Dinner, walk, and loferl

Last night I went to dinner with some coworkers. Every year MilwaukeeDowntown.com has a dining week. The idea is you get a gourmet dinner, usually worth between $30 to $40 for $20. It is a fun way to experience gourmet food at a more affordable price. Now not all the places I would consider gourmet, like the restaurant "Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery", but most of them are pretty classy. Last year we went to a place called Yanni's (no relation to the musician) that was super gourmet and classy atmosphere. We were spoiled rotton, had a fabulous waitor and really really great food. Unfortunately in the last year they closed. So sad.

This year we went to a seafood restaurant called Rip Tide in the Third Ward neighborhood of downtown. They charge the typical high prices for their seafood, but of course we were getting the $20 deal. My appetizer was shrimp cocktail that was very delicious. The entree I had was the crab cake dinner. I LOVE crab cakes and theirs wasn't bad. The ramoulade sauce was very good and had just the right kick. They also had cooked vegetables, but they weren't seasoned and I am not really that into veggies. There were also red potatoes that were really yummy. I dipped my cut up potatoes in the leftover ramoulade sauce and enjoyed it very much. I wish I had thought of taking pictures of the food. My coworkers were camera shy so I didn't get a picture of all of us. Too bad, I was wearing a cute shirt, earrings, and eye shadow (though you probably wouldn't have been able to see the eye shadow). Even straightened my hair. I need to do all of this on a daily basis, then maybe I will be able to get a date. ;-)

Now for the restaurant itself. NOISY!!!! Then you get to hear over the loud speaker "Smith party of 2". Really super annoying. It is also over the loud speakers outside. Definitely a casual bar atmosphere which really isn't my thing so much. So I wouldn't half mind going back (if for no other reason, I LOVE seafood), but maybe when it is warmer out and sitting outside.

Here are the pictures I did take, of the sign of the resaurant and of the outside of the restaurant. You see how close we were to the river and to the Hoan Bridge.



Now, my favorite pictures of today's walk with my mom:




I had an interesting thing happen this week. Our company has like an online classified ads viewable only within the company system. Someone needed an experienced knitter. Her family is part of a Bavarian dance group that will perform at German Fest. They lost their knitter that made one part (the calf part) of their split socks I later learned is called loferl. She didn't have a pattern, but will be sending it to me, so I can try to figure out the pattern and hopefully my friend Nicole and I will be able to knit some for the group (Some of the boys need a bigger size and they wouldn't mind having some backups). I am mostly German, but I really don't know much about my German heritage. I don't know if our family is remotely Bavarian or not, but I really love learning more about it. I will keep all of you updated on what happens.

The plan for this weekend is to finish my Granny Daughters (the first round of a granny square) for a craft swap and do two rapunzel scarves for another swap. All of this should be fairly quick (I hope). Then I want to work on dishcloths for my aunts and a spider scarf for a personal swap. I will post pictures of things as I am able to. I still haven't taken any pictures of the art and photography I want to put on my walls. Sometime I will.

Have a great weekend everyone!!! :-D

Downy Woodpecker

The myster bird at the feeder is, as far as I can tell, is the Downy Woodpecker, there is a chance it could be the Hairy Woodpecker, but I feel like it is the Downy Woodpecker. Any birders out there?

Garden, walk, and Goodwill

So this post has been a long time coming. I was really hoping to do it a couple of days ago, but better late than never. I didn't finish my garden until today. To view all the garden pictures (and if you click on the pictures you can see my comments and most of them have comments) go here: http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r310/myklia/Garden%202009/

This is my DIY compost bin, holes drilled by my dad:


The process of getting rid of weeds. One section done and one being worked on:


Section in the process of getting weeds out and the other section that was yet to go:


One of the beetles living in my garden:


Plants in (though some you can't see because they are seeds in the ground, go to photo album link above for full descriptions of everything, I figure this post will be long enough as it is):




Finally for the "garden" pics, this one is really of an interesting bird at my bird feeder. Anyone know what this bird is, I would love to know:


Again, see all the pictures and descriptions at the link above.

