Ginger Binger June 24, 2005

I finished my first full week of summer courses this week and it was exhausting! Tuesday and Thursday I had two 4 hours classes, so I pretty much went straight through from 8-5 with an hour for lunch. I’m taking Addictions and Family Systems which is an awesome class, we don’t get a very long break, so it does seem to drag on and on, but its fascinating stuff!
In the afternoon I have Community Counseling which is much more of an advocacy/public policy change class than I thought it would be. I just read part of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and my brain feels a bit a like Jell-o, nice oppressive, I can’t do anything to help the oppressed people without somehow patronizing them and further oppressing them- Jell-o.

I have been able to knit a lot on Ginger, I have probably 6 inches of the front done and it is knitting up pretty quickly. I had to go up quite a few needle sizes as I wasn’t getting gauge very easily. The fabric is nice and loose and airy which is perfect for the heat and humidity that we are about to get.
I have also been doing a row or three on Branching Out sporadically, but I’m a little more into Ginger right now, there is something nice about doing plain stockinette and being able to watch movies or read or play one-sided fetch with Floyd all at once.

Its warm enough for a trip to the pool today, so I might go try out my new swimsuit if I can get my homework done. Our apartment is right next to the pool and I got a new suit last weekend that I have been dying to try out, so I will use that as my motivation to get the other 20 chapters read…ugh.

That’s all for today, I think. I may try to post a few pictures of Ginger if I finish up the back tonight, but otherwise the plain stock just isn’t exciting enough to warrant a photo!

Pakucho mucho June 22, 2005

My yarn came in and it is lovely, but a big fat pain in the arse to wind into balls! I have a ball winder but no swift and I have not yet figured out a good alternative to a swift (since I don’t have one and don’t think I’ll have to money to buy one any time soon!) So last night I tried to make one hank into a ball and ended up with very happy cats, a very frustrated disposition, and no ball!

I wanted to ball it up so that I could get started on Ginger in class tonight, but that probably won’t be happening. I am seeing my first family tonight, it was supposed to happen last week, but they didn’t show up, so my anxiety has been postponed to this week. I’ll be in the clinic from 4-8 pm so maybe, just maybe, i’ll get a little chance to knit

Last night was my Oma’s 70th Birthday. We celebrated at Red Lobster, at her request, and later had champagne and dessert at home. She is leaving to go back to Germany on Saturday so I was glad to be able to spend a little time with her.

The rest of this week is going to be fairly hectic, I’ve got beaucoup buckets of homework and reading and an intense desire to be lazy, so we’ll see how I work the two out!
Jered and I bought Nike Free shoes last weekend so I have been trying to work out all week, but school is getting in my way. At least I have cool shoes that let my feet mimic nakedness, being barefoot is always a good thing!

Anonymous Donor! June 16, 2005

Well well… it seems I have been anonymously gifted an Elann certificate worth $25!! The “giver” left no calling card, so I don’t know who it was from, but whoever it was, thank you thank you thank you!

I already used it all up, plus $1.26 of my own money I bought 7 skeins of Pakucho Organic Cotton in the Avocado shade to make Ginger from the Rowan Summer Tweed Collection It should be a quick knit and something I can wear this summer!

Thanks again anon friend Twas much appreciated!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday, its my favorite day of the week because the anticipation of the weekend is still there without it having started yet. I’m hoping to get a Branching out finished and blocked this weekend, we shall see if I actually follow through!

Wedding Pictures! June 14, 2005

Alright, as promised, here are a few of our lovely wedding photos. Jered and I are so excited that they turned out so well. I am posting a few of my favorites, and I may post more if anyone is interested. We had such an amazing time, and looking through the photos was like re-living the day, I can’t wait to see the hard copies of these!

My bridesmaids and me, so lovely!

Manly Men, and my little brother

Squeezing me into my dress

So studly…

Me, mom and dad before the big party

Going to the Chapel…

Let’s Dance!

And there we have it! Enough pictures for one post, I’d say

Another Package! June 13, 2005

I spent the morning in Virginia Beach picking up our wedding photos and they turned out great! We have 1215 images and all of them are great. I will post a few tonight once Jered and I finish looking through them.
I went grocery shopping this afternoon for the first time in what feels like weeks. Usually I go every week and pick up the little things that we need, but since we’ve been back from San Fran I haven’t cooked too much especially after I got sick, so now we have a stocked kitchen once again!

I came home this afternoon and had an awesome surprise waiting for me, a package from my pal Mary. She was the krsp that I sent packages to, and she sent me a thank you package! Thank you for the gorgeous sock yarn and the candle snuffer! How sweet of you to think of me (and Jered)

Tomorrow I will be working from home so I should have a chance to post some pictures of Branching Out, which has grown a bit since the last picture I posted of it. I knitted almost two hours last night, so I suppose that means I’m feeling back to normal

3 in 3 and a Package in the Mail! June 10, 2005

This is my third posting in as many days, its amazing
I received a fabulous package from my SP5 Pal! It contained gorgeous blue sock yarn, summery scented soap and candles, a fun lollipop, Jelly Bellies and the coolest personalized stationary ever. The stationary is the first thing I have with my married name on it!

Thank you again!

