( We took a wonderful hike on the 4th of July in <a href= )

In other news, I will be leaving on a few trips at the end of this week. All orders received before Thursday, July 9th will be mailed out before I leave. Anything ordered after I leave on Thursday will not be sent out until July 20th. I have a fun 5th wedding anniversary weekend planned with potential roller coasters and of course California Extreme is this weekend as well. I also have to sew up some clothes for me to wear while I am at Chaos Wars. So I am off to do some extremely fast sewing, so I can be ready for all that is to come. Perhaps more tomorrow... depends on progress today.

The box that I planted the radishes and green onions in is finally totally sprouting and growing rapidly. It is nice to finally have some success starting things from seed on my own. While my father, mother, sister, and grandmother have wonderful green thumbs, mine is still developing. I think my biggest problems at the last apartment was the over abundance of extreme sunlight. I think I was literally frying some of my plants on the windowsill. The herb box is pure proof to me that some of my issues was the growing place I had at the old place. When I moved it over here there were aphids all over it and the plants were not looking very good. Now:



It was nice to make lasagna on Sunday and be able to walk out onto the balcony and get the herbs I needed right there. It was so nice to have that ability again since I seemed to leave that behind in Illinois. Now it is back, and I am again a happy cook! The only thing that is not thriving in this new place is the rosemary. I think it needs yet a bigger pot than the one that I bought for it. Hopefully it will last for a little while before I start bugging Dan to take me out for more dirt and another pot for the poor dear. Things are also starting to flower, which has me excited to see what will pollinate and start growing.



The jet star tomato suddenly started growing by leaps and bounds and now has several large flowers. I have been supplementing the breeze by also blowing on the flowers to make sure they pollinate. I would love to have some fresh tomatoes at my disposal soon. There is also a flower on the pepper plant:



While the plant does not seem to be growing that tall, I hope that it does fine making some peppers. I would hate to lose a plant due to it blooming itself out. There are also several flowers on one of the cucumber plants that does not seem to want to grow into the trellis. Hopefully it does not break off when it tries to tendril out onto the porch. The zucchini plants are also looking quite robust, and I can see some buds starting to form. Hopefully they flower soon. I am not sure if these are wind pollinators, but I hope so. I don't see many insects or bees around to pollinate these plants here in the city. The beans are turning into quite the bramble as I feared. We will see if they yield anything or if I need to try next year with thinner plantings.



The lemon tree is doing well, even though we have yet to drill the drain holes in the pot. The lemons are starting to grow in size and I hope that we get a good yield from this as well.

Today is filled with trying to hurry to finish the birthday gift for Craig. As it is, I will be pushing getting it to them on time since there is the holiday weekend this week. That means, it must be finished today and walked up to the post office rather than scheduling a pick up for tomorrow. I will take pictures when it is finished for you to see tomorrow... I promise! I also have to run some shoes back to UPS for an exchange for Dan and get some work done for my upcoming trip to Idaho for Belegarth's Chaos Wars. There is so much to do, and I am off to get it done! More tomorrow!

I have been really busy as of late trying to finish up projects as well as spend time with Greg while he is in town. I have finished up a pair of long blue hairfalls that I hope to photograph soon and have up in the shop next week. They look great, and I really like how they came out. I am also making slow but steady movement on the elephant and peacock belt. I hope to have it finished off today and photographed early next week for you all to finally see. It is turning out quite well thus far, and I am really happy with it.

I have also started some things. I am looking around to find a present to make for Craig's birthday, and as I promised my sister, I am trying to find something that does not have a ton of parts. Hopefully something comes to mind soon. I also started a new piece of embroidery for another organizational tin. I am doing this one as red work on black cloth. It is coming along nicely and quickly, so hopefully that will also be up sooner than later on the Etsy Store. Tonight is dance class and then a late night theatre performance of Point Break Live at Cell Space. I hope it does not disappoint. Well since the creative forces have been so strong, I think I need to capitalize on it and get to work. More next week.

