I love visitors!

Hello Dear Readers,

This weekend Chris's cousin Christiana graduated with a master's in Economics at Surrey University, officially.  She's been living with her parents in Cyprus and just recently got a job as a receptionist at a hotel, which she is understandably ecstatic about in this economy, and in Cyprus especially.  Of course she doesn't earn enough to move out of her parents place yet, but it's a start.  She and her sister flew into London this weekend for the ceremony.  She's the second from the left in the above photo.

 Chris went to the ceremony in Guildford, which is a really sweet little town.  Speaking of sweet, they apparently have an "American Candy" shop there, which sells all sorts of delicious things from the US which are impossible to come by here.  Of course it's nothing I would ever be caught with in my shopping cart normally, but somehow being here I can't get enough of it.  My knitting group asked me last night what foods I would miss from the UK if I moved, and I confess I couldn't think of anything (Except McVities chocolate digestives, but you can find those in the US so it's not really a loss).  I think the truth is you don't miss anything until it's gone and you can't have it, so I'd have to actually leave the UK to realize all the stuff I love and would miss here.

 Of course there is no shortage of M&M's here, as we took the girls out for Chinese in Soho and swung by the M&M shop on Friday night.  You would never believe how many people want to shop for M&M related products close to midnight on Friday!!

 Saturday was a rainy day and we spent the whole day at Westfields mall where the girls shopped until Chris and I dropped..... and then kept shopping.  Fortunately we had dinner at one of my favourite spots, YoSushi! where the food comes by on a little track round and round.  I was very good and had a seaweed salad and some tofu before giving into the red bean past mochi that I eyed over and over as it came round and round and round... they even had a chocolate one!  Yum!  The girl weren't so sold on Japanese food, and Valando had to use the kids "easy" chopsticks that were more like wooden tweezers  but I have to give them credit for trying new things outside of their comfort zone.  Even if those new things all looked suspiciously like fried chicken with just different dressing....

Sunday the girls did the Madam Tussards and London Eye thing while Chris and I enjoyed Putney and sunshine!  We walked along the river path, and discovered a yard full of gnomes and frogs and whatnot to rival even my mother's collection. (Though only barely so).  What you can't see in this photo is that behind the tree on the left there are EVEN MORE GNOMES!

In the evening I helped Patrick get in his US taxes just under the wire, while Chris and the girls went to Ed's Diner in Picadilly to enjoy American style food, burgers, shakes and fries.

I'm almost done with Patrick's amazing birthday sweater, just in time for the weather to get warm and sunny. Of course I have every confidence that it will get cold and rainy again soon....photos to follow next week when Patrick is back from the US, with exciting news about his new job in London.


Cheers

Spring....? *cautiously peeks out from under duvet*

Hello Dear Readers,

I thought about doing an April fool's post last week and say I was going to stop blogging, but I thought a) that was too cruel and b) I was just too plain lazy, recovering from my flu and enjoying a 4 day Easter weekend.

I'm fully recovered now, and enjoyed the break in the weather this weekend (it was snowing Thursday, sunny Saturday and Sunday.......though it's back to rain all. this. week.).  Chris and I took a long walk Sunday morning, and we were shocked at the number of runners.  I attributed it to the spring weather and Putney being an energetic athletic place, but there were so many people! I thought, they've all been waiting for today, and they won't even still be running next week.  Then Chris and I came to a tree that said "Wandsworth Half Marathon", I turned slowly to my right and saw that the runners all had numbers on the front of their shirts....... ah HA!

Speaking of athletes, Patrick came home from his rowing camp in Italy, and brought back a laundry mountain:

 Smelling of corn chips.... ewwwwww!  You will be pleased to hear that he did all this laundry himself, well minus one load that I put in for him the day he got back....

 But he was pretty tired (see photo below)!  Some of his friends in the club were questioning his choice to move in with his sister in the apartment we are buying and he said why not?  She cooks, cleans, does my laundry, what could be better? To prove his point he sent me a SnapChat (I'm knitwittygirl on snapchat by the way, I highly recommend it) picture of his face with the word "cookies?"

In answer, he was able to send them back a photo of a two tiered cake stand full of two types of cookies ready for him when he gets back.  Ok, ok, lest you think I'm spoiling him, 1) it's great to have someone who really appreciates your cooking, which Chris, sad to say does not, and 2) I really enjoy doing housework  anyway, particularly for someone who appreciates it, and it's just as easy to do a load of laundry for three people as it is for two.  And the reason I could get his snapchat was because he gave me his old smartphone when he upgraded, a L 100 value. Also, I really made the cookies for Jane (not pictured) and Aurelie who came over for a crafternoon on Sunday.  Notice plate of cookies and tangerines in the foreground.  Photo taken with new smartphone, I'm really loving it.  It's an HTC Desire S for you phoneheads out there.

Aurelie is patiently working on a sweater for which there is no pattern except the one in my head.  Since I don't work at the museum any more, it's taking her a long time but she is persevering.  Go Aurelie!  With the weather we are having she will be needing the sweater all summer I suspect, so it's still very relevant.  I'm about halfway done in the Henri bulky cabled old man cardigan I'm doing for Patrick's birthday.  It's a fantastic pattern, very chic, and since I'm one of the first people on Ravelry to make it I'm hoping that I'll be the featured photo.  No pressure to Patrick, who is going to have to Zoolander it up for the mandatory photoshoot.  Photos to follow soon, it's very bulky yarn and it took me one week to do a sleeve, back and the left front, so I'm hopeful it'll be done around this weekend.  What will take the longest is the drying time in from blocking with all this rain!

Hope everyone with a lingering is hanging on as best they can, Chris says he read an article which explains that this weather patter is a result of global climate change.  Lest it get you down too much, watch this amazing TED talk, the first one to really give me  hope about anything. And I could have guilt free ice cream to boot!!

This week Chris's cousins are coming up to London for a visit, Christiana graduated last December and there ceremony is this weekend.  Photos to follow!

Cheers.

Where is my spring?

Hello Dear Readers,

Well from a fantastic birthday weekend to a lovely (if low key) weekend retreat in our favorite vacation spot, Cambridge!  The weather was really cold and rainy, and Molly and Katelyn had a mild flu, so we were happy to hang out and relax at home.  Here are Molly and Katelyn playing blocks (this was on the 16th of March, Katelyn's 2nd birthday - can you believe it?) Katelyn was totally into "bridges" that day, and with Molly having a hernia and me being exhausted from house stuff, I thought maybe building a bridge of blocks would be better for everyone. Katelyn agreed.

We went up Thursday night and had a great raw Taco Salad.  Chris and I were running around like crazy all day Friday trying to sort out the solicitor, move money and get a mortgage for our apartment (that's still going strong by the way, just waiting to hear back from the bank).   Friday Chris and I sorted out house stuff and we went to the Daily Bread, our favorite co-op in Cambridge (in the rain).

Saturday, Katelyn's birthday, Molly and I slaved away in the kitchen to make the watermelon cake Katelyn asked for.

Full of artificial colors and Jolly Rancher Watermelon Jell-o powder (did you even know Jolly Ranger MADE jell-o?).  That's jelly to my British readership.  
Here is the amazing, watermelon like result, painstakingly hand iced while Katelyn had her nap:

 Tah-dah! I thought it tasted pretty amazing, but probably only because I allowed myself to have a.) dairy and b.) cake which I haven't' done since I started my super duper work-out double whammy of P90X and Insanity.  I'm finished with both by the way, phew! and not a moment too soon as I've been laid up pretty much all this week with whatever flu/cold Molly and Katelyn had.  Kids make me sick,apparently, but then I WAS wiping her nose all weekend, so it was inevitable.

 Much to Molly's joy however, Katelyn wasn't as taken with this cake as I was, reassuring her that she won't be a little sugar fiend :-).  That's her "I don't want it" face, a phrase she's making more and more use of as she enters her terrible twos.  She was a perfect angel when we went to the restaurant that night, and even let Chris carry her back to the car on her shoulders. He's practicing for being an uncle to my sister's  kid......

