Good Stuff

Check it out:

Is it just me or does this color change look like a tasty tequila sunrise?


Wound up.


Shuri Castle, Kingdom of the Ryukyus.


Mmm...purple sweet potato ice cream...beni imo.

Goodies!!

I don't want to brag, but I HAVE THE. BEST. S. P. EVER.

I got off work a little early yesterday, and actually had time to hit up the mail room for my stuff. You know, bills, other people's catalogs, and boxes. I'm really only going for the boxes. As if you'd ever check you mail if no boxes came!!

Anyhoo, there's TWO boxes! One from Italy with my New Year's Eve Masquerade Party masks...delivered on Jan 9th. Then there was the best one, the rockin' one, the one with YARN. I didn't even wait to get home. I ripped into it right there in the parking lot, using my keys to cut the tape. The most amazing herby lavender-minty smell was coming from the box as soon as I cut the tape, so imagine my surprise when my greedy little fingers pried the lid off a candle and it smells like: vanilla? "YES, that means there's more!!!!"

The camera returns from her trip tonight, but I want to tell you about this NOW. Here's what I got: Nerds gumballs, one didn't make it out of the parking lot! A very sexy-smelling French Vanilla Oak candle, smells so sultry and perfect for bedside, wink wink nugde nudge. The Lavender-Mint yumminess is a bar of goat's milk soap. The label says it's the real deal, and so does my nose. Zesty, herby, woody, green: PERFECT. It feels like it will be very creamy and you can still smell a teeny bit of the goat milk, which I love, as they don't have chevre here and I really love the goatiness. (Oddly enough, I can't tolerate mohair.) Some SOAK woolwash, one citrus, one aqua; both incentive to work up something and block it!

The gilding on the lily is a frickin' gorgeous -huge- hank of alpaca wool blend fingering weight in the tastiest of colorways. It's sorbet shades of raspberry, blackberry, mango and lime. I have no idea how, but the dyer managed to go from lime to blackberry without a hint of brown, just lime and blackberry at the same time. Now, y'all know I've never been a sock knitter, but I may or may not have just printed off a pattern for some toe-ups.

What you may not know about me, is that I'm a yarn sniffer. That's right. Now, SP, don't judge me, but I drove home from the post office yesterday with my face right down in that skein, loving the minty-herby-alpaca-y goodness.

THANKS!!!!

No pics...again!

Sorry folks, the Lt has the camera and he's on a business trip. Hopefully, he'll come back with some wooly goodness, but if not, I'll still let him back in the house!

Remember the green un-cabled cables? Well they got cabled. And cabled and cabled and cabled. A honeycomb was combed. There were many seed stitches sown. There were short rows, and ends woven, and the just right buttons (well, right enough, anyway) were found. I'll show you a little bit and tell you more when the camera returns. For now, the lack of camera will force me to shampoo the scratchy wool and block it into a proper fabric.

I've also picked up on the Juicy Tank again. It's getting very close to DONE. This time, I'm working out the above-the-waist increases on the back and considering neck shaping. I'm thinking it'll end up being a double-v. You know, just to keep it sassy.

So far, the resos are coming along just fine. I'm knitting between 2 and 3 hours a day, thanks to yarn-erific lunch hours. The car is trash-free (for a week)! Two stained sweaters have been booted from the closet, one replacement ordered, the other will be chosen this w/e. Grooming: check; hair appt scheduled for the 16th. I went to yoga last Saturday and am going tonight: Chaturanga, get ready to be my bitch.

The Ten

It's that time of year. You know, the time for Resolutions. (Insert ominous theme music here.) When considering resolutions for this year, I thought a lot about last year and noticed that I was thinking more about feeling than concrete checks in blocks. I'm looking back at 2006, and it feels apathetic, unambitious, and sluggish. Of course, all of these I let it have. I was one lazy mo' in 2006 and that has got to stop.

Hereafter, the theme for 2007 will be "Fabulously Productive." Fabulous? Look, just because Santa didn't bring me that flat in Paris doesn’t mean I can't decorate like he did. I vow to live fabulously and love it. This is a year of improvement.

And so, here are the "resolutions:"

1. "Obviously, lose 20 pounds." Buy a pair of jaw-dropping Manolos. Buy yoga toes so walking remains possible. Lose another 20 pounds. Buy a traffic-stopping von Furstenberg. Note: Be scantily clad when the visa bills arrive.

2. Acknowledge e-mails, phone messages and birthdays in a timely manner (+/- 7 days. Hey, I said improvement not perfection!).

3. Maintain car cleanliness so that my mother wouldn't scold me if she saw it.

4. Sass up the house. Consider slip covers, or maybe a piece of art. Practice one-in-one-out.

5. Ruthlessly cull closet offerings. Toss anything too large/small/ugly. Fix hems, replace buttons, take in waists. Fuzz bust pilly woolens. Practice one-in-one-out.

6. Groom.

7. Move. Yoga: Master the effing chaturanga;
Cardio: Find a way to make peace with a weekly sweat.

8. Food shall be real, quality, tasty, and truly satisfying. There shall be no guilt.

9. Sticks & String: One hour per day; One FO per month; One garment per quarter; One blog post per week.

10. Ecoute à "Fluent French Audio-Newsletter" régulièrement, pouvoir entendre plus de langue-parlé. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to locate café, croissants, and Louvre should Santa come through next Christmas.

Happy New Year! Peace, prosperity, and lots of yarn to you and yours.

Alice and the Looking Glass

Where we learn Ashley is listening to Tom Petty, and as a child of the MTV generation (when there was only one MTV and they actually played music videos) she cannot listen to Don't Come Around Here No More without seeing the creepy Alice in Wonderland themed video in her mind's eye... Why did Alice turn into a cake and why did they eat her? Perhaps the Petty was making a transcendental existential Freudian statement on the nature of our reality...or maybe it was the weed.

Are you an MTV child? Do you think of Kim Basinger when you hear Mary Jane's Last Dance? Does Lucky Star mean black lace and ankle booties? When you think about girls just wanting to have fun, do you want to dance in the streets with acidic dyed hair and shimmery blue eye-shadow? Hm. Maybe it's just me. I still can't watch American Idol without looking for the cartoon cat to pop out over Paula Abdul's shoulder. He's C-c-cold as ice.

There has been knitting. In fact here's a picture that is truly worth a thousand words. Most of them muttered under my breath and unsuitable for delicate sensibilities.

Notice the yarn riding off into the sunset in the upper left. That's because I'm at the end of the row. Now, your attention is ivited to the cable needle with the 3 little stitches patiently waiting to be "k fm cn?" W. T. F.

Pics of Japanese Goodies

Ok. So, I'm not so hot at this whole "juggling of life" thing, and I'm letting some proverbial balls drop. (hehe, I said 'balls')

One of those ball (hehe) being the blog. SP9, please love me anyway. I know I don't make your job easy.

Today, in lieu (which I initally typed LEW) of actual knitting content, I bring you Pics of Japanese Goodies.

Here we have some super cute socks that I didn't have to knit! I am a great lover of soft cosy comfy socks, usually the men's white athletic kind, but that's neither here nor there.

These work well cause I can go year round without having to wear real shoes. SWEET.

Here we have a super kawaii bento box. This one was intended for the Lt, but he no likey the idea of super kawaii lunches at work. The other Marines would laugh. So, I'm in search of a super butch (yet still kind of kawaii) bento box.

The wise (and well mannered) giraffe says: "It's time for lunch, please sit down there. Good nutrition and moderate exercise and good sleep are important for creatures living." Sage, no?

I bring you pics of a truly Japanese restaurant. (The restaurant, not the kitchen, more on that later.)

But, Ashley-san, where are the chairs? Um, notice the table height. And, ladies, "indian style" seating is considered unladylike. Ladies sit on their knees. There's a Japanese word for the posture, I don't know it, but I think it translates roughly as "oh. shit. this. hurts. gasp."

Now, that very Japanese restaurant is up on a mountaintop with an amazing view, beautiful landscape, very polite waitstaff and a prix-fix menu. They serve the islands tastiest pizza. Here's a pic:

But, Ashley-san, is that a corn and pepperoni pizza? Yes and No. Yes: corn. No: pepperoni. More like a spicy wiener. (Hehe. Like you didn't chuckle too!) It's a lot like pepperoni, but not quite as cured. Corn is a very common pizza topping in Japan. But, then, so is squid, so, you know, take it for what it's worth. It was SO good, though!! I was skeptical too:

But, look how I changed my mind:


Finally, here's a pic of my Japanese cat, just because she's beautiful.

What? Just cause she's white, you doubt her Japanesity? That's messed up. (So's ya know: Barley is an Ameri-CAN, having been born on Kadena Air Base...Bijou's the one with the green card.)

Bye, y'all.

SP9, You're the BEST!

My SP9 is awesome! SP9, You're awesome!

I'm totally remiss in just posting this now, because I got my package a few days ago, and I love it.

Some pics of the fabulocity. (That's a word, right?)


Here we see a HANDMADE basket. That's right. Off her own needles I suspect, and freakin' gorgeous. Even the Lt said "hey, cool basket thingy!" It's yummy tealy navy-y and has a silver trim that curls around, very Cat Bordhi. That's not all, it's filled with some super soft aqua silk blend and limey green merino blend that is so yum, I may have been seen this weekend with my nose buried in it on more than one occasion. I am now the proud owner of my very own set of KnitPicks size 2 circs...mmmm, pointy. There WERE dark choc-o-lot M&M's (now found in my jeans, if ya know what I mean), some super cute knit-themed notes and a teeny little super kawaii tape measure that's a perfect size to keep in my desk for work knitting. She even sent me a CD, and totally pegged me on my music taste. Let's just say that I've been jammin' in my own personal karaoke studio also known as my car.

(P4 SP9: The last song on the CD was a nice touch, I laughed out loud!)

I was not the only one who was super excited at the arrival of a gift:


Thanks SP9!!! We love ya.