Yesterday our friends from college were in town so we decided to head down to chicago and show them around. we went to a cubs game, which was pretty cool. we found tickets on ebay, and since it's the cubs, we paid more than 3 times the face value of the tickets. lame. but still, it was awesome to be at wrigley, and do the whole wrigley field thing. it was freezing, and we were in the very last row at the very top and the wind was just killing us. luckily, we "signed up" (if you know what i mean...) for Cubs credit cards and got free blankets.

after the game, we took the El downtown and walked and walked and walked. we went to the buckingham fountain, walked down to shedd aquarium and soldier field, walked the magnificent mile, ate at Gino's East pizza (which is overrated if you ask me...Edwardo's here in the brew city is better i think) and then made our way over to the Hancock Building where we went to the top b/c Girl Visitor said there were fireworks off Navy Pier at 10:15. So we got up there at 10. and waited, and waited. and waited. derrick and i walked around the top and took pictures and stuff, while Girl Visitor, who had been complaining ALL DAY how tired she was just sat in a corner and didn't budge. Major grumpygills. turns out, fireworks were at 9:45. we missed them. so we left and headed back on the El to our car and back home. they slept in the backseat and i tried to keep derrick awake on the drive home. we were both EXHAUSTED...and i felt bad b/c i kept dozing off--i don't know how he stayed awake! it was really fun for us two, but she was way moody, and almost ruined my goodtime, but kinda expected it, so i was prepared to brush it off. whatever.

i LOVE cities. eveything about them. the people. the buildings. the business. the lights. i have a major jones to go to NYC now. we have to get the tickets before wednesday if we want the cheap fares. i think we'll do it. since we can stay with a friend that cuts down on costs a lot. scott would go out too, and we would all have a blast!

i'm kind of in a knitting slump right now. i'm sorta working on a baby sweater, but i need another ball of C-E to go any further and i just haven't made it to joann's yet. i have some balls of Knitpicks merino in yellow and black that i should do something with. it's hard to think of summer projects. maybe some more felted bags? or socks. i just finished my first sock the other day! i should post pictures! it's really hideous--i used neon green super saver and size 8s. but it went fast and gave me the confidence to know that i can do all the steps. kathrynt's universal sock pattern really is great. everyone always raves about it and i was like, what's the big deal, but really, it's great. so now i want to make real socks. but man, those little needles are killer on the hands!! i think it's time to place another order to knitpicks!!! i've got lots of travel coming up, and i'll need something to keep me busy--and socks seem like the perfect travel companion! i'm already formulating a plot to my LYS....

No work tomorrow!! YAY!! only one thing on my to-do list, and that's to buy rubbermaids and organize the spare closet. it's mainly the holiday decorations closet, and everything is just thrown in there. impossible to find a thing. i'm sorta excited about it. what a nerd i am. then a bbq at the suttons, which should be fun. we'll see!!

we're getting a new cubemate on Tuesday. interning for the summer from MSOE. hopefully he's not a geek! it's gonna be so crowded in there. it already was with just the 3 of us! i feel bad for the guy--gonna have to listen to us girl talk about girl things and just chat all day. ha.

sabahat convinced me to get my hair cut at vici school, even tho i swore i would never go back. but a cut at evolution would be 38--ouch! and vici only 12. so, there you go. but i only got a trim, and you can't even really tell i got it cut at all, so i'm happy.

well, enough ramblings.

Happy Memorial Day!! hopefully i don't cry too much tomorrow. I'm the biggest patriotic baby in the WORLD. that's what i get for being raised in a military family. i was a blubbering IDIOT today at church when we sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

i guess that's a good thing.

Hey Secret Pal--Read this!!!

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? i think i'm a yarn snob-in-training. i MUCH prefer to use natural fibers, but will use acrylics without TOO much complaining. although i have to say, red heart just squeaks way to dang much for me to use.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? i know how to crochet, but i never do.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) smoke

4. How long have you been knitting? knitted since 2002 on and off, continuously since Nov. 2004. Hard core.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Amazon, Sephora, Knitpicks

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) for fruity scents--cucumber melon, but mainly clean scents--ocean scents, detergent like smells, stuff like that.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? who doesn't?? love jelly bellies, and dark chocolate

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? grow herbs, dinky magazine collages, love to cook

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) rock, pop, alternative, classical. not a country or heavy metal fan. but i do love dixie chicks. everything i have can play MP3s.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? PINK! love pinks/reds/oranges the mostest, but also blues/greens/purples. and i'm loving lime green right now. shoot-i love all colors!