This weekend was more productive than I thought it was going to be seeing how little work I got done on Friday. I was so hesitant in working on the elephant and peacock belt because I am terrified of messing it up, that I fiddled around with ideas for way too long. I finally decided to just dive in and see what happens around 4 pm, so while not a lot got done, it did get started. Sometimes for me that is a majority of the battle. I cannot wait to get back to work on it today once I am done writing. Saturday was started off with Brunch with our friend at the Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. It was a really nice day, so we opted to sit outside to eat. The food was great and the atmosphere was also pleasing due to the unbelievably pleasant weather. Dan has declared that we must do brunch more often when the weather is like it was yesterday. We went from there to see the movie Moon. I liked it very much, but others in the group were not as big of fans. I am not one to spoil movies, so you will have to see it for yourself and make your own judgments.

Sunday was spent in a rather lazy manner. I tried to call the parents but they were not available, so Dad if you are reading this today, Happy Father's Day. I worked on a set of blue hairfalls most of the day, and they are almost finished. I hope to have them completed tonight and photographed tomorrow for listing. The garden loved the warm weather this weekend, and it seems like I can see a difference in the size of the plants from Friday to today. Hopefully the warm weather we are supposed to have this week will help this growth spurt. The radishes have all sprouted up, but there is no sign of the green onions. Hopefully they will appear soon. I will take pictures of them tomorrow.

The destash continues in my Etsy shop I am continuing to enjoy myself in finding things I no longer plan to use and listing them. I am not quite sure what is wrong with me, but the decorative placement of jewelry findings into neat patterns for my listing photographs has been oddly enjoyable.



I guess it is all those days of tangogram playing catching up with me. Well the sewing machine is calling, and I want to get this belt underway. Hopefully I will have this belt finished before Dan's brother comes to visit this week. I have a feeling that I will get little done while he is here, but that is a good thing. I miss Greg and cannot wait to see him when he gets here. With that in mind though, off to get as much done today as possible.

We went to see Spamalot last night in San Francisco, and I enjoyed watching the light hearted romp through some of the highlights from Monty Python lines and scenes. It was nice to revisit them in a live format and without having to supervise a classroom of high school seniors. We even got to go out for dinner afterward. It was so nice out in the city we sat outside to eat which seems to be a rarity this summer. Alas, the good weather is not holding out though. The fog is already rolling in at 12 pm, and the plants will most likely be denied their full sunshine of the afternoon that they so desperately need. These shifts in weather don't deter the birds though. They seem to be getting more and more used to me sitting and watching them on the patio through the open balcony doors.

In recent days, I have been trying to dive into making the embroidered belt. It is rather nerve racking as I have spent significant hours working on the pieces and I would be so sad to ruin them when constructing the belt. I guess the best thing is to just dive in, but I am still really nervous. In all the thinking and procrastination time I have managed to catch up on my way over due personal check balancing and also discovered some supplies for destashing on the Etsy shop. It has been fun thinking about the belt issues while creating decorative displays out of unused mirrors and jewelry findings.



I am getting rid of this circle cutting mat since I don't need it after the upgrade to my Olfa circle cutter.



There are also sets of mirrors both small and medium sized that would be great for mosaic work or making shrines or some other crafts.



There are also many jewelry findings that I am taking pictures of as well. I will be slowly uploading all the items over the next few days as I need breaks from all the hand sewing and work I am doing. I also will have a big announcement for me in the next week. I still have some things to confirm before I can talk about the details.

Today I am on usual Friday housework schedule as well as cutting out the pieces for the belt and a pair of pants. I would like to fix a choli of mine that I managed to rip, but I will leave that as a "reward" if I get down to work. I guess I better get to it all if I want to get my things repaired!

I have been working on quite a few projects and am getting myself into the trap of starting many things and getting none completed. I have a set of blue falls started, and ironically "Rhapsody in Blue" is playing on the classical station as I write that. I also have wrapped up the major embroidery work for that elephant and peacock belt that I have been working off and on, mostly off and not so much on, on for the last year or so. I am also working on some pairs of pants as well. Some need labels put into them and others are just waiting to be sewn up. There is a lot to do, and I am feeling more motivated to create than write today, so I will just keep it short. Maybe if I am working on one thing instead of jumping around I will have something to take photos of to show tomorrow. We will have to see how the muses take me.

