of last week and said "oh, I wanted those colors I gave you." Damn.
Take 2- I design a pattern (with argyle charts!) for gymnastics bud. I finish the argyle hat and no sooner do I find another kid who wants the 1st hat when my buddy sees the other guy wearing it and says "oh, that's so cool, it IS just what I wanted!" Double damn! Knit the 1st hat again with slightly different colors and finally deliver it to him. Now I'm knitting myself a pretty hat in black alpaca with a tiny thread of gray to make it tweedy (it matches the scarf R brought me from Italy when we were in college).

Now I'm waiting for Eli to arrive, and tomorrow we are going to meet R down in the redwoods! Then Friday is my birthday, woohoo! And next week is Kauai- so excited! :D