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? married--coming up on 2 years. no pets. had a goldfish Nemo, but he died, and that was really sad for me. still getting over it enough to replace him.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) get into nursing school and be the best nurse ever. and a mom.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? wool, cotton

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? i can tolerate all of em

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? hmmm....i'm obsessed with my denises!

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? bags!

17. What are you knitting right now? baby bib, waist wrap

18. What do you think about ponchos? like em

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? circs

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? bamboo, plastic

21. Are you a sock knitter? i'm very quickly becoming addicted!!

22. How did you learn to knit? college roomie

23. How old is your oldest UFO? 3 years. a homespun scarf--is that so typical or what?? but i frogged it and i think it turned into a hat.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? nemo! and kermit the frog.

25. What is your favorite holiday? fourth of july. BBQs, fireworks, the beach. so great.

26. Is there anything that you collect? not really, although it's a goal to get every board game out there. well, at least the major classics. none of these "Friends Trivia" or "Bratz" lame-o games.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? sadly, none.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Vogue Knitting, and the Finishing Techniques book.

I'm on fire!

I must be the only one entering these contests, because i won tickets to see Hot Hot Heat!!! Hopefully derrick won't flake out on me again (ok, so he was sick) so i don't have to scrounge for a date last minute like i did with keane.

last night sabahat and i volunteered at the ronald mcdonald house serving dinner. it's the parkway ward's service project but linda needed help so we volunteered. we didn't do too much, really, except set food out and then clean up, but oh well. good deeds done just the same. it's a really nice facility. makes me want to put my change in the buckets at mcd's! what a great cause.

sabahat and i have our hair consultations at evolution tonite. !!!!! i've decided that i don't really want to lose that much length, b/c i think it's kinda fun to have it long right now. even tho it's a pain to dry it when it's hot out. i'm hoping some highlights will satisfy my need for a change. hopefully they don't botch it!!!

feeling pretty good about myself. i fit into my khaki capris today! i can even sit in them and still breathe! i thought i would have a tougher time getting into them, but no! so, happy day.

american idol finale tonite! we voted for carrie last night, but i think i want bo to win. carrie is kind of boring. but, derrick thinks she's hot, so he voted. a lot. we'll see what happens!

and it's GORGEOUS outside today. sunny, clear. too bad i can't rip this computer out and park it on the lawn and do my work outside. i need a laptop!

well, enough of this random post. back to work!

It's finally starting to feel like summer. well, quasi-summer here in wisconsin. this weekend was beautiful--nice and sunny. we took lots of walks and even sat by the pool for awhile. so nice! all the shows are ending--last week was the season finales of the apprentice and ANTM, the week before that was Joey and The Amazing Race. Last night was Deseperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy (best.show.ever). this week is American Idol and Las Vegas. ok wow, we watch way to much tv. still, time to fill up our evenings with outdoor sports and barbecues. time to get back into shape. sabahat came to work today with the american heart associations seven day diet plan. (i SERIOUSLY doubt the AMA endorses this, but whatever). you can have all the soup you want of this particular recipe, then add in fruits and veggies each day. and one day is beef and tomatoes. ha. the soup actually isn't bad, i just tasted hers. it claims you can loose 10-17 pounds in a week. talk about unhealthy!! i'm thinking of trying it. :) hey, beach is coming up soon! and after trying on my suits this weekend, i need nothing short of a miracle. i'm debating whether or not i should post these things using proper grammer and capitilaztion. i'm just too lazy. AIM has ruined me for LIFE. lol.

finished the bib i'm working on for ashley and grant. not too thrilled with how it came out. maybe it just needs blocking. working on a baby sweater now. it's going really fast--and i think it will actually look cute! i've been using the itsy bitsy too, but i don't really like how stretched out and wonky it gets. i'm debating whether or not to make the kitchensink to use at the beach. i don't even know if i can GO to the beach. my teacher is still listed as TBD, so i have no way of contacting them to see what i'll miss. we don't even have tickets out there yet. sheesh. just so darn expensive.

if anyone knows where i can buy some seeds to a money tree, please let me know!

i'm sooo not ready for another week.

why do weekends go by so fast??

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

in case you haven't noticed, i really like taking quizzes. i think it's interesting to see what kind of stereotype i fit into. or rather, the specific defintion of a certain stereