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A TALE OF TWO PACKAGES

Alas my friends, I seem to have not posted for over two months! The longest stretch I have not posted since, I believe, I started blogging in 2001. 

But never fear, the internets, I should be posting a little more frequently from here on out (she says, optimistically, if not completely realistically). 

ANYHOODLE, I've just been busy. I bought a new car, went to Stitches West*, etc., etc.

I also ordered some fun stuff from Nordstrom's. Did you know that if you wander into the store and they don't have what you're looking for, you can order it in store and they ship it to your house for free? I think their website has free shipping too. 

Last Monday I wandered in there to buy something, but they were out of stock. So the nice Burberry girl ordered mah shizzle for me and on Friday, there arrived my package(s) on my front door step. 

What could they be? 

The first box was filled with brown packaging paper.

Once I removed all the wrappings, there, all by its lonesome, was a singular Deborah Lippman nail polish. The color is Mermaid's Dream from the 2012 Spring Collection, and it is beautiful. So, if ONE nail polish was in one of the huge boxes, what was in the other one??

Yes! Another, singular nail polish! This time it's Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe. This is the nail polish that sent me into a tail spin of unadulterated nail polish lust, and turned me to the dark side of expensive, designer nail polish. I love it. When I went to buy it, the other one caught my eye as well, and so yes, friends, I did go out and spend $40 on two nail polishes. (Luckily it seems to be out of my system now… AND WORTH EVERY PENNY.)

All this packaging left me with a pile worthy of a landfill on my kitchen table: 

BUT: hot damn, that nail polish is gorgeous:

Mmmm hmmm. 

I have no regrets.

It has been interesting, this year so far. After the emotional wreckage I found myself in after 2011, I decided that 2012 would be better. This sort of freefall into ridiculous purchasing behavior actually started with Hubert/Herbert the hot pink cow/deer, and has led me down a path to the following realization:

I'm not going to be that person who doesn't do stuff or buy stuff because "I'm not the sort of person who does that or is somewhat irresponsible about consuming."

This year? I AM THAT PERSON. I bought a new, turquoise, fabulous car**, people. I love it. I bought two $20 nail polishes! I am paying all bills on time, I'm single, I have no kids, no responsibilities, so I'm not going to waste my life with "shouldn'ts". 

If I want to occasionally indulge myself, then I'm going to. 

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*Stitches West was great. We only went one day this year, and I didn't spend all my money for the first time since we've gone, but the amount of silk and cashmere I now possess is delightful. I also knitted a new shawl which I shall debut later on this week. 

**Granted, my old car refused to start (until I had completely lost patience with it, and then my uncle installed a new battery and it was fine, but still – this is the same issue that cropped up in this entry) so a purchase of a new car wasn't irresponsible, but it was a big purchase, the most expensive car I've ever bought. Out of two. Both of which were not that expensive, but taking on that kind of debt is always a little nervewracking.

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Knitting Review 2011

So! 2011! Let's review the notable knitting projects from last year (about 2/3 – 3/4 less than the year before! oops):

  • The mustard yellow Brandywine shawl! All that garter stitch – heaven. Also notable for being the first project I ever made out of Sanguine Gryphon Sknny Bugga! – a major new favorite.
  • The magenta Bellingrath shawl! This too was a darned pleasure to knit with. This was knit with Madelinetosh sock yarn.
  • EZ's Katmandhu bonnet, knit in Dream in Color Classy. I can't remember if I ever told this story, but I spied the book (Knit One Knit All) at the local Beverley's and had to have it. I assumed it was about $30 or so, but there was no price. I figured they would scan it at the register and the price would pop up. Except – it wouldn't scan! The number wouldn't load either! So the teenager behind the counter sold me EZ's new book for $11.99. SCORE, Y'ALL! Poor Beverley's. I never did look up what it really cost. Anyway, this hat was really fun to make and I will likely make more. There is another version with a different back design. 
  • Started a pair of Hedera socks (Cookie A) from the Knit. Sock. Love. book, which I have a digital copy of. These are knit out of the Loopy Ewe Solid Series sock yarn that is on the Dream in Color smooshy base (if I recall correctly). While these are taking forever, they will be a worthy addition to my sock collection once I complete them.
  • Janel Laidman's Eiki shawl – this is truly a beautiful design and my very favorite thing I knit last year. Because it's knit out of regular Bugga!, it's soft and squishy and gorgeous. And one of the few things I managed to knit with my Stitches West haul the very same year I purchased it! hahaha
  • Boutique Stripey Socks – knit from Knit Picks Felici Sport, my new favorite striping sock yarn – I like regular Felici a lot, but Felici Sport knits up super fast! One other thing about Felici – it wears like iron.
  • Peeps socks – I finished these in the summer, but forgot to take an FO picture. And right now they need to be washed, so it may be awhile (if ever)
  • Bas-Relief socks in the Emerald Isle (?) colorway from Three Irish Girls. I need to finish these but they are further along the second sock now. I really like this sock yarn.

So, I didn't get a whole lot of things completed last year, but the shawls definitely make up for lack of quanitity with their amazing quality! I hope this year I feel more like knitting – I lost my mojo over the summer and it hasn't really returned. I do feel like making a couple of new winter hats so we'll see where that takes me. Whatever I do knit this year it will ALL BE FOR ME. And maybe try to finish those rainbow socks for Abby. 

I do currently have some things still on the needles from last year that I need to decide whether to FINISH or FROG. A couple of shawls, several socks, etc. etc. So, we'll see. 

I kind of feel like knitting a sweater this year, so maybe that will happen too! MAYBE. No promises.

At any rate, I don't have to work too hard to beat the actual number of FOs from last year (six).

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Saying Goodbye to 2011

Here is a true fact about 2011: a lot of it sucked. 

And I'm glad it's over. 

JANUARY

The year started off terribly when my grandfather Jason died on the 5th. We're still not over it. 

I attended Sarah's baby shower for David the first weekend in January. Malvina and I drove down there to surprise her, and while we were there, we went to Disneyland, dined at the Blue Bayou (the restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), ate frozen pineapple smoothies in freezing temps, coined the term "shittle" and generally had a hysterical time – one I'm thankful for, it helped me get through the early days of Jason being gone. 

This was also the month that Margie came to visit from San Antonio – she was doing training in Sacramento, and had two weekends free. Naturally we got together and visited San Francisco and Sacramento.

FEBRUARY

Hung out with Margie some more, and went to Stitches West, where I bought a bunch of yarn.

Went to a wedding show with Malvina and Sam.

MARCH

At 30 years old, I finally learned to curl my hair in March, using this method. 

APRIL

I had the flu for three weeks.

I went to Disneyland again with my sister. And forgot my bag of shoes, necessitating an emergency trip to Payless to buy me some flip flops! On our way down, we stopped to see Sarah's new baby David, who was born at the end of February.

I made the Rainbow Cake for Easter:

MAY

In May, tragedy struck again when my grandfather Verne passed away at 88. Everybody seemed to think he would be okay, but when I heard A) he had sepsis and looked it up and B) they moved him to the Third Floor (aka the floor Jason died on), I knew he only had a limited time left with us. The last picture ever taken of him has the rainbow cake in it, and I find that weirdly comforting. We buried him at the VA cemetary and later had a memorial service for him at church. 

I locked myself out of my car at a busy gas station in the middle of rush hour.

JUNE

Janelle, my wee baby cousin, whom I have LITERALLY known since the day she was born (I saw her in the hospital in her baby bed that very day!), graduated high school.

I'm sure other things happened this month, but I apparently didn't document them. I did go and stay at Malvina's for her birthday, where we partook of the annual Chevy's on the River dinner, and then drank our faces off at their house. Jade martinis!!

JULY

I conquered my fear of crockpots by making carnitas for a summer friends gathering with Malvina, Sarah, and Bill and S&B's kids. Since us three ladies all have our birthdays within a month of each other, we exchanged gifts and apparently proved to Bill we can never see each other without giving each other presents. 🙂

I turned 31.

AUGUST

Margie was out again this month and we were able to meet up for dinner in Vacaville. It was so awesome seeing her again!

I attended the CA Young Republican Convention with my sister, which turned out to be a clusterfuck of bad planning on their parts, but I DID get to hear Andrew Breitbart speak, which was pretty amazing. 

This is the month I started to get back into nail polish in a big way. 

SEPTEMBER

I got into resin in a big way.

I participated in the Bead Soup Blog Party, which was super fun!

I joined Weight Watchers.

OCTOBER

I participated in the Limabeads Challenge.

I randomly was super sick one week – a cold topped off with the vomits. Good times.

I went up to see Malvina and dragged her to her first bead show!

I took some time off work and visited Sarah down in LA. We went to the LA Zoo, my favorite restaurant down there called New Moon, and to Il Forno in Santa Monica, where we met up with our old friend Rhoda from high school, who I hadn't seen since Sarah's wedding! (I don't think.)

NOVEMBER

Bay Area Bead Extravaganza!

Goats R Us was in the field outside my house for a week – that was pretty neat. 

I also participated in Nanowrimo for the tenth straight year, earning my seventh win. Over Thanksgiving I went to a Brazilian steak house with my sister and her boyfriend (!) and even did a little Black Friday shopping late on Friday. 

DECEMBER

Epic office Christmas party.

Christmas Eve was at my house this year since we sold Jason's house over the summer/fall. I unfortunately set a precedent apparently and now everybody expects to come back next year; won't they be surprised when I'm not home! hahaha, joking! … sort of. 

Because of Christmas my house is super clean (for me).

I hosted Sam and Malvina for a late Christmas exchange (yesterday, 12/30) – normally Sarah is up and they come too, but this year they weren't able for various reasons. She was missed! I made a stew and corn bread/pudding and we watched a Daryl Dixon centered episode of the Walking Dead and played the Walking Dead board game, wherein Sam and Malvina were eventually turned into zombies and killed my ass. It was fun! While they were there, Sam schooled me on my Wii (how long have I had it??) and showed me how to turn it into a Game Cube, haha – so now I am finally in the process of completing Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess, so I can start the new one, Skyward Sword! 

Today, the last day of this oh-so-crappy year, I headed out to the Peninsula with Abby to see her new house. The last time I was there was at Thanksgiving, the day before she moved all her stuff over from the apartment (my timing was excellent! haha). The house looks good with new carpets and all the furniture moved in (sans my help! hahaha). We went to lunch at Coconut Bay, my favorite Thai restaurant, and then popped over to Target and Ulta where I bought some – you got it! – nail polishes. I even found one I wanted really bad – Orly's Fowl Play! Most everything was on sale, so I got out of there with only doing $20 worth of damage on seven nail polishes, including the Orly which wasn't on sale. Go me! On the other hand, two of those polishes were clearanced Bieber polishes, but whatever, they are pretty. After that, we went back to the house where Abby made ice cream in her new ice cream maker (it was delicious!) and then I got dumped on Bart for the ride home and here we are. 

2012

All I ask of 2012 is to go easy on me. I've had a rough couple of years, and I really would like a relaxing one, do you hear me, The Universe? Let's stop with the kicking Melissa while she's still down from 2010, okay? 

And also, don't end on December 12. The Mayans – their calendar is circular, not fixed, right?

…Right?