I have been feeling a little better today, well enough to write my paper for psychopathology. It definitely wasn’t my best paper ever, but it will do the trick (i hope!) I’m really glad its Friday, there is something about being sick and not able to do much during the week that has left me feeling like a lazy bum, at least during the weekend I can feel like I’m meant to relax!
On Monday I get to pick up our wedding photo proofs, I am soooo excited! I will post some of the pictures after we sort through them. The photographer said that he took over 1200 images! Oh the loveliness of digital photography

We are planning on going to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith tomorrow, has anyone gone to see it yet? I suppose that would mean that you would have to have seen it tonight, but even still, anyone out there who might have seen it, let me know if its any good. There is nothing worse than spending 15 bucks on a dud flick!

Happy Friday night to all!

Ode to Jered June 9, 2005

I woke up this morning feeling very blech. All last night I kept waking up feeling nauseous and this morning was no different. I spent most of today on the couch either sleeping or trying to drink peppermint tea that my mom brought me, it seems I have either a stomach bug or some mild food poisoning, not fun either way!

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I have to write a paper by tomorrow evening diagnosing characters of films using DSM criteria. One small problem, lazy me never bought the DSM thinking the library would finally get in the copy I requested. I was trying to save money, but it turns out that I was just being impractical. So I asked Jered to check at the library of the University that he works at to see if they had it, but alas they only have the old version, not the text revision. So…around 2 pm today Jered comes home, with the DSM, and tells me he is home for the day to take care of his wife. My oh my, what a guy! It is amazing, but simply having him here made me feel better. I really picked a winner.

Here are some more pictures from our amazing trip to San Fran. I’ll post knitting content as soon as I feel a bit more like me

Knitting Rut June 8, 2005

I am stuck. I don’t know why, I don’t know when it started, exactly, but I am completely stuck. I don’t have much material for blogging because I don’t find myself knitting that much. I tried to find a group here in our area to join but all are either defunked or they are over an hours drive away. I think I’ve just hit my summer dry spell. Maybe just getting this out of my system will make me want to start knitting again. Its not that I am not knitting at all, I am working on Branching Out, and Leo is somewhere in the apartment, the Phildar socks are on my night stand, its like everything is just hovering in the UFO category.

So, obviously, no new pictures of knitting today! But I will try to make a goal for myself to post again and with pictures by the end of this weekend. Its funny how now, when I have more free time than ever during the school year, I can’t seem to find the gusto to knit.

I start my family counseling intensive practicum next week. I had to contact the family that has been assigned to me today, and the phone call was very brief. I am really nervous about actually counseling real families. Last semester in my practicum I got to work with kids, but that was mostly under the direct supervision of the counselor I was working with, I was never in the room alone with a client, and even if I had been, it was always individuals, not families. I guess I am anxious about it as we haven’t really had any preparation for the experience. We were supposed to have an orientation to the clinic today, but instead that will happen next week, the day that the family is coming in. Jump right in, let me tell ya! I guess this whole self-doubt/nervousness/anxiety thing is normal, but its really uncomfortable. I was enjoying having a little time off, do I have to go back to learning so soon?! Tomorrow I’ll be writing a paper for my psychopathology class diagnosing characters in two movies using DSM criteria, what fun! I watched Martha Inc. and 28 days today, both quite good movies, and very interesting to diagnose! It will be a fun paper, I just don’t know where I am going to find the energy. If I had to diagnose myself I would almost say I fit depressed: not interested in activities I normally enjoy (for the most part), okay, that really is the only one, but it feels crappy!

I need something fresh and new, something to look forward to other than the thought of September when the heat goes away. It could just be my body adjusting to the humidity and general hotness of the weather right now, maybe I’ll turn the AC down a notch and see if that helps things!

Picture Extravaganza June 1, 2005

As a wedding gift from my parents Jered and I received a brand new 7 megapixel digital camera. It is absolutely amazing! We took over 200 pictures in San Francisco, and I will post some of those every now and then just to remind myself how much I love the West Coast, but for today, I have some exciting East Coast pictures!

First off, I received a lovely package from my Knitter’s Review Secret Pal just before the wedding. I would have posted pictures of the package sooner, however, when we got back I had the package in my husbands car and he kept leaving for work in the morning (pesky jobs!). So, here is the amazing package I got, just in time to destress me before the wedding! It contained a couple of gorgeous bracelets in a pretty orange bag, some delicious french candies and the most beautiful sock yarn, ever! Thank you so much Pal! You have been so sweet You are helping fuel my sock knitting obsession!

On the non-knitting front, we recently switched to Nutra Max Cat food, and it has made our cats sooooo sleepy! I guess they are just adjusting to the new higher quality food, they eat less, poop less and sleep all day. I can’t complain, Jinx has even been…friendly! Lethargic cats make for great photo subjects, this is what I did with my afternoon:

And I have been knitting! Imagine that! After the wedding I ventured into our LYS and found a great deal on 300 yards of gorgeous Helen’s Lace for only 7 dollars! I started the branching out scarf from Knitty and am loving it! I have been wanting to knit lace for a while and I finally decided to get to it. The pattern is starting to be visible, at first I was having a hard time seeing it, but I am quite happy with the way its turning out now

That’s all for now! Thanks again KRSP, and happy June to everyone else!