Despite having a horrific cold I managed to head down to the river (in the freezing SNOW! Yes snow in London after March 20th!)  to watch my brother's scrimige against the other boats foolish enough to go on the river even though the International Men's Head of the River Race was cancelled today.  He wanted me to get some footage of them racing. As usual I couldn't tell which boat was his, so I filmed them all.  I hope he appreciates the lenghts I went to in the SNOW and freezing COLD while I have the FLU. That brother does not deserve me.  Sigh.  But I found the perfect sewater that I just HAVE to knit for him in this month's The Knitter's magazine. Clearly I'm a gllutton for punishment.  And cake. Delicious, non-vegan naughty watermelon cake.  MMMmmmm, made the whole trip worth it.

Staying in bed all weekend with my knitting, spinning and watching Star Wars IV, V and VI to speed my recovery, as well as eating most of the soups off of the Oh She Glows website. So far I've done a creamy mushroom and quinoa and triple lentil recovery soup.  Hoping for tortilla soup tonight if Chris can be persuaded to make it for me, I'm too tired to get out of bed again.  Well, except maybe to pursue some more Assasin's Creed III, I need to finish it before the next one comes out!

Hope you are having as much snow as we are here, I love love love it, so I'm not complaing.

Cheers.

Keep 'em coming!

Hello Dear Readers,

As you know, I'm not one to shy away from birthdays.  Call it middle child syndrome, but I like having a sort of holiday that is non-denominational and a great excuse to celebrate ME, and who doesn't like to have fun?  Yes, another birthday yesterday, and it's been great.  Sunday evening I went to the usual place - 222 Veggie Veg - to have a great vegan night out (I had the oyster mushroom and spinach Raclette, just so I remember next year).

Some of the usual suspects were there, Patrick, the hot house mate Monica, my hilarious friend Jane who we visited in Whitby this spring, though she is back at the museum now.

As a thank you when we went up to stay at her B&B, I gave her some handspun yarn from wool I bought on my birthday LAST year, in Ireland when we went with Adam and Melch.  My how things come full circle.  For you knitters out there that is the hat pattern from the cover of Woolley Wormhead's book Woolley toppers.  And for you long time readers of the blog you'll remember I met Ms. Wormhead at Knit Nation 3 years ago.

 

There was also Patrick and Aurelie from the museum, and Lizzy and Lucy from my knitting group.  I sat myself in the center of the table to try to get in all the gossip.  Here is Chris and I, another year older, another year wiser, and stuffed full of amazing vegan food.

 

Monday I had tea at the Maids of Honour tea shoppe near Kew Gardens with some girls from work, which is always a nice treat, and in the evening we had a Sheep Cake which Chris bought specially for me.

 

Here he is sprinkling on some stray bits that were not quite perfect, and me blowing out the candles.

As usual I got a fantastic array of gifts, which were all perfect in their own way.  To the right are the earrings Auralie picked out for me, tiny balls of yarn (a silk merino blend) with silver knitting needles in them.  Aren't they the best? Doesn't she have the best taste in jewelry? Like pearl earrings but better and for knitters.

Monica gave me some new pj bottoms, which I was sorely in need of, and put on immediately after opening the package.  Not pictured is the Manuka Honey Patrick gave me, which lives at work so that people at home don't chug it down like it's the cheap clover stuff.  (It's going really well in my Tea Pigs Chai tea actually). There was a package from Lush (it's a bad year when I don't get SOME Lush for my b-day) and a new book to read, so Monday night I indulged in a Lush bubble bath and read the book, can it get any better?

Patrick said he saw this knit kit for a bike seat cover over and over last month, different stores, different times and places.  Finally he gave up, listened to the universe and got it for me.  Really, it practically had my name all over it, he HAD to buy it.  Watch out, if you have a bike, you too may soon have a knitted bike seat cozy.  Even if you don't even know me! The girls from work also got me two knitting magazines, which is great because I always pause to look at them at the store, then think, nah, I don't NEED them.  But I do WANT them, and now I've got some to tide me over for this season.

