Obviously, I've been quiet. I've been working nearly 12 hours each day, so I'm a little more than beat. Now my quarter is over, and it's on! I've go so much craft energy going it's scary (read: I-don't-want-to-clean-my-house-avoidance-energy). Here's a round up of the humteen million things I WANT to make in the nearly month break before I have to go back to working 12 hours a day again. Whew!
What's on the needles:
A pair of purple slipper/socks for a friend who has a new apt. of her very own.
Knitting has just been TOO SLOW for my ADHD brain this month.
Sewing:
I've made some fleece wrap things that I ripped off of a store bought article and have some fleece left over. I'm feeling these mittens with the leftovers. I don't love the elastic on the outside bit, but I'll figger' something out.
I just found these and LOVE them. I think my mom would like one and maybe me too. :D
I also need new stockings as I made my first set when I was a newbie...they hold almost NOTHING and stretch like I do...not at all! These look like winners!
I do NOT need to make this pillow, but I want to all the same.
I'm in the process of making this bear. I have gotten so far as to buy fabric. And print the pattern. And cut the pieces. That's it. :P I need a new snuggle bear because it's butt cold outside here, and my regular fella is just too old to snuggle without fear of taking the lovin' too far and squishing out some stuffin'. I tend to waller (as Mama says) in the night.
I'm thinking I should leave it at that. Whew. That's a lot. If I manage even two of those, I'll be amazed! :p
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wonderment
I read craft blogs all the time all across the web. I read crafters, quilters, and momsters. They all seem to have so much more "life" than I do and so many more words too. I found a journal I started five years ago. I read through it and boggled that I had so many words then. I wonder what has happened to all of those words. Maybe it is like John Mayer says. Maybe my words have been wrapped up in the pictures I take where ever I go.
I have managed to create 1 skirt that fits me from two old tshirts with a few more in the works. I used the reinvention skirt pattern generously given to me to plus size test from MayaMade. I'm sad to report that my hips are too wide for the use of the 1 shirt method so far. I even went to a 3x and tried (and failed) to make it work. The four pannel works just ducky, but I want to have it work with the 2 pannels too. I'll leave you with a picture of my work "costume" that I wore today since we only go through Thursdays. I got many comments and a few odd looks as I wore it out to a fast food place later in the night to eat wings. My students didn't seem to notice that I had dressed up-guess they all think I look this way daily. :P
Friday, October 08, 2010
It gets better
With all of the heartbreaking news of teens around this country killing themselves because they are struggling with being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender queer, or just plain different, I cannot stay quite any longer. I keep reading stories from others, watching youtube videos, and talking to friends who have gone through similar struggles. I want to add my voice to the chorus that is ringing out: It gets better.
I hated high school, and high school hated me. I was always confused. On top of being upset about crap life at home, I had to deal with being the fat kid at school too. Bullies who torment GLBT kids torment fatties too. Just a fact of life. Luckily, being a fat kid means you can get shoved inside of lockers. You don't get as much physical abuse because you're so damn big, but the abuse still comes. Teenagers are the meanest form of human you can find. They are freaked out because their bodies are changing, their lives are changing, and they are becoming something new. So to protect themselves from the scarrrry changes, they lash out. People who are different catch that nutjob wrath.
But it gets better. It gets SO much better.
I lived through high school and college. I thought very strongly about not living at all during those years. I wanted to die and thought about how to die again and again. I was just so unhappy, and I couldn't see the end of the pain. I was too chicken to ever actually go through with any of the elaborate plans I made walking down the hallways- If I take X amount of Y, what would happen? I lived through it. I was miserable. I thought death would be better than the hell of being a fat, confused teenager.
But it wasn't. If you die in high school, you never really live real life. High school is a terrible social experiment gone wrong. It's not real life. Those assholes who make fun of you today will be the same assholes stuck in your home town after you've graduated and gotten a real life.
Bullies will always remember high school as the best days of their lives. You won't. You'll go to college (do go- you'll never be the same after it), get a degree or two, and get a real life with real friends. That's when it gets better. As soon as I was out of my high school, I felt free. Those idiots who made fun of me, excluded me from their parties, and made me feel less than human are all trapped in their own lives. None of them are as happy as I am. None of them have made it more than 30 miles outside of our hometown since they've graduated.
I've been to a foreign country to help build houses, I've travelled around this country with the National Writing Project, I've become what I always said I would. They have not. Those bullies will always wish they had what you'll grow up to have if you can just live through high school and college. It sounds like a Hallmark card, but it is so very true.
I don't know if this will reach the eyes of anyone who needs this message, but I want to put it out there- just in case. It gets better. These are some of the darkest days you'll have to live through. The best revenge on those idiots who tell you that your life isn't worth living is to live the hell out of your life- no matter how messed up you feel now. You take that life you have, and you use it as a weapon against ignorance.
Wake up every day ready to fight those jocks who slam into you in the hallway by getting a full ride at a great school based on your grades alone. When they blow their knees, and they will, you will still have your scholarship. Live the hell out of your life. Giving in to that noise and bullshit gives them power. Live your life like a punch in the face. Slap them with every breath you take.
It gets better, but you have to stick around to see it. I promise it will be worth it, just wait for it.
***PS- I haven't forgotten the giveaway winners, but I'm broke as a joke right now and have been since half of my job was eliminated. Once I have the funds to ship, I'll get the stuff out to you. :D
I hated high school, and high school hated me. I was always confused. On top of being upset about crap life at home, I had to deal with being the fat kid at school too. Bullies who torment GLBT kids torment fatties too. Just a fact of life. Luckily, being a fat kid means you can get shoved inside of lockers. You don't get as much physical abuse because you're so damn big, but the abuse still comes. Teenagers are the meanest form of human you can find. They are freaked out because their bodies are changing, their lives are changing, and they are becoming something new. So to protect themselves from the scarrrry changes, they lash out. People who are different catch that nutjob wrath.