When my parents came to visit in May, they took lots of pictures as they usually do. I appreciate when my parents are around to do the picture taking, so I don't have to worry about bringing my camera with also. I finally got my cd full of pictures from them, and I picked out a few to share with you all. I hope they get me kick started into work today, as I for some reason am having a hard time getting going.



Here is a view of the Golden Gate bridge from the Marin headlands. It is hard to get a clear shot like this at the time of day we were there. Usually the fog is rolling in, but that weekend was unusually warm and the marine layer was staying away.



This is a view of the hotel that sits on the historic site at San Juan Bautista. It is a great little museum, and for the very inexpensive entrance fee for the buildings I would highly recommend it. There were wild chickens all over the place, and they were fun to watch.



Here is the view of the bell tower of the mission. While we did not pay the entrance of the mission, we did walk around the gardens, which is free. This tower was used in the filming of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.



On the last day that my parent's were here, we drove down to Monterey and went on the 17-Mile drive. It was a neat drive, and since we hit it at the end of the day, the otters were out in force feeding in one of the bays. All of the larger black blobs that are sticking out of the water are otter heads. There were too many to count. I could have sat there for hours watching them all working on shells and playing around in the water.



The final highlight on the drive was the lone cyprus. It is the symbol of Pebble Beach and was very beautiful to look at. I guess when my parents went on the drive the first few times, you could walk all the way out to the tree. That is no longer allowed for preservation purposes, but it is still a neat thing to see in person versus all the drawings and photographs I have seen.

Well I have more plants to get into dirt today and some pants that I want to finish up working on today. I have also started a new set of blue hair falls. It is nice to have some sets of falls to work on while Dan and I watch movies. I always feel weird when I am sitting with nothing in my hands to work on. Also, I am going to be working on finishing up the elephant and peacock belt that I have shown snippets of in the past. The large embroidery work is almost done, so I can move on to attaching them to the base as well as some more free hand designs on the base of the belt. Tassels will follow soon!

We went to attend Faust by The Shotgun Players at the Ashby Stage last night. As usual, the adaptation was creative and engaging. The acting was skillful as well. I am so glad that we became 38 Special subscribers for this company. They always do a wonderful job with masterful performance, intriguing sets, atmospheric lighting and sound design, and a wonderful set of staff that run the theater. All of the actors and actresses were their usual top notch. I especially enjoyed Peter Ruocco as Mephistopheles. He was hanging around the set with the right posture and attitude at the right times to make his character just stand out for me. He was always present even when he would disappear to the off stage areas because I was invariably looking for his next appearance to see what he was up to next. His line delivery was also a hit for me as he seemed to accent and drop just the right tones. The run of the play has been extended, but tickets are going fast. If you are in the SF Bay area and have a chance to go see all the talented people of this performance, jump at the chance.

Here are some press pictures from their website to tempt you into going. Photos taken by Jessica Palopoli.


Mark Jackson as Faust and Peter Ruocco as Mephistopheles


Mark Jackson as Faust and Blythe Foster as Gretchen

Last night was the SF Etsy meet-up with the team from Etsy itself. It was a great meeting, and people had some really great suggestions and ideas for the site and improving the overall experience on Etsy. I did not take great notes or anything on the meeting, but Savor did and if you are so inclined you can look them over on her blog. It was great to see so many C level people there and talking with the community at large. They were all very honest and up front with the schedule of things to come and what they are working on for the future.

Today is a classical music day here for me. It just seems right for the mood of the day. The clouds of fog are thick and billowy like a large comforter, and while it is not the best condition for the patio garden, the unseasonably chilly weather is extending my hot tea season by quite a few weeks. Today's pick... Assam. I hope that the garden is not getting too stunted by so many fog filled days, but today it seems like the perfect weather for me to work under. There are a few things to research on the interwebs today and some more pants to be worked on. I am also hoping to prototype the new belt idea in the coming days. Here's to hoping for quick and well done google searches!