My favorite pictures from this last weeks walk:





Ok, I actually have more favorites than that, see all the pictures here: http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r310/myklia/walks%202009/

Finally, I went to Goodwill today to pick up some stuff. I needed sunglasses, a trellis like structure for my green beans, and some picture frames. I have a bit of artsy photographs received in crafting swaps and some artwork from Etsy and from my niece Brianna that I need framed. This will all be for my craft room. Whatever frame isn't already silverish, I will probably spray paint a silver/pewter color to make the mish mosh a little more cohesive. I still need a lot more frames.

So of course to start of are the picture frames. The first pictures are ones from Goodwill and the second are a couple of frames I got from my mom. She has another one that I think I will take. It is beautiful and will add to the eclectic nature of my craft room that I am going for.



My "trellis". I need to do a bit more work in making this more secure in the ground and then make it "artsy" as well as add wires horizontally to make it even more practical for being a trellis.


And finally me in my new sunglasses from Goodwill. I went to Cousins to get lunch and saw a couple of ladies in the parking lot and had them take a picture of me. I'm sure they thought I was totally and completely nuts. They didn't seem like the type to have a sense of humor. Oh well, I thought it was fun.


So now I am thinking I should take a picture of the photographs and artwork I want to put on my walls for all of you to see. I will try to do that within the next week.

So more pictures than chat today, but that is just fine sometimes. I will leave you with the million ways of learning about me/keeping up with me on the internet:
Photobucket
Twitter
Facebook
Listography
Craftster.org
Etsy favorites

Current Etsy treasury focused on Coney Island. Will expire on Thursday morning May 28th. After that it will disappear into cyberspace.

Am I missing any Nicole???

(now I hope I don't have any grammatical/spelling errors since I rushed through this, please forgive me if I do )

Coming up...

Took pictures on my Mom and I's walk today. We also went Stein's Garden where I bought more plants, mostly tomato plants. Also got a couple of pepper plants and a zucchini plant. Tomorrow I still have another section to weed out and then I still have many many seeds to plant (in a previous blog post in April). Also still have onions to plant. Yummm.....

I hope to take pictures tomorrow so you can see my hard work. Will post pictures of the walk and garden tomorrow or Monday. I received my yarn to start a spider scarf for a personal swap. I am excited about it, but some parts look complicated. I feel experienced enough now I feel like I should be able to figure anything out. If nothing else, I'll call 911 (my friend Nicole who has already done this, she really needs to live closer to me, oh well ;) ).

Below, I added to my list of facts about me, also found here: http://listography.com/myklia
That listography site is bound to become a new addiction, so be sure to check it every so often.

So all this is upcoming on my blog. For now I am dirty, tired, and hungry. :)

Finally pictures of the walk

These were taken at Lions Den Gorge park in Ozaukee, WI

A Red Tanger bird:


My fave tree on a sunny day finally getting some leaves:


I love this picture:


Finally pictures of the beach and/or water:





Now for the swap. The idea is that you craft for someone else based on the 100 things about themselves. You craft 5 points. A large is 3 points, a medium is 2 points, and a small is 1 point. So you could do 5 smalls, or 2 mediums and 1 small, however you wish to craft those 5 points. It should be fun and shouldn't be too stressful.

I took more pictures of birds and garden, but will have to wait for when I have the time and patience to upload and edit them. Off to bed soon.

Walk and 100 things about me

Ok, computer needs a "rest", hope to still post pictures on the walk in an hour or so. For now, I am joining a swap called "100 things about me". Here is most of the list. Will write more about it later, maybe.

1. I love music
2. I knit
3. I do basic beading
4. I crochet a little
5. I have no poly clay talent, gave up on it
8. I love to garden
9. Been getting into birds lately
10. Love hiking
11. Love camping
12. Love biking
13. Trying to lose weight
14. Fave colors are turquois blue, aqua blue, Robin's egg blue, orange, light/lime green, yellow, red
15. Don't like pastels though
16. I love deer heads (fake ones)
17. Obsessed with Ferris Wheels
18. Love taking photos (not so good at it)
19. Hate editing and uploading photos
20. Love nature
21. Love fish (eating them ), pretty to look at too
22. On computer way too much
23. Love art
24. Hate work
25. Hate snow
26. Want to learn to surf
27. Would love to live in southern California or Hawaii (would be happy here if we had warm sunny weather year round)
28. Want to be more eco friendly
29. Want to visit the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State
30. I am agnostic
31. I am a progressive liberal
32. I love frogs
33. I love beluga whales
34. I love trains
35. I hat flying, but I love airports and watching airplanes.
36. I hate squirrels (wouldn't be so bad if they left my bird feeders alone)
37. I love mid-century modern
38. I love cooking
39. I am single
40. I used to be a college radio DJ
41. I once was 7 years old
42. I am shy in person
43. I want more real life friends
44. I love the book Blankets by Craig Thompson
45. I wish I was more artistic and be able to paint, draw, and do sculptures.
46. I love Etsy
47. I love magazines (ReadyMade, Dwell, Clear and other alternative fashion magazines, City, Surface)
48. Favorite yarn fiber is cotton.
49. I love Chicago
50. Nina's is my fave yarn shop in Chicago
51. I love the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
52. I love sushi
53. I love middle eastern food
54. I spin yarn
55. Loopy is my 2nd fave yarn shop in Chicago
56. I have had a ring fetish lately
57. I love jewelry
58. I love poetry
59. I love handspun yarn
60. I love Calvin & Hobbes
61. I love vintage, especially 1970s
62. I have a bag addiction
63. I love other people's photography
64. I love men's watches
65. I love cloche hats
66. I love making dishcloths
67. Jamie Oliver rocks
68. So does Alton Brown
69. I am diabetic
70. I love ceramics (I don't make them though)
71. I love rain
72. I love fog
73. I love vintage carnivals
74. I love beaches (not the movie)
75. I love Lake Michigan
76. I love handmade soap
77. I love seafood
78. I love swimming
79. I love circles
80. I love glass arts (I don't do them)
81. I love lifting weights
82. I love bowls
83. I love goodwill
84. I love vintage shoes
85. I love clouds
86. I love rocks
87. I love trees
88. I love jackets
89. I love origami
90. I love the movies
* Lost in Translation
* Metropolis (the 1927 movie)
* Chunking Express
91. I love sculptures
92. I love terreriums
93. I wish I could sew
94. I love caplets
95. I love armwarmers
96. I love record players (and vinyl albums)
97. I am funky eclectic eccentric
98. I love sunrises
99. I love cuff links (weird, I know)
100. I love handmade books
* I love the show Democracy Now
* I love old blues/country music (like 1920s to 1940s)
*I wish there was a Honda Element Hybrid
* I LOVE driving country roads
* I miss my grandpa (who instilled my love of country roads)
* I love road trips, preferably on back country roads.
* I want to visit New England and eat seafood
* I want to go to Coney Island
* I want to go on the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island.
* I also want to go to the Santa Monica Pier
* I love Ferris Wheels (worth mentioning a second time ;-))
* I love ethnic and/or unique restaurants
* I also love some local hole in the wall type restaurants.
* I would love to have sit down dinner parties if only I had friends that would enjoy them.
* I would love to create a recipe and then win a recipe contest
* I hate Disney except for Fantasia and Peter Pan. I like Stitch himself, but not the movies.
* My mom and I try to take walks weekly in the summer and go camping a couple of times.
* I am not into skulls or pirates
* When I lose weight I want to be a high heel junkie
* I need sunglasses
* I would love to go to scandanavia and learn all the languages plus hang out with the Sami peolple.
* I love a lot of scandanavian music.
* I love pure authentic ethnic music.
* I hate it when people spell "a lot" like one word instead of two, the way it should be.
* I hate it when people confuse "lose" vs "loose".
*I HATE the color pink
* I don't drink or smoke and I have never done an illegal drug.
* Despite the previous, not all the music I listen to is clean.
* I love photo booth pictures, but I have never been in one.
* I love cats but I am allergic to them
* I am not a dog person
* I wish I could be vegetarian, but I like meat too much.
* I love robots
* I want to learn more origami and how to do paper sculptures
* I don't enjoy scrapbooking
* I would love to learn how to work with metal for both jewelry making and making sculptures
* I love silver, but not so much into gold
* I love hoodies, but it is hard to find cool ones that fit my large size. I love some of the really unique designs out there.
* I have no idea how many things this is about me now. I didn't realize there was so much and I'm sure there is more.

I am no longer keeping up with numbers, but this is a lot and this is fun to do.

• Don't drink, don't smoke, I have never done an illegal drug in my life, but the music I listen to wouldn't reflect that.
• I have never been drunk
• If I were ever get married (doesn't seem so likely)I would want the wedding to be barefoot on a beach, totally DIY, with a Hawaiian theme
• I really want to learn how to knit socks
• I wear black socks for work and white socks on the weekends and for working out.
• I would love bicycle accessories.
• I would love armwarmers even more.
• I want to start wearing more make-up (natural only) and wear more earrings.
• I love hoopy earrings most and dangly earrings second most.
• I love dragonflies and damselflies & once had a dragonfly land and hang out on me.
• I once had a praying mantis land and hang out on me.
• I have been on the Dennis Sullivan Schooner and LOVED it.
• I hate tie dye and wish it would disappear completely.
• I hate polo shirts, especially the ones with busy designs.
• I love shamrock shakes.
• I love mint ice cream.
• I love peppermint.
• I do Universal Jigsaw every morning.
• I love blood oranges
• I love Orange Crush soda (though I rarely drink it because not so good for a diabetic)
• I love Sprecher Root Beer (again, drink rarely because not so good for me).
• I don't like clowns or poppits
• I want to learn how to make my own eco cleaning products and eco make-up and beauty care products.
• I love to give cats tummy rubs if they let me.
• I don't like dogs
• I love rodents
• I am part city girl and part country girl
• I love blank sketch books though I rarely use them, just admire them, but I would love to use them.
• I like to write a lot, but I speak little
• I love handmade gifts (or craft supplies)
• I love big bodies of water
• I think it would be cool to travel on a barge.
• I hate the color pink
• Despite that, I am girly girl
• I still love camping though
• I wish I could afford to buy a house.
• I want a nice yard and patio.

Still here

This evening I'll post some of the pictures of the walk that my mom and I went on in Lion's Den Gorge. This time it was sunny out and I have some picture of a red tanger bird. Super gorgeous.

Yesterday was working on pulling on weeds to clear out a garden bed for planting. I still have one more to do. I am super sore and aching today. I didn't take any pictures. Maybe I will tonight. Show off my hard work even though it doesn't look interesting. ;-)

life

Eh, cruddy day today, but I'm chilled out now. Had my eye doctor appointment yesterday. Apparently I am getting old (since when? I feel like I'm 25)? I am a little farsighted. So once in a blue moon I might need to wear 1.25 reading glasses, something I have already started anyways. Only really need them if the lighting is bad. Now try driving with dilated eyes while wearing blueblockers. I don't recommend it. Oooh, headache!! Yick!! Next year's appointment I will make sure I wear "normal" sunglasses.

Etsy treasury didn't get too many hits. Oh well. I thought it was a fun one.

Oh, this last Sunday saw Star Trek with the family. I really loved it. Not much else to say for now I guess.

Another video for "Balloon Ranger"

I can't seem to find anywhere where you can listen to the whole song in good quality. Sorry.

Again....

This is the last Etsy treasury for a while, I promise. It is inspired by the Ane Brun song Balloon Ranger: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=57482

Unfortunately the video starts in the middle of the song and doesn't give you as good a feel for the song as the album:


I will be seeing the new Star Trek later today with family. I look forward to it.

Yarn swift and ball winder, music

So my friend elociNNicole (Nicole) made me a yarn swift and gave me ball winder for my birthday. I am really really amazed by all this. I don't know how I have lived my whole life without this. It was so quick and easy to use. You should have seen my previous methods for winding yarn into center pull balls with my hands. This is soooooooooo much better. Some pictures to demonstrate:

The swift, the yarn, and the ball winder:


Process of winding yarn around the swift:


Yarn now completely around swift:


I forgot to take a before shot of the yarn initially attached to the ball winder. The yarn is thread through the metal loops and the center pull part attached to the top of the winder. Almost done here:


A gorgeous center pull ball of yarn at the ready for someone's travel scarf (*cough* mochaxlight *cough*):


On Thursday my mom and I got to see a couple of great bands at the Cedarburg Cultural Center. We saw the bands Longacre (also at myspace.com/longacremusic) and Testa Rosa. The sounds are different from each other. Longacre is like mystical folk music to me (though they are more broad than that, hard to describe) and Testa Rosa is definitely like 1960s pop for modern day, but again, more than that. Definitely check out their music. I really love both bands.

Willy Porter tells us how to rob a bank. Look on the right side of the page and choose the song "How to Rob a Bank".

That does it for today. Just pretty much plan on crafting today and hope some of my packages will come in already. :-P Waited long enough already.