But it gets better. It gets SO much better.
I lived through high school and college. I thought very strongly about not living at all during those years. I wanted to die and thought about how to die again and again. I was just so unhappy, and I couldn't see the end of the pain. I was too chicken to ever actually go through with any of the elaborate plans I made walking down the hallways- If I take X amount of Y, what would happen? I lived through it. I was miserable. I thought death would be better than the hell of being a fat, confused teenager.
But it wasn't. If you die in high school, you never really live real life. High school is a terrible social experiment gone wrong. It's not real life. Those assholes who make fun of you today will be the same assholes stuck in your home town after you've graduated and gotten a real life.
Bullies will always remember high school as the best days of their lives. You won't. You'll go to college (do go- you'll never be the same after it), get a degree or two, and get a real life with real friends. That's when it gets better. As soon as I was out of my high school, I felt free. Those idiots who made fun of me, excluded me from their parties, and made me feel less than human are all trapped in their own lives. None of them are as happy as I am. None of them have made it more than 30 miles outside of our hometown since they've graduated.
I've been to a foreign country to help build houses, I've travelled around this country with the National Writing Project, I've become what I always said I would. They have not. Those bullies will always wish they had what you'll grow up to have if you can just live through high school and college. It sounds like a Hallmark card, but it is so very true.
I don't know if this will reach the eyes of anyone who needs this message, but I want to put it out there- just in case. It gets better. These are some of the darkest days you'll have to live through. The best revenge on those idiots who tell you that your life isn't worth living is to live the hell out of your life- no matter how messed up you feel now. You take that life you have, and you use it as a weapon against ignorance.
Wake up every day ready to fight those jocks who slam into you in the hallway by getting a full ride at a great school based on your grades alone. When they blow their knees, and they will, you will still have your scholarship. Live the hell out of your life. Giving in to that noise and bullshit gives them power. Live your life like a punch in the face. Slap them with every breath you take.
It gets better, but you have to stick around to see it. I promise it will be worth it, just wait for it.
***PS- I haven't forgotten the giveaway winners, but I'm broke as a joke right now and have been since half of my job was eliminated. Once I have the funds to ship, I'll get the stuff out to you. :D
Thursday, August 19, 2010
About to burst
I have a secret- I'm throwing D a surprise birthday party tonight, and if I don't tell someone, I might just die! We have lots of things planned for him, and his mom is even coming up from Ame for the event. I also hear that one of our drag friends plans a raunchy lapdance for the birthday boy! :D I'm not sure if D's ever had a birthday party before because he was a painfully shy kid, so I'm about to die of keep this to myself. So please, could you keep it to yourself until about 7pm tonight? Thanks. I just knew you'd understand.
Whew!
Whew!
Friday, June 04, 2010
If you can't say something nice, blog about nothing important
It's the end of the quarter, and I'm feeling very prickly right now. So as Mama always said, I will say nothing at all about those things and go to a totatlly different subject. ME! I stole this from the weiner of the prize drawing once I realized her link was a blog click. She stole it from someone named David.
********************************************************
1. What curse word do you use the most? F*ck
2. Do you own an iPod? No.
3. What person on your flist do you talk to the most? Aponi
4. What time is your alarm clock set to? 5:30am, but I snoooooze it until around 6:15ish.
5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed? Yes. His name was Nick and we went to elementary school together. He was my first boyfriend. We went to the school dance together. He gave me a carnation. It was either him or Dereck who kissed me after I chased him up the climbing wall at the same elementary school. Can't remember which came first.
6. Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01? I was a senior in high school. We were in Mr. Mitchell's art class for first block. Someone came in and told us about it, and he actually let us turn the tv on. While we watched, the second plane hit. We didn't realize or understand that it was REALLY happening live. We continued to watch through second block, Mrs. Goat (not her real name, but she raised goats) and A&P. It was surreal. My Papa told me about Pearl Harbor and where he'd been when I got home that night. Also about where he'd been when Kennedy was shot.
7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture? Take take take. I look like hell in photos. And fat. No photos of me.
8. What was the last movie you watched? At the movies: Alice in Wonderland. It was total crap. HATED IT. But I felt like I got my money out of it since I only paid $1.50 to see it at the cheap seats. At home: Jurassic Park - one of out all time favorites. LOVE IT.
9. Do any of your friends have children? One of them, and he's a cool little. The ones who I am no longer in contact with from college (mostly cause they found a new man and he was their new religion) have started making babies too. It is strange to me to see party girls and morons with littles. Scary.
10. Has anyone ever called you lazy? Yes. It was my mother's greatest insult. To be called lazy was to be the bane of the world.
11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep? Sometimes I have to take a Benedryl to sleep if I'm really keyed up and the next day is really important. Or Nyquil when I'm sick.
12. What CD is currently in your CD player? Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales
13. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk? If I'm drinking it, choc. If it's on cereal, regular.
14. Has anyone told you a secret this week? Yes, actually.
15. When was the last time you had Starbucks? Um...a month or so ago when I got a vanilla cupcake from the Barnes and Noble 'bucks. I'm not into coffee. Cupcakes are gooood tho.
16. Can you whistle?Yes, both the normal way and also through my teeth.
17. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?Eyes.
18. What are you looking forward to? The end of next Monday. I will have turned my grades in and have washed my hands of this quarter. Then I'll be off for a month of writing in Ame and I'll be with my people and happy. I may even want to still teach after that- right now- not so much.
19. Did you watch cartoons as a child? Yes. I liked Rocco's Modern Life. I hated Ren and Stimpy. I liked Rugrats before Dill was born.
20. Do you own any band t-shirts? Yes. I have some Guster t-shirts.
21. What will you be doing in one hour? Showering and getting ready to go buy foods.
22. Is anyone in love with you? Yes, or at least I think he is.
23. What was the last song you heard? dunno- but I have a Jack Johnson song stuck in my head...does that count?
24. Last time you cried? Yesterday. Like I said. The end of the quarter is an ugly time.
25. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop? Desktop. But I want one of those laptop babies- the little net book.
26. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? Yes. I want to get a little sparrow on the inside of each ankle as a tribute to my Papa. He always put on his socks wrong- they had the little Izod alligators on them, and he would put the socks on with those facing inside. Always. I've wanted a sparrow since I saw a really cute one on a student, and I've wanted to do a tribute to a family member via tattoo (or I'd never get another one) like Amy from Spunky Eclectic. This would be killing 2 birds with 2 bird tattoos!
27. What’s the weather like? Dunno. Still in my pjs. Not wanting to know either. If I had to guess, really friggin' hot. Like prolly already 90+ F.
28. Would you ever date a girl/guy covered in tattoos? Oh yes. I would have done it as a teen to scare my parents too. I would sooo date somone tatted up. D is not tatted at all though. :(
29. What did you do before this? Make 2 grilled cheeze sammiches.
30. When is the last time you slept on the floor? The last time I visited my Mama. I started out on a nice, elevated air mattress....I woke up on a flat mattress on the floor. Something went wrong obviously.
31. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? TONS. I need at least 8. I love it when I get 10. Sleep is one of my fave things to do in this life.
32. Do you eat breakfast daily?Yes. I wouldn’t get very far without it. But I forget sometimes and feel really mean before lunch.
33. Are your days fast-paced? Without question. I go from class to class, and I squeeze in tutoring between classes. I don't have an office, so I'm always on the run. I am coordinator of a database that holds over 1100 student accounts that I oversee in the middle of all of that. Whew. I got tired typing that.
34. What did you do last night? Cleaned my nasty bathroom (partly), got a mani-pedi with my work PediPosse (TM), watching a movie with D, played Farmville, spun a bit.
35. Do you use sarcasm?A lot. It's my native tongue.
36. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 27
37. Are you picky about spelling and grammar?Yep- I drive people nuts when I feel it is important. I’m slack when it doesn’t matter (like email, blog posting, facebooking). I am the person who changes signs in Walmark. And in the bathrooms at school! I even encourage my students to attack signs! hahahaha
38. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yes. HATE it. I'm not a patient person- I don't wait well. That's what 6 Flags teaches you. The only ride I enjoy is the River one where you are in the round things and you bounce down the river. Not the one where you are in the water, but the one that is actually a ride.
She says it goes to 80, but these are the 38 she posted. Sooo, as she continues, I guess so shall I.
********************************************************
1. What curse word do you use the most? F*ck
2. Do you own an iPod? No.
3. What person on your flist do you talk to the most? Aponi
4. What time is your alarm clock set to? 5:30am, but I snoooooze it until around 6:15ish.
5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed? Yes. His name was Nick and we went to elementary school together. He was my first boyfriend. We went to the school dance together. He gave me a carnation. It was either him or Dereck who kissed me after I chased him up the climbing wall at the same elementary school. Can't remember which came first.
6. Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01? I was a senior in high school. We were in Mr. Mitchell's art class for first block. Someone came in and told us about it, and he actually let us turn the tv on. While we watched, the second plane hit. We didn't realize or understand that it was REALLY happening live. We continued to watch through second block, Mrs. Goat (not her real name, but she raised goats) and A&P. It was surreal. My Papa told me about Pearl Harbor and where he'd been when I got home that night. Also about where he'd been when Kennedy was shot.
7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture? Take take take. I look like hell in photos. And fat. No photos of me.
8. What was the last movie you watched? At the movies: Alice in Wonderland. It was total crap. HATED IT. But I felt like I got my money out of it since I only paid $1.50 to see it at the cheap seats. At home: Jurassic Park - one of out all time favorites. LOVE IT.
9. Do any of your friends have children? One of them, and he's a cool little. The ones who I am no longer in contact with from college (mostly cause they found a new man and he was their new religion) have started making babies too. It is strange to me to see party girls and morons with littles. Scary.
10. Has anyone ever called you lazy? Yes. It was my mother's greatest insult. To be called lazy was to be the bane of the world.
11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep? Sometimes I have to take a Benedryl to sleep if I'm really keyed up and the next day is really important. Or Nyquil when I'm sick.
12. What CD is currently in your CD player? Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales
13. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk? If I'm drinking it, choc. If it's on cereal, regular.
14. Has anyone told you a secret this week? Yes, actually.
15. When was the last time you had Starbucks? Um...a month or so ago when I got a vanilla cupcake from the Barnes and Noble 'bucks. I'm not into coffee. Cupcakes are gooood tho.
16. Can you whistle?Yes, both the normal way and also through my teeth.
17. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?Eyes.
18. What are you looking forward to? The end of next Monday. I will have turned my grades in and have washed my hands of this quarter. Then I'll be off for a month of writing in Ame and I'll be with my people and happy. I may even want to still teach after that- right now- not so much.
19. Did you watch cartoons as a child? Yes. I liked Rocco's Modern Life. I hated Ren and Stimpy. I liked Rugrats before Dill was born.
20. Do you own any band t-shirts? Yes. I have some Guster t-shirts.
21. What will you be doing in one hour? Showering and getting ready to go buy foods.
22. Is anyone in love with you? Yes, or at least I think he is.
23. What was the last song you heard? dunno- but I have a Jack Johnson song stuck in my head...does that count?
24. Last time you cried? Yesterday. Like I said. The end of the quarter is an ugly time.
25. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop? Desktop. But I want one of those laptop babies- the little net book.
26. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? Yes. I want to get a little sparrow on the inside of each ankle as a tribute to my Papa. He always put on his socks wrong- they had the little Izod alligators on them, and he would put the socks on with those facing inside. Always. I've wanted a sparrow since I saw a really cute one on a student, and I've wanted to do a tribute to a family member via tattoo (or I'd never get another one) like Amy from Spunky Eclectic. This would be killing 2 birds with 2 bird tattoos!