I happened to get a wonderful opportunity this weekend to go and see Garrison Keillor read his new poetry work in San Francisco. The book entitled 77 Love Sonnets was a wonderful set of poetry that is not to be missed. It was quite the departure from some of the normal topics seen on Public Radio's A Prarie Home Companion. He delivered many types, some lovely, some rather sexy, and others sad and poignant. All were wonderfully written and struck just that right note. Never has a sonnet sounded so good since my college days and studying Shakespeare or my attempts at getting high school students excited about iambic pentameter. All his sonnets are done in this style, most rhyming. It takes a special talent to be able to sum up such feelings and ideas in such a restrictive format. This was complimented by piano playing that was just the right touch to set off the words as they were spoken. When the piano was silent, it made certain words stand out just that much more. I highly recommend getting your hands on this book once it is released, and if possible, getting an audio version of Garrison Keillor reading them to you with the musical score. All of this was done to raise funds for the 826 Valencia Scholarship fund. It is such a wonderful foundation and center and a wonderful cause. Check out their website to see all the wonderful things we do over at 826.

I always love to scope out the internet for free patterns for future use as a way to take a break from my work here at Fabulous Pants. It was during one of these sessions that I ran across the patter for the other gift I made for Jozef's birthday this weekend. I found this really sweet little turtle toy that has a removable shell. It was available for free at the time, but is now available for a small $4 fee at Wilsons' Shop on Etsy. This project was a great stash buster for me as I could recycle out some great scraps from other toys to make this one up. One thing that I would say about this pattern as well as other patterns is to read all the directions first before beginning. I did not, so I missed the instruction to add a seam allowance to the pattern before cutting. This may have changed from the free pattern on the blog to the new sold pattern, but I would recommend that you read all directions first for all patterns you work with rather than doing what I do, just diving in and making adjustments later. The turtle turned out cute from tipi scraps and pelican left overs. I made it a more traditional and unimaginative green and yellow tone in color. The pieces to work on this were relatively simple:



They were easy to cut out and would have worked much more easily I am sure if I would have added the seam allowance. Because I did not do that, I had to do some hand sewing in the head region to make it work out well due to the short seams I was trying to pull off to make it more like it should have been.

This project took me literally three hours to do. It was a fun and quick sew. I would highly recommend this pattern to any level sewer, even extreme beginners. The only tricky part to it was the head seams to create the shaping, and even that would be a good thing for a beginning sewer to tackle to learn shaping. Here is the finished turtle in all its cuteness.





Hopefully Jozef loves this one too!

I am always stumped as to what to make for really young children that are no longer infants but are also not big enough for all out toys. Looking over the internet for inspiration and ideas, I ran across this great tutorial by Susan Beal for a crinkly, crackly owl toy It was a great toy and easy to make. I did it basically in a few hours. I used her pattern as a jumping off point and put my own little spins on it.



Here is the front of my owl all pinned together and waiting to be appliqued together.



Getting his back contrasts put together



The owl gets his wings!



Oh No! Look out owl! Here comes the iron for one good last pressing!



And here he is all stuffed with crackly recycled shopping bags and fiberfill. This tutorial was great and easy to follow. I made mine much more involved by giving him wings and also appliqueing the eyes, nose, and feet on. In the tutorial you just sew them on using felt rather than fraying cotton cloth. She also suggests the possibility of using buttons for the eyes, but Jozef is only one, so cloth only for him. I hope you all go and check out her tutorial and perhaps even her book. If you have seen the book or read it, what did you think?

I cannot wait for this weekend to finally get here. It is Maker Faire this weekend in San Mateo, and I cannot wait to go. Dan and I have attended this wonderful festival dedicated to the making and crafting of things since we moved to the area two years ago. Many of our friends are not attending citing the sameness of the fair the past two years, but I kind of love some of the familiarity of things. It hearkens back to our trips to state fairs, and how you knew where certain vendors would be each year. I am mostly looking forward to meeting some fellow Etsians in the Bizarre Bazaar. I hope to remember to take some pictures for you all to see next week.

Today is the usual house chores of Friday: laundry, cleaning, straightening, garbage taking out, and perhaps some cookie baking. I also have some gifts for Jozef to make and get ready for his birthday next week. I am taking pictures of this as I am working on the items and will also have those next week for you all to peruse. There is planning to do for our trip down tomorrow, time tables to look up for the train, and tickets to acquire. Lots to do and now I am off to do it.

