Ski, Knit, Read.....Eat, Pray, Love?

The girls had a long weekend and it was filled with activities. Tubing at Liberty, Futsol in Alexandria, Field Hockey in Rockville, and Skiing at Bryce.

My 30th High School Reunion is coming up and I'm having fun trying to locate folks. It was great to find Gary Umholtz -- because he has an easy name to Google!

The knitting projects haven't changed. I'm not sure if the red vest will be the right size, but I'm going to knit a couple more inches before making the final decision. Right now, the red scarf is the most satisfying because there's no fit issue, and it seems I will have just the right amount of yarn. It's a great stitch pattern and the yarn is Classic Elite's Wool Bam Boo. It's a perfect red, a Talbots blue-red.

Current reads have included Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (I really wanted to know more about her first husband! Where is his blog?) and Adriana Trigiani's Queen of the Big Time (I cried buckets at the end). I'm now reading a book of Katie's: The Diary of Melanie Martin or how I survived Matt the Brat, Michelangelo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Such fun--and child-like irreverence!

Carly turns 16!

Oh my gosh, Carly is 16 today! The days have passed quickly since that long, long night in La Jolla. Thanks to the MLK holiday we were able to have her party with friends on Sunday evening. The party had a beach theme, and we found a wonderful 50-foot mural that covered the party room walls. Here she's tempted by the Cake Batter Confetti birthday cake from Cold Stone.

To be finished!

Recent reads:

The Shape of Water, Andrea Camilleri, a murder mystery set in Sicily. This was a good read but the characters are not as colorful as those in Donna Leon's series set in Venice.

How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman, M.D.: Think twice before carrying this to the doctor's office! The title will scare them. But that's not what the book is about. The book offers gentle guidance to patients regarding their doctors' thought processes (based on their training and experiences) and on interpretation of research studies. For example, one vignette is of a patient with well-controlled ovarian cancer, with no growth in her tumors. She then went to a GI doc who found a tumor on her colon. Her ovarian cancer doc didn't want to make changes as he felt her cancer was well-controlled. The patient wanted aggressive treatment with the colon tumor removed. She had to go off chemo for the surgery, and then her ovarian cancer progressed beyond hope. It's full of chatty vignettes and statitics, much like Freakonomics.

Current Read:

Adriana Trigiani's Roccoco, a Novel. Delightful! Wonderful, colorful characters, set in New Jersey. A few years ago, I ready her trilogy set in a small mountain town in Southwestern Virginia. Thanks to Lois for reminding me to check out her recent books.

Knitting FOs...mittens for Katie, and hat for someone! Do you notice that the mitten on the right hand is larger than the one on the left? That's been ripped back and is a work-in-progress again.

The hat? Who knows who it will be for. I bought the oatmeal Lamb's Pride to work with the odds and ends of blues and it came together nicely.

Disney Moment: One evening when going back into the park, and my bag was being searched, I asked the inspector if she sees a lot of knitting when searching the tote bags and purses. She said "you'd be surprised at how much" knitting goes into the park!

Return from California

After missing a month of updates, what can I say? December was a total blur. Long days of olive oil, followed by very fast "holidays" on December 23-24-25 and the express trip to California. The worst thing about traveling on Christmas is trying to find something to eat! We finally found a Panda Express just as it was closing. Hint: think ahead and make a reservation.

Southern California was cooler than we remembered. A wool sweater would have been a good addition to the suitcase! Our Priceline hotel deal was Spectacular, the San Diego Zoo was a great as we remembered; Cafe del Mar was memorably pleasant, the beach at Del Mar was breezy, the seals at La Jolla were entrancing! Old Town Mexican Cafe is still the best (Colorado Burritos and Fish Tacos)...we also took in Horton Plaza, two Hard Rock Cafes, and the Hotel del Coronado. Frankly, the exchange at Miramar has improved nicely.

Further north, we enjoyed Mission San Juan Capistrano -- with olive trees. Whoohoo-- Fish Tacos at Rubios! Three days at Disney is a bit much, avoid the Embassy Suites at North Anaheim. ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney is OK, but the favorite feature was the TVs in the bathrooms. It sounds likey they're better in the Mens Room.

Journeys took us back to San Pedro for a drive through our old neighborhood at White's Point, then north through Rancho Palos Verdes along the coast past Trump National, for a respite with an outside fireplace patio at Starbucks.