27. What’s the weather like? Dunno. Still in my pjs. Not wanting to know either. If I had to guess, really friggin' hot. Like prolly already 90+ F.
28. Would you ever date a girl/guy covered in tattoos? Oh yes. I would have done it as a teen to scare my parents too. I would sooo date somone tatted up. D is not tatted at all though. :(
29. What did you do before this? Make 2 grilled cheeze sammiches.
30. When is the last time you slept on the floor? The last time I visited my Mama. I started out on a nice, elevated air mattress....I woke up on a flat mattress on the floor. Something went wrong obviously.
31. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? TONS. I need at least 8. I love it when I get 10. Sleep is one of my fave things to do in this life.
32. Do you eat breakfast daily?Yes. I wouldn’t get very far without it. But I forget sometimes and feel really mean before lunch.
33. Are your days fast-paced? Without question. I go from class to class, and I squeeze in tutoring between classes. I don't have an office, so I'm always on the run. I am coordinator of a database that holds over 1100 student accounts that I oversee in the middle of all of that. Whew. I got tired typing that.
34. What did you do last night? Cleaned my nasty bathroom (partly), got a mani-pedi with my work PediPosse (TM), watching a movie with D, played Farmville, spun a bit.
35. Do you use sarcasm?A lot. It's my native tongue.
36. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 27
37. Are you picky about spelling and grammar?Yep- I drive people nuts when I feel it is important. I’m slack when it doesn’t matter (like email, blog posting, facebooking). I am the person who changes signs in Walmark. And in the bathrooms at school! I even encourage my students to attack signs! hahahaha
38. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yes. HATE it. I'm not a patient person- I don't wait well. That's what 6 Flags teaches you. The only ride I enjoy is the River one where you are in the round things and you bounce down the river. Not the one where you are in the water, but the one that is actually a ride.
She says it goes to 80, but these are the 38 she posted. Sooo, as she continues, I guess so shall I.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Squoze
First things first- I have a new weiner: murfomurf. Come on down to give me your across the pond addy. That means that Rae will get your mug since she's on this side of the creek. :D The email is Scooby_dooby_doo_2002 aht yahoo daht com. [Usual disclaimer- replace the aht with @ and daht with . ]
*********************************************************************
We went on Vacay with D's mom a few weekends ago to Chattanooga, TN. We had a good time and did most of the touristy things to do in the town in 3 days. I know right?
We went up on Thursday night after work so that we could wake up in TN on Friday to make our 10:30 aquarium tickets.
We got there early and since our hotel had a crappy breakfast, we were hungry. We found a little spot called the Blue Plate. It was awesome and had the best servers evar. We got this little hottie named David. He was a great server, got us great food fast, and gave us the DL on Chatty. He gave us tons o' places to eat, and I think we lucked out with him. More on him later.
They have a sea horse exhibit down stairs, but to get to the real show, you ride what could possibly the the world's LONGEST escalator. This was taken from the top.
It took ages to go all the way up. But the cool thing is that you go from the top to the bottom of the aquarium like following the water to the ocean. They had some wicked large catfish in a tank. There was a diver in there feeding while we were there, and the fish was as big or BIGGER than the huge man diver. UM NO. I would NOT be in that water. No way, no how.
We have been to the Atlanta aquarium, so we have seen a lot of these fish before, but they had the coolest otters EVAR! They were HUGE and very playful. The TN aquarium wins over ATL because they have a better otter viewing area. I got great shots of them.
Of course, we were also in the middle of about 1000808 school kids- we went right when schools were about to let out, so they were all on friggin' field trips! ACK.
This was in their butterfly garden.
After the aquarium, we went across the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge to explore the North Shore because hottie David said there was a good lunch place over there.
I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm terrified of bridges. I hate driving over them, hate walking over them. H.A.T.E. them. Like I freak out and have panic attacks on bridges. Soo...yeah. We WALKED across the pedestrian BRIDGE to the North Shore to explore. They walked; I crept. I also cried. I really d.o. n.o.t. do bridges. I finally got across the damn thing.
It was worth it I guess because we crossed to find a great little ice cream place called Clumpies. They make all their own ice cream. FAB! I had lemon cream, D had butter pecan, and Moms had....something? The best part about clumpies besides the homemade everything was a shirt I tried to get D to buy: it said simply, "Creamy." I thought it was funny. He thought it was inappropriate. That's why I thought it was funny, but anywho.
We walked around a little more, but we had to hoof it back across because we had tickets to ride the aquarium's River Gorge Explorer boaty thing. D and his Moms got all cracked out on the time and rushed us down to the dock (yeah, another bridge to get to the dock...ugh). They thought the ride started at 3pm. I knew it was 3:30 and kept asking if we could slow down or sit down. NO! WE HAVE TICKETS! So we finally get there and they realize what I've known all along: we're WAAY early. Of course, you know, it was my fault that we were early then. We did get to sit down in the shade finally on the dock and waited for the boat.
It pulled up and was like a yacht big to me. It was crazy fun to ride that boat. It goes up to like 55 mph on the water and comes to a complete stop in seconds and on a dime at that! We stopped for every boat, float, and barge in the river that day- many many splashes!
This is where I want to live when I grow up.
We cruised through the river gorge and it was really pretty. It was just nice to be out on the water after being off of it for so long. I grew up on Lake Oliver here in Col, but when I got to be a teen, it wasn't cool anymore. I can't tell you the last time I was on ANY river on a boat. Riding up top was really cool too.
That night we ate at the Market Tavern per David's suggestion from that am. It was 'lish! I had a bison burger (locally raised!) with cheese and they had chicken and fish- my burger was so good that after they ate their foods, they ordered another bison burger to share. :P This place was big on fresh, local, and fabulous. The burger bun was a roll from a local baker. Yum. They also had cupcakes from a local bakery: amaretto, strawberry, mocha, and red velvet. We got all but the mocha- we're not coffee ppl. The red velvet was so good that D and I split it at the table and had to order another one to take with us.