With the purchases from different nurseries this weekend, I created a mini urban oasis for us on the balcony. I was mostly concerned with weight, so the only really nice pot I have for all the plants is my old cobalt blue one that traveled all the way here from Illinois. The rest are all plastic pots. I also picked some rather shallow boxes for planting, and while not the best choice for some of the plants, I hope they work out. I know that most of the boxes are over crowded for some of the plants as well, but I am kind of a try it out and see what happens type of gardener. I am also some what concerned about the amount of sunlight that the plants will get, but the original box of herbs looks much better in the less sunny balcony than the full sun window of the last apartment. Well time to end the rambling and roll out the pictures.



We have wanted to have a lemon tree for some time, and now we have the space for one. This is a dwarf Meyer Lemon tree. I am really excited as it already appears to have several lemons started already. There are also a few flowers on it, and I think that is why Dan picked it over others.



We also got me a tomato plant.



This is the one I am most concerned about with the sun issue. Tomatoes need plenty of light to get going, and I hope this one gets enough. I have never heard of this particular variety, jetstar, but we liked the name as well as the description of it being a less acidic kind of tomato. I used rooting hormone in the watering yesterday for the plants, and the tomato seemed to show instantaneous results. It seemed to get taller yesterday by at least an inch and sprouted some roots rather high on the stem. Hopefully this is not a bad thing for this plant.



I still have the second try herb box from the last apartment. It has lasted through several week long absences from me, the main caretaker, and several weeks alone by itself. It always seems to keep on ticking. I did have to replant a new thyme plant, as it was destroyed by what I think are aphids that have recently reared their ugly heads again this week. They also went after the parsley, and after much debate, I got another parsley plant thinking the old one was dead. Much to my surprise, it was doing okay after I cleared all the dead junk out from the three weeks of neglect the window box took. I also am trying out dill again, but I think the box is just too shallow for this usually hard to kill plant. We will see if try number four is successful. I intend on getting a spray bottle to whip up some aphid killing soap spray this afternoon. Scorched Earth policy is back in effect.



This is the biggest experiment box for me. I like to call it the trellis after my somewhat lame attempt at a bamboo trellis appears in this one. (Yes, it needs much twine for it to be finished.... that will happen after the run to Target today.) I accidentally bought too many bean plants, so instead of throwing some out, I planted them all. Strong will survive mentality for me on this one, plus I simply cannot through out those perfectly good plants. We are trying out green lake beans on the one side of this box. I am going to try to get them to climb up the trellis, and then just prune them down if they get bigger than that. I have never grown this type of bean, so I hope it works. On the other side of the box are a zucchini plant and a cucumber plant. I hope to trellis train those as well. This is a total first for me, seeing as Dad and Uncle Glen always got the plants growing, I only weeded and harvested from their gardens.



I have given up on my scrubby basil plants that I stared from seed myself and am going with new seedlings. I hope that I do something better with these. They look much greener than any I have stared on my own. they are also much bushier then the ones I usually start with. I wonder sometimes if I do not pinch them back enough when they are young. I should really read about this seeing as basil is supposed to be an easy plant, and I always kill them.



I ran out of pots for this plant. It is a pepper plant, and I hope to get enough green peppers for a few nights of kabobs and stuffed pepper action over the summer. I also was one pot shy for planting my radish plants. Those I could only find as seed, so hopefully I can get those up and running today after my shopping trip. Perhaps I can find some green onion seeds while I am there too.



This baby just keeps on ticking. If I can keep from flooding it and turning it all brown, I will be in luck.



This is my most favorite add to the balcony right now. I love all the food producing plants much more than flowers usually, but it is nice to have one girly plant out there. I love the smell of jasmine, and I am so happy to have one of my own. I am hoping to train it into some cool shape, but I am not sure what I want to do yet. Maybe a braid or something? Anyway, it is nice to have such a sweet smell right outside the studio window. I can already see myself spending time out there hand sewing things in the afternoon. Ahhhh.... urban oasis. I want to run out there right now, and I think I just may.