More stuff birthday related and not and dork commentary

First, some things I have recently received. I hadn't posted about the super cute ugly doll I got from my niece Michelle when she was in New York. I LOVE, super duper LOVE, ugly dolls. This is officially my fourth one. She wasn't sure what else to give me, but I really love this.


What goes better with a yarn swift than a yarn ball winder. I hope to try this out on Saturday and take pictures while I'm at it so all you non yarnies get an idea what it is about.


This is a ring I got from Etsy.com I super love these big chunky rings.


Song I have been stuck on for the past couple of days. Now this is not the official video nor is it the actual band in the video, but the song is the orignal album version that I have been listening to:

Pretty convincing. I need to create a playlist for my iPod with Switchfoot, Lifehouse, and James. I think it would be pretty awesome.

I commonly refer to myself as a dork. My version of a dork is someone who is social, but not afraid to be their quirky self. I definitely march to the beat of my own drum. Yesterday, two things happened. One, I'm not sure how we got into this, my co worker was saying she would NEVER call herself a dork and I said I am a total dork. When I got home I looked at the Craftster swaps (a very dangerous place to be, for me anyways ;-)) and saw there was a "Geek Chic" swap ( http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=302572.0 ). There is even a link in there to wikipedia about geek chic (about half way down the page).

So this lead me to wondering what would be considered the difference between a geek, a nerd and a dork and I found this: http://militantgeek.com/2006/12/21/geek-vs-nerd-vs-dork/
Other pages I looked at seem to pretty much confirm this assessment. My conclusion is I am not a geek, nerd, or a dork. I am not completely normal either. Then I thought about eccentric vs eclectic and the best description was in the second post on this page by VenusEnvy: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=36715
I would say I am eccentric mostly, but a little eclectic too. The only thing is the word eccentric makes think of a crazy cat lady in her house coat which I definitely am not. Even so, I pretty much fit the description, internally anyways. Just the fact that I researched all of this I think makes me pretty darn eccentric. Oh well, someone has to take on that roll, may as well be me. ;-)

Have a great evening all.

Time flies

There is much I was going to say tonight, but perhaps tomorrow morning. I did update my profile. To see my fave colors and such though you have to go to my Craftster profile.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?action=profile

You know, I hope the link works. hmmm....

The birthday never ends

So I just got a fab gift from my friend elociNNicole:


It is a yarn swift. I hope at some point to show it in action. Here is a web site showing it in action:
http://www.craftydiversions.com/patterns/homemade_yarn_swift.htm

They neighbors next door are having a big birthday party for their son. They are mexican and can you say Chorizo!!! mmmmmmm.....wish I was a part of that party. What is this about me wanting to stop eating meat except fish and seafood?? Wonder if it is possible. mmmmmmm....chorizo!!!

Weekend and new coat and chair

Hmmmm....let's see, I finished a beaded bracelet, frogged a scarf and restarted it, helped my mom's friend on her computer. Yeah, I know, so exciting. My sister turned 40 on Friday, that was fun. mmmm....pizza and cake. Onto the details and pictures.

The bracelet is an extra for the Friends of Craftster Raffle swap. My "winner" will be getting those two scarves I made. Since I figured out who my winner is, I found they love jewelry and the colors of yellow and orange (two colors amongst many that I really love). So here is the bracelet:


Coat I bought last Thursday that I LOVE:

Excuse my beautilicious just finished working out look. I don't think it really becomes me. I needed a good in between weather jacket and I didn't really have one. This is a find!!!

I helped my mom's friend with my old computer and she gave me money to buy a plastic adirondack chair I have really really been wanting (sure, I want a nice real one made of wood, but this will do and it is just as comfy and I still love it).

Just excuse the fact that I was in the middle of talking when my mom took the picture. Also ignore my weed filled garden. Must get on cleaning that out. Almost time to plant. Yay!!!

Yep, so that is my weekend. :-)

This weekend

Today is the weather I should have had on my birthday.

Yep, another Etsy Treasury, I'm obsessed: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=55833
It expires Monday at 9:59am at which point the link won't work.

I already did my laundry today. Played the how many clothes can I fit in a washer game so I can just do one load. What a dork I am.

Rest of the weekend will be crafting my little heart out. I'll post pictures as I finish things. Right now it is beading, but the rest of the weekend will be knitting.