The next day, we had 3 attractions to hit: Ruby Falls, See Rock City, and the Incline Railway. It was a threefer pass, so we were set.
We hit Ruby early because it was Racin' at Ruby and we are NOT race fans. That started after lunch, so we wanted to be in and out before the race nuts got up the mountain. It was an interesting place. I would NEVER go again. It's a privately owned attraction, and I don't like how they keep the caves and falls. They take HUGE groups through the caverns with 1 tour guide for like 50 people. She can't keep an eye on them. You know if you touch the formations, they die. Folks kept leaning and touching stuff. I was going nutzo. And it's a half mile in to the falls....you get like 5 minutes at the falls before the lights go out. And then it's a half mile out at break neck speed. You could tell the whole time that it was a money machine and not a true attraction for the beauty of the formations. It felt like they were pimping the falls. I didn't like it at all.
There weren't even any bats in the caves. What's a cave without bats?
Since we had walked a billion miles before lunch, we went to the Incline Railway next. We got on at the top and rode down and back up. It was intense. That was one crazy train ride. The little speakers said that it had served to get expectant moms down the mountain to the hospital to give birth. I loved that.
We saved Rock City for last, and I'm really glad we did. After the obvious capitalism of Ruby Falls, Rock City was like an untended wild space for me. I loved it. That's where the title of this post comes from.
If you don't know about Rock City (how?), it's this crazy place full of paths and gardens in, around, and through huge rock formations. The thing I can remember the most about Rock City from my childhood is Fat Man's Squeeze. I'm officially a squoze fat person now. I got through the needle, but Fat Man's Squeeze was really squeezy. I got in there ok, but half way through, I couldn't go any farther....ruh roh. So I wiggled down to my knees and crawled the rest of the way out on my hands and knees. It was very ladylike I assure you. Ah hem.
I love the icon of the red barn with "See Rock City" painted on it. LOVE IT. I also love that Neil Gaimen made it a holy place. :D
I even walked on the swing along bridge. ACK. Had to keep telling myself, "it's not a bridge, only a weird path..not a bridge....not a freakin' bridge....not a bridge...just keep swimming swimming swimming..."
I don't know about seeing 7 states...but they say you can.
As it was the weekend of freakin' fears and bridges (also don't do heights):
Best place at Rock City:
And I should have taken a shot of the outlook I had to go out on to get this picture:
It was like a concrete slab poured on air with a rail sticking it to the side of the mountain. I couldn't do the standing up out there, so I kinda crawled out there and got on my belly to take that shot. Great picture- terrible experience taking it. I feel ill just talking about it. I should note that neither D nor his Moms would come out there with me. [Another note: D doesn't have multiple mothers. He just calls his mom "Moms" for whatever reason.]
When we went back down the mountain, we found a tunnel to go through on the way back to the hotel.
And we went barhopping. Best Long Island Ice Tea in TN.
Thanks for reading the longest post on planet earth! I took lots of cool photos. More of them can be found on my flickr. :D
*********************************************************************
We went on Vacay with D's mom a few weekends ago to Chattanooga, TN. We had a good time and did most of the touristy things to do in the town in 3 days. I know right?
We went up on Thursday night after work so that we could wake up in TN on Friday to make our 10:30 aquarium tickets.
We got there early and since our hotel had a crappy breakfast, we were hungry. We found a little spot called the Blue Plate. It was awesome and had the best servers evar. We got this little hottie named David. He was a great server, got us great food fast, and gave us the DL on Chatty. He gave us tons o' places to eat, and I think we lucked out with him. More on him later.
They have a sea horse exhibit down stairs, but to get to the real show, you ride what could possibly the the world's LONGEST escalator. This was taken from the top.
It took ages to go all the way up. But the cool thing is that you go from the top to the bottom of the aquarium like following the water to the ocean. They had some wicked large catfish in a tank. There was a diver in there feeding while we were there, and the fish was as big or BIGGER than the huge man diver. UM NO. I would NOT be in that water. No way, no how.
We have been to the Atlanta aquarium, so we have seen a lot of these fish before, but they had the coolest otters EVAR! They were HUGE and very playful. The TN aquarium wins over ATL because they have a better otter viewing area. I got great shots of them.
Of course, we were also in the middle of about 1000808 school kids- we went right when schools were about to let out, so they were all on friggin' field trips! ACK.
This was in their butterfly garden.After the aquarium, we went across the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge to explore the North Shore because hottie David said there was a good lunch place over there.
I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm terrified of bridges. I hate driving over them, hate walking over them. H.A.T.E. them. Like I freak out and have panic attacks on bridges. Soo...yeah. We WALKED across the pedestrian BRIDGE to the North Shore to explore. They walked; I crept. I also cried. I really d.o. n.o.t. do bridges. I finally got across the damn thing.
It was worth it I guess because we crossed to find a great little ice cream place called Clumpies. They make all their own ice cream. FAB! I had lemon cream, D had butter pecan, and Moms had....something? The best part about clumpies besides the homemade everything was a shirt I tried to get D to buy: it said simply, "Creamy." I thought it was funny. He thought it was inappropriate. That's why I thought it was funny, but anywho.
We walked around a little more, but we had to hoof it back across because we had tickets to ride the aquarium's River Gorge Explorer boaty thing. D and his Moms got all cracked out on the time and rushed us down to the dock (yeah, another bridge to get to the dock...ugh). They thought the ride started at 3pm. I knew it was 3:30 and kept asking if we could slow down or sit down. NO! WE HAVE TICKETS! So we finally get there and they realize what I've known all along: we're WAAY early. Of course, you know, it was my fault that we were early then. We did get to sit down in the shade finally on the dock and waited for the boat.
It pulled up and was like a yacht big to me. It was crazy fun to ride that boat. It goes up to like 55 mph on the water and comes to a complete stop in seconds and on a dime at that! We stopped for every boat, float, and barge in the river that day- many many splashes!