While the trip I had originally planned did not happen this weekend, I had a wonderful time with Dan. We went to the Nine Inch Nails / Jane's Addiction tour on Friday night. It was wonderful to get back to a concert from my high school and college days. The fixed seating at the venue made it so that the concert did not have the total feel of a standard concert of this type, but it was fun none-the-less. The opening act, Street Sweeper Social Club, was also good. It is fun to find a new band through the opening acts of concerts, especially when they are enjoyable acts. This was a much better show than the one I saw on the Fragile tour a few years ago. While there is still little chemistry between the members of Nine Inch Nails, the performance was more tight and the songs sounded better. Jane's Addiction, while not my major draw for the concert, was wonderful. They still have great chemistry and seemed to really enjoy playing even their most well known songs together. Their performance was great and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them enjoy themselves. We ended the night in typical concert going fashion by getting food at a Denny's with fellow friends and concert goers. Great conversation what in full supply, and I had a lot of fun with everyone.

Saturday started off late as we got home so late from the concert. We helped a fried get back to the venue to pick up his car from the night before, and also got brunch with him. We went to Ole's Waffle Shop in Alameda. I am not sure why this place gets some not so hot reviews on yelp, but I thought it was great. The waffle with fresh strawberries was awesome. Even the whipped cream was fresh. The coffee was that standard pancake house wonderful stuff that I miss so much from Champaign. After dropping him off at the car, Dan and I preceded to drive around and finally settled on walking around a mall for a while before heading home to veg out.

Sunday was spent as a day bumming around the house. We have not done that in days, and the weather was perfect for this pursuit. The fog rolled in, and we just stayed in our pajamas for a long time watching the Indy 500 and the Blackhawks horrible performance in their playoff game. We finally decided that we needed to get something accomplished, so we went grocery shopping and hung some pictures up around the house.

Monday was a great day for me. We went out to do "Amy things" as Dan deems them. He took me out to gather supplies for the container garden I would like to start. We got several plants in this first round. I am slightly nervous about the amount of light we get and whether it will be enough. Hopefully it will seeing as the herb box has done so much better since the move to the new apartment. I will have pictures and more news on the container garden tomorrow once it is all planted. Well there is a garden to plant and gifts for an upcoming birthday of one of the nephews to work on today. Pictures of those gifts to follow as well.

Yesterday was a great day. Lunch was wonderful, and tutoring was the usual fun that it always is. At the end of the tutoring session, 826 put on 5 minute readings at a local bar. It was fun getting to hear all the creative writing of the people that I tutor and volunteer with over at 826. I was not intending on attending but was glad that I had once it was all said and done. It made me wonder if I should get back to writing like I used to in high school and during college when I had a little time. Now, I think there is time, but I am not sure if I have my "writing muscles" still. It is a skill that needs to be practiced everyday for good results, and while some would say that this blog is a good writing practice, I would have to beg to differ. I guess I just think that writing on the level of reading on stage requires more revision than I do here. Who knows who is right, but I am already being asked to read at the next one. That will have to sit on the back burner for now seeing as I am not quite so confident in my creative writing as something for others to see right now.

Today is filled with getting the house back in the humming order that it used to be over at the other apartment. Laundry is whirling around the machines, and the dishwasher is quietly and virtually silently swishing away. There is straightening to do and pictures I keep meaning to hang are sitting on the ground. I still have a mountain of e-mails to read through from the San Francisco Bay Street Team on Etsy. I also have yet to introduce myself to all those fine folks. Hopefully next week I will have myself all caught up on their thoughts and be able to chip in my own. Tonight is the Nine Inch Nails concert, and I am looking forward to it more than I thought I would. It has been ages since I went to a good old industrial style concert, and while not totally fitting the bill, this is a good replacement.

I hope to have some more exciting things to tell you about next week. Hopefully Dan and I get out this weekend to my little get away spot that I am looking into, if that happens, I will bring back pictures. Till then, good weekends to all and more to come on Tuesday.