I realized that I've been super busy the last few  months with P90X, Insanity and buying an apartment that I have really missed hanging out with friends.  Therefore, as the Year of Me comes to a spectacular close, I think this year should be the year of all of YOU, where I make a concerted effort to spend more time with my friends.  Of course this will be easier in the new apartment that we just had an offer accepted on!!  And I'm planning to decorate with the paper bird Jane gave me and enhance with the vanilla reed diffuser from my friend Nina!  Nothing is final yet, we are still in the early stages, but dudes, it's looking good.  Really good.  More details to follow.  I may get out of this thing with my soul intact as well as my sanity.  But there will be plenty of room for having people over for tea and over to stay in the luxurious pull out couch in the spacious living room.

Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday wishes. It's been a great year and I hope to see more of you (Skype or otherwise) in this next Year of You.

 

Cheers!

March already!?!

Hello Dear Readers,

 How can it be March? I know February is a short month but this is ridiculous!  We celebrated Chris's birthday with a lovely chocolate peanut butter fudge rice crispy thing from my still favorite blog.  Yesterday was my good friend Jennifer's birthday (shout out!) and tomorrow is Adam and Melch's birthday (shout out!), was that last year already?  But this also means that I can reveal some more of my secret knitting projects,

Can you tell what it is? It's the bigger on the inside shawl/scarf that I made for Jennifer's birthday.  You'll remember we exchange Dr. Who related crafts, and when I saw it in Knitty, I just couldn't resist!  See all the little Tardis' along the edge? Subtle, yet for the true hard core nerds, very very clever.

Last weekend I was seized by the start-itis bug, and got a little crazy with the knitting, most of it wasn't even baby related.  Well of course SOME was, but only the most adorable hat you've ever seen.  For reals.

 Didin't I tell you? Cute coming and going! I also need to make sure to send my sister those clips that go on the back of your hat to the back of your coller so the little monster doesn't throw it out the pram.....of course if s/he does it IS basically a cry for more knitting, that's how I would treat it.  "I'm throwing this hat out in a demand for more knitwear Aunty Heather."

Then of course I had to replace my most favorite wool socks which bit the dust this year. The trip to the Scilly Isles was the last straw, I darned them but it never took.  I've now used up the last bit of the glorious yarn made of crab shell (so soft, and of course it wears well in water, as you would expect of crab shell) which have already been matching socks for Molly and Katelyn.

 There was much debate in my Stitch n Bitch group about the accent color, I see it as blue but the words "mint green" were thrown around. Either way, I think this stitch pattern and color combo make these the most beautiful socks in the room.  Depending on the room, of course.

Finally I had this hat pattern from the glorious designer Ysolda Teague (great name for a girl btw, Isolda.  Just saying.  Cat and Jeff.)  I also had most of a ball of red yarn left over from a fornicating raindeer hat, and somehow I couldn't resist making it.  I think it'll go great with my powder blue coat, and the second of my two new dresses from Oliver Bonas, which you can see the top of in this photo.  It's so cute, I wish it wasn't 3 C still, hurry up spring!

House hunting continues apace, with the usual setbacks and dramas.  Looked at a few places, some are ok, the ones we can afford need some love. We'll see how it goes.  Sigh.  I should be more excited but I just know it will suck away my soul and desire to live by the end of it.

Also, next week officially marks the end of the Year of Me, but I'll have a review of that next time.

Cheers!

First Glimpses of Sun

Hello Dear Readers,

We had a rare treat for this part of England, two sunny days in a row on a weekend!  Chris and I took the opportunity to walk to the small but perfectly formed Barnes Farmer's Market on Saturday and I bought some special sourdough bread. 

 I also took advantage of the natural light to take some photos of some of my latest projects, which I can now reveal to you all since my sister has just passed her first trimester.  That's right, her five year plan is ticking right along, from the engagement Christmas 2010, wedding in Fall 2011, a house in the summer of 2012 followed by being pregnant by Christmas 2012, baby number one by September 2013!  Phew, I'm tired just typing that!  Anyway, amongst other things I have been casting on one baby knit after the other and queuing them up in my Ravelry list. The only limit..... is my yarn stash!

I got this matching sweater, hat and mitts set knocked out in no time, with another Olive Owl planned to use up the rest of this yarn.  I'm also doing a sheepy hat, a sweater with interchangeable fronts to minimize changes, and at least one more sweater, possibly sweater dress if it turns out to be a girl.  Baby Wu already is in my good books for having the sense to be born just before winter so s/he can enjoy all the benefits of my knitting straight away.

I'm also continuing with the spinning, have a few Christmas presents on the go, and a very fun birthday present that will be revealed shortly.....

Otherwise, on our second sunny day of the weekend Chris an I walked down to the club to see Patrick race against London Rowing Club.  Well, Patrick's club race, I'm not sure if we caught his race or not, but we enjoyed it all the same.

Can you spot Patrick in his boat?  Nope? Neither could we..... oh well, it's sunny so who cares!  Yes spring is certainly in the air, and we are soaking up every minute of it here in Putney.  There are even snowdrops and crocus up in the gardens, and daffodils in the grocery stores.







After this Chris and I walked around the neighborhoods a little further south of our place, scoping out possible new places to buy.....  Our lease is up at the end of July, so we have a deadline now, it's just a matter of moving all our money into the country and putting in an offer.  Oh, it's on.


Hope spring is busting out a little bit wherever you are!

The Usual

Hello Dear Readers,

A regular, quiet weekend this time, three loads of laundry, the third having just made the 'snap snap' sound telling me it's ready to be hung up.  As usual there has been another flurry of knitting activity, with me starting yet another project which I will be showing and telling you about in a few weeks........

I did make some amazing red bean paste buns though, in honor of the year of the snake!
 I used some red beans (also called adzuki) I had leftover from making energy bars last week.  I knew vaguely that red bean paste was made from cooking red beans with sugar, but I had no idea that it was as easy as pouring sugar onto red beans and then whipping them up in the food processor!!


I love red bean paste buns, but the kind you get at the grocery store often have a lot of bun and just a tiny bit of paste, and you have to eat very carefully around the edges to get just the right amount of bun/paste ratio, and then at the end you are left with one big bite of mostly paste and a little bit of bun.  Not so these, which I packed with as much bean paste as I could and rolled the dough very thin, you can see in the middle of the foremost pot here that the wrapper was a bit too thin and some paste oozed out.  I made so many that I actually used both my steaming pans at once, which I don't normally do.  These also come with the distinction of being Chris approved, he ate 4 in a row as soon as they were cool enough.

Regarding my last post on Insanity and P90X, Adam asked if I liked them and what I thought etc.  I think P90X was great because it was so well rounded, there was yoga and martial arts and weights and lots of stretching, but the workouts were pretty LOOOOONNNNGGG, an hour for most, and 90 min for the yoga.  They recommend that you do it fully the first time through, and then only do half the workout time once you are up to speed, so that is my plan after Insanity.  As far as results, I saw great results in the first two months of P90X, losing about 13 lbs, but I think the first 10 are the easiest and the last 5 the hardest.  I haven't lost weight on Insanity, but have stayed the same which is better than increasing.  I find the workouts are easier, but geared to plyometrics more than anything, which hasn't sculpted my figure (except my thighs, which are muscled monstrosities now) but has increased the power in my cycling every day, which is perhaps more useful to me then a svelte figure.  The workouts are also generally under 40 min, including warm up cool down and stretching, which I find psychologically easier to face in the morning than 60 min for some reason, though it's not that different.  Insanity is also more portable because you don't use weights or mats or anything, just your body weight.  If you think you will have to travel during your workouts, this is a much better option.  The schedule is also a little different, with P90X you do some of the same workouts throughout the 90 days, whereas with insanity you do the same 3-4 for 4 weeks, a week of the same "recovery" workout, then 4 weeks of different 3-4 sets of workouts.  So you get a week to get used to it, a week to improve, a week to really kick ass, and a week to think, I'm so done with these.  We'll see how my results are when I'm done, I'm in the middle recovery week now, so I have 5 weeks to go, then plan on doing a 50 % effort P90X.

After all this working out you need to refuel, so I'm off to the kitchen to do some cooking to last me a week, raw taco salad for dinner, quinoa soup for lunch, baked oatmeal for the week and veggie burgers to freeze and have on hand for desperate dinners.

Cheers