This is where I want to live when I grow up.We cruised through the river gorge and it was really pretty. It was just nice to be out on the water after being off of it for so long. I grew up on Lake Oliver here in Col, but when I got to be a teen, it wasn't cool anymore. I can't tell you the last time I was on ANY river on a boat. Riding up top was really cool too.
That night we ate at the Market Tavern per David's suggestion from that am. It was 'lish! I had a bison burger (locally raised!) with cheese and they had chicken and fish- my burger was so good that after they ate their foods, they ordered another bison burger to share. :P This place was big on fresh, local, and fabulous. The burger bun was a roll from a local baker. Yum. They also had cupcakes from a local bakery: amaretto, strawberry, mocha, and red velvet. We got all but the mocha- we're not coffee ppl. The red velvet was so good that D and I split it at the table and had to order another one to take with us.
The next day, we had 3 attractions to hit: Ruby Falls, See Rock City, and the Incline Railway. It was a threefer pass, so we were set.
We hit Ruby early because it was Racin' at Ruby and we are NOT race fans. That started after lunch, so we wanted to be in and out before the race nuts got up the mountain. It was an interesting place. I would NEVER go again. It's a privately owned attraction, and I don't like how they keep the caves and falls. They take HUGE groups through the caverns with 1 tour guide for like 50 people. She can't keep an eye on them. You know if you touch the formations, they die. Folks kept leaning and touching stuff. I was going nutzo. And it's a half mile in to the falls....you get like 5 minutes at the falls before the lights go out. And then it's a half mile out at break neck speed. You could tell the whole time that it was a money machine and not a true attraction for the beauty of the formations. It felt like they were pimping the falls. I didn't like it at all.
There weren't even any bats in the caves. What's a cave without bats?
Since we had walked a billion miles before lunch, we went to the Incline Railway next. We got on at the top and rode down and back up. It was intense. That was one crazy train ride. The little speakers said that it had served to get expectant moms down the mountain to the hospital to give birth. I loved that.
We saved Rock City for last, and I'm really glad we did. After the obvious capitalism of Ruby Falls, Rock City was like an untended wild space for me. I loved it. That's where the title of this post comes from.
If you don't know about Rock City (how?), it's this crazy place full of paths and gardens in, around, and through huge rock formations. The thing I can remember the most about Rock City from my childhood is Fat Man's Squeeze. I'm officially a squoze fat person now. I got through the needle, but Fat Man's Squeeze was really squeezy. I got in there ok, but half way through, I couldn't go any farther....ruh roh. So I wiggled down to my knees and crawled the rest of the way out on my hands and knees. It was very ladylike I assure you. Ah hem.
I love the icon of the red barn with "See Rock City" painted on it. LOVE IT. I also love that Neil Gaimen made it a holy place. :D
I even walked on the swing along bridge. ACK. Had to keep telling myself, "it's not a bridge, only a weird path..not a bridge....not a freakin' bridge....not a bridge...just keep swimming swimming swimming..."
I don't know about seeing 7 states...but they say you can.
As it was the weekend of freakin' fears and bridges (also don't do heights):
Best place at Rock City:
And I should have taken a shot of the outlook I had to go out on to get this picture:
It was like a concrete slab poured on air with a rail sticking it to the side of the mountain. I couldn't do the standing up out there, so I kinda crawled out there and got on my belly to take that shot. Great picture- terrible experience taking it. I feel ill just talking about it. I should note that neither D nor his Moms would come out there with me. [Another note: D doesn't have multiple mothers. He just calls his mom "Moms" for whatever reason.]
When we went back down the mountain, we found a tunnel to go through on the way back to the hotel.
And we went barhopping. Best Long Island Ice Tea in TN.
Thanks for reading the longest post on planet earth! I took lots of cool photos. More of them can be found on my flickr. :D
Monday, May 17, 2010
Hidden
Hideandsheep has hidden away! I haven't heard not a peep (sheep) out of this person! I'm giving Hideandsheep until next Tuesday to stop hiding and sheep up for the prize. After that, I'm gonna pull a new grand prize wiener.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Won
Congrats to hideandsheep and RaenWa who both won! That's right. I pulled two names. I felt bad having only one winner (and even still felt bad after all of y'all put in, but I am not MADE of money!), so I'm diggin' in the stash to make up a second prize of Stitches goodies. I think I found something to go- a little ball of colorful Laines Du Nord Korall yarn (it says fancy on the back?)- it's soo cool. Each ply is a different color and it says that it's "100% Merino Fine Irrestringible" which sounds like a good thing. I got this at Stitches last year too. Notice that I'm not willing to part with the haul from this year yet- still too new. Like a new baby I guess- only mama can hold her! :D
So you two lucky ducks email me at Scooby_dooby_doo_2002 aht yahoo daht com. (Y'all are smart enough to know that aht should be subbed for @ and daht should be . Right? Right.
Sorry for all of the broken hearted out there. It's like the Audi commercial says, in all friendly competition, there is a winner....
** I LOVE that commercial. We saw it during the Olympics, and I thought we were gonna hork Dr. Pepper through our noses! hahahaha
So you two lucky ducks email me at Scooby_dooby_doo_2002 aht yahoo daht com. (Y'all are smart enough to know that aht should be subbed for @ and daht should be . Right? Right.
Sorry for all of the broken hearted out there. It's like the Audi commercial says, in all friendly competition, there is a winner....
** I LOVE that commercial. We saw it during the Olympics, and I thought we were gonna hork Dr. Pepper through our noses! hahahaha
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Now for Freeness
Since we can't all make it to the Stitches Show, I thought I would bring a little stitches home with me. I swiped things from all over the place. This is the racked up swag:
The prize includes:
The Eat.Sleep.Knit coffee cup from the Rav party with a pen, 4 mini skeins of yarn, and a coupon.