I have been out of communication for quite a few weeks now as my life turned into a tornado of activity. First I was busy trying to get a new quilt done for my mother. She wanted one of my play quilts for a friend's new granddaughter. I was more than happy to turn another one of those out. They are fun to do, and of course due to all the craziness of packing, I forgot to take pictures of this one. It turned out similar to all the others, and I ended up liking the replacement fabrics I substituted in since some of the others I used in the first two were no longer available. Next I had to pack up all of our stuff at the old apartment and begin the task of moving us two blocks down. It does not sound like much, but I think this was more difficult than doing the cross country move. Since we were going such a short distance, Dan and I decided to use our car to ferry different loads of boxes back and forth. I would load up boxes during the day and pack the car, then at night, we would bring them up and unload them. I would repeat this process for several days. Finally the movers came on my birthday, April 29th, to get the furniture and heavy book boxes moved into the new place for us. I spent all of the next day cleaning the apartment top to bottom. It was a full day of trying to get train diesel particulate out of carpet and windowsills. It made me happy to realize that I would no longer be battling that fight against grime any longer.

The next day we were off early to get on a plane and head back to Illinois for a friend's wedding and family visits. We went down to Champaign to see how things have changed on the campus and also to just see the countryside. I forgot how much I could miss flat land until that trip. It was good to get back to the water and hills though. I guess my patience for flat is less than it used to be. While in Champaign, I got to see a great friend and hang out before she makes her trek out to the left coast for her own personal reboot.

I also got some inspiration and creative recharging when we went home. We went to go see the Mies van der Rohe creation known as the Farnsworth House. It was great to see it in person rather than just in pictures. I always love his style of architecture, and I suppose that is what I also enjoy about our new building. It really seems to me to be a take on the steel and glass structures that he created.

After the Illinois trip, I had a few days to unpack and make the apartment as livable as possible before my parents arrived to visit here in California. I mostly succeeded. All was done but putting up the mirrors and a few of our pictures that I am just not sure where to place yet. While they were here we went to the Marin headlands, Golden Gate Park, and San Juan Bautista. We also did the 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach. All things were really fun, but I think the Marin headlands drive that we did was my favorite.

Now I am settling into the new office and sewing studio that I have here in the new place, and the apartment seems extra quiet. While I love everything here, it seems almost too quiet. With all the windows closed, I cannot really hear the trains or any outside noise, which is good. It just seems extra quiet after having a couple of weeks with people around to talk to and now going to just me again. I guess we will have to get a pet or something.

Today is filled with looking through back e-mail and working on getting the last address changes done. I also have a lunch meeting and tutoring at 826. I guess I should go and get that crock pot loaded up and get some other things done before lunch.

As the move approaches, I realize more and more how much I love the view from this place. I can always count on something interesting to happen each week. Today was no exception. I heard one of the trains blowing its whistle like there was no tomorrow. I decided to go and see if someone was stuck on the tracks at the crossing or something to cause such a ruckus. When I looked, there were people all over by the tracks and many police cars, but the train was just a normal Amtrak commuter line pulling out. I did not see what the fuss was all about. Then I realized how many cameras were out, and of course, I turned toward the very morbid possibility that someone was hit on the tracks by the station. It has happened before here, so I was concerned and hoped for the best. Then I heard a very distinct noise, that of a steam engine whistle. There was a special train passing through the area that is the last steam engine purchased by Union Pacific. For more information you can check out the website about the train. Here are a few pictures I took out the window as it passed by the building:







While I have grown rather tired of all the train noises as of late, this one was a welcomed change. It was neat to see this old locomotive roll past and look at all the shiny cars from days gone by zip past the building. I will miss this view and all the wacky things I have seen, both good and bad, out these windows. From zeppelins passing by to breath taking sunsets and fingerlings of fog, they will truly be missed. I do think though that it is time for change and... a little more quiet at night being a bit further away from the rumbling freights.

Well this is the 100th post on here, and sadly it is not as momentous as I had hoped. I have a ton to do in the next two weeks, and I feel like no matter how fast I move, it is not fast enough. There are boxes to pack and things to clean and put away. There is another place to walk through and clean as well. I also have the quilt to get done and a suit to lengthen. Classes need to be attended, choreography sessions need to be lead, and a dance performance for the studio also are all this week. There seems to be no end to the things I need to accomplish in two weeks before the Illinois trip. Add on top of it the sudden temperature shift around here from low 70's to the low 90's, it has been an interesting time already two days into this busy week. I think I have all the services ready to be switched over to the new place and ended at the current place. I keep telling myself this is not like the last move; this is two blocks, not across the country. I guess I need to attack this in little chunks, just like Mom always advises me. Off to tackle another quilt square.