2 mission falls samples
a lion brand catalogue package (has a lion brand magnet- a $3.95 value!)
a plastic zippy change pouch from univeral yarns
a cha cha scarf pattern
a blue go knit pouch
a Hello my Rav name is buttonn
a Stitches South 2010 Bob and Peach button from Rav.
a sock pattern from Plymoth yarns (basketweave socks)
a cocoon scarf pattern in both knit and crochet *this was EVERYWHERE this year- weird
PLUS- 2 skeins of Stitches South 2009 yarns that have been hidden away in the stash- 1 purple and 1 green of Elsbeth Lavold silky wool (192 yrds each, 45% wool, 35% silk, 20% nylon
To win:
Leave a comment here. It's that simple. Since the coffee cup is kinda heavy and is um..fragile, I'd like to keep this in the states (and Canada). However, if you are just gonna die if you can enter and live across the pond, we can try to ship it to you over the big bad ocean.
If you plurk, tweet, facebook, blog, skywrite, etc. this giveaway, give me a linky and I'll give you an extra entry for every medium into the drawing. So that means if you comment, plurk, tweet, facebook, and blog it, you get your name entered 5 times. Simple, huh? I'll leave this open until April 30 at 6pm EST. At that time, I'll write you all on a slip of paper, clip you apart, and let D draw a winner. He's half blind in one eye and deaf in the other, so it will be fair to all entrants. Promise. Scout's honor.
* the coupon to eat.sleep.knit expires on the 26th though. If you're gonna die without that, email me and I'll tell you what it is*
The prize includes:
The Eat.Sleep.Knit coffee cup from the Rav party with a pen, 4 mini skeins of yarn, and a coupon.
2 mission falls samples
a lion brand catalogue package (has a lion brand magnet- a $3.95 value!)
a plastic zippy change pouch from univeral yarns
a cha cha scarf pattern
a blue go knit pouch
a Hello my Rav name is buttonn
a Stitches South 2010 Bob and Peach button from Rav.
a sock pattern from Plymoth yarns (basketweave socks)
a cocoon scarf pattern in both knit and crochet *this was EVERYWHERE this year- weird
PLUS- 2 skeins of Stitches South 2009 yarns that have been hidden away in the stash- 1 purple and 1 green of Elsbeth Lavold silky wool (192 yrds each, 45% wool, 35% silk, 20% nylon
To win:
Leave a comment here. It's that simple. Since the coffee cup is kinda heavy and is um..fragile, I'd like to keep this in the states (and Canada). However, if you are just gonna die if you can enter and live across the pond, we can try to ship it to you over the big bad ocean.
If you plurk, tweet, facebook, blog, skywrite, etc. this giveaway, give me a linky and I'll give you an extra entry for every medium into the drawing. So that means if you comment, plurk, tweet, facebook, and blog it, you get your name entered 5 times. Simple, huh? I'll leave this open until April 30 at 6pm EST. At that time, I'll write you all on a slip of paper, clip you apart, and let D draw a winner. He's half blind in one eye and deaf in the other, so it will be fair to all entrants. Promise. Scout's honor.
* the coupon to eat.sleep.knit expires on the 26th though. If you're gonna die without that, email me and I'll tell you what it is*
Stitches South 2010
Whew. I'm kinda glad to be home in my pjs and listening to John Mayer and the rain fall. Today was one long, busy, crazy, fun, fantastic, wooly day.
Whew.
Before you read any further, I need every one of you out there in the Intarwebs to raise your right hand and repeat after me:
"I will not tell D what all L purchased today. I will not mention it in his presence, bring it up to him, or say, 'Golly, how much did you let her spend!'"
Realize that this is a solemn oath between all of us. You keep mum or I'll dig secrets up and tell your person of interest! That is not a threat. It's as solemn as the oath above- it's a freaking promise!
Now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, we can move on to the haul:
That's the fambly picture that I took once I wrangled them all together. You can see Cousin Swift lurking in the back of the pack- someone said that his cotton ties made him look too country. He'll live though ( a steal at $25 at Just Our Yarns- coulda spent a mint on her handwoven scarves!). I posted notes on the flickr page.
Highlights:
Hello- doorprize that I won at the Rav. party on Thursday night:
BUGGA! 'Nuff said.
Crazy Good sale at Booth 419- Emma was the discount code for a 10% off- her bulldog. NO IDEA WHO THIS IS!
MacKintosh Fibers - the yarn logo with the cute puppy in the logo
This person was so sweet and nice. We talked forever while I was buying this braid. Really cool person. I want to steal her dog a little.
Or a lot.
Meeting the RavDudes:
This is MaryHeather and Casey the CodeMonkey doing the meetngreet outside while we were hearding into the Rav Party. If you blow up the pic, you'll see that casey has MONSTAEYE OF DOOM! because I was trying to fix the redeye, but made him look more crazy when I tried to fix it. Eh.
And if you've made it this far, you get a great reward. I'm going to post a giveaway in a seperate post in just a few minutes. Now you know about it. I've giving away swag from the event plus some yarn I stashed from there last year...that I have YET to knit. Sos life I guess.
Here's the 1 pic I took today- H taking a pic of the ultimate stash wall of doom.
And 1 really cool pic I took while I waited for D outside on Thursday.
Come back in a few for the giveaway. :D
Whew.
Before you read any further, I need every one of you out there in the Intarwebs to raise your right hand and repeat after me:
"I will not tell D what all L purchased today. I will not mention it in his presence, bring it up to him, or say, 'Golly, how much did you let her spend!'"
Realize that this is a solemn oath between all of us. You keep mum or I'll dig secrets up and tell your person of interest! That is not a threat. It's as solemn as the oath above- it's a freaking promise!
Now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, we can move on to the haul:
That's the fambly picture that I took once I wrangled them all together. You can see Cousin Swift lurking in the back of the pack- someone said that his cotton ties made him look too country. He'll live though ( a steal at $25 at Just Our Yarns- coulda spent a mint on her handwoven scarves!). I posted notes on the flickr page.
Highlights:
Hello- doorprize that I won at the Rav. party on Thursday night:
BUGGA! 'Nuff said.
Crazy Good sale at Booth 419- Emma was the discount code for a 10% off- her bulldog. NO IDEA WHO THIS IS!
MacKintosh Fibers - the yarn logo with the cute puppy in the logo
This person was so sweet and nice. We talked forever while I was buying this braid. Really cool person. I want to steal her dog a little.
Or a lot.
Meeting the RavDudes:
This is MaryHeather and Casey the CodeMonkey doing the meetngreet outside while we were hearding into the Rav Party. If you blow up the pic, you'll see that casey has MONSTAEYE OF DOOM! because I was trying to fix the redeye, but made him look more crazy when I tried to fix it. Eh.
And if you've made it this far, you get a great reward. I'm going to post a giveaway in a seperate post in just a few minutes. Now you know about it. I've giving away swag from the event plus some yarn I stashed from there last year...that I have YET to knit. Sos life I guess.
Here's the 1 pic I took today- H taking a pic of the ultimate stash wall of doom.
And 1 really cool pic I took while I waited for D outside on Thursday.
Come back in a few for the giveaway. :D
Monday, April 12, 2010
Hotlanta
It was my birthday over the weekend (Friday to be exact), and we packed up and headed into the big city for a weekend adventure. I must say that I have always been TERRIFIED!!! of big city driving. Petrified even. But armed with a new car that I trust to get me going and NOT break down and a Nuvi, I was at home driving the crazy. I managed to get everywhere we needed to be, and we never even got lost! We went the wrong way a few times because of traffic, but Nuvilou got us back on track with little effort. She was "recalculating" a lot this weekend!
We got the Atlanta CityPass that got us into all sorts of places like the Aquarium, the World of Coke, the Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, the High Museum of Art, and the CNN Center. We skipped the last two because we just wanted to piddle around the neighborhood on Sunday.
The Aquarium was a lot of fun because our friend J had never been before. She wants to go back this summer when her son gets home (he's seven). What was cool was that the CityPass got us a ticket to the 3-d show and something called the Quick Dip Backstage pass. We gave a little family our tickets to the 3-d show, but the quick dip thing was AWESOME!!!! You get to go behind the exhibits and see things from a crazy different view. We got to see the top of the tank where the whale sharks are kept and they were so beautiful swimming so close to the top.
We went to the World O' Coke next and stood in line. Then we stood in another line. And after that, we got to stand in another line. Yeah. I wasn't feeling the world of Coke. I would NEVER pay $$ to go back in there. I would suggest just going over and shopping the gift shop from the back entrance and skipping the whole museum dealyo.
That afternoon we parked at the hotel (The Highland Inn - crappiest hotel I've ever paid over $120 a night for!), and we got the nuvi back out to see what food was near. We walked to the Vortex Bar and Grill because I had seen it on Man VS Food on the Travel Channel. I was stoked because I had wanted to go to this burger joint when I saw it on TV. If you are ever in the ATL, go by there and have a burger and fries. I got the black and blue burger (cajun blackened burger and blue cheeze spread).
And that's where the fun nearly stopped. While we were in the hotel recovering from the cows we had eaten, I got up off of the side of the bed closest to the wall. I was barefoot since I was relaxing, and I slammed my bare toes into an exposed pipe jutting up from the floor. This tripped me up and I went down face first over the bed, hit the radiator (old hotel, built in 1927), and slid down to the floor. D and J said it all happened in slow motion and that if we'd have had the camera out, we might be $200,000 richer...
After I started crying, they knew that the fall was not a pratfall and that I was indeed hurt. I finally pulled myself up into a sitting position to find my middle toe split open and bleeding. And it hurt like all get out! I was terribly upset because I was afraid the next day would be ruined because we had planned to walk the zoo and botanical gardens. I hobbled down to the front desk and the night guy shrugged it off after handing me a few tiny bandaides.
I tried to still have a good time that night, but the bar downstairs was 1)lame and 2) LAME and 3) OH SO LAME that I was bored to tears and packed into bed early.
The next day was much nicer than the previous night. We walked the zoo early and avoided many of the screaming kids by moving quickly (or as quickly as you can with a busted toe and flipflops because you hurt too bad to wear shoes). D and J kept losing me in the crowd, but I finally found them again. It was really funny to watch the animals since it was spring time- lots of babymaking on lots of animal minds.
The Botanical Gardens were SOOO cool. They had a display of orchids that was OUT OF THIS WORLD! It was called Towers of Flowers. I took sooooo many pictures of them that I think I could walk you through the whole exhibit.
We ended the day at Ikea. That store is crazy. We're going back to buy some new bookshelves. They are larger than the ones we were going to buy from Staples and about $40 cheaper. Hello new guestroom.
The day before we had found a shop next to the hotel that sold independent artist's stuff and J bought us an original painted that was very neat. The funny thing is that I had picked up a lot of postcards that were prints of paintings, and the original and the postcards were all by the same artist. We found out that the artist was having an opening on Saturday night. We went there (a bit too early) and bought up some new prints of her new work. We heart her stuff. Now we have new art to put in our hallway since we've been living with naked walls for months because we were tired of the old stuff.
Sunday was a lazy day. We got up and loaded up the car. We wanted to go back to a store we saw the day before, but it didn't open until 12. We went to a Whole Foods (this is why I'm going to move to ATL) and shopped while J went to a bookstore next door. We all wound up next door shopping for books, and then we could go back to the Junkman's Daughter (a crazy alt shop). I got a darwin fish for my car and D got a set of salt and pepper shakers (humping bunnies). We went back to the Vortex for lunch, and then walked around Little Five Points. There were some funky shops. We spent hours in Bang-On making custom tshirts. J made 2 for her kid and 2 for her. I did 1 for me with zoo animals.
We finally got home about 6 and crashed into the bed. I was dog tired, but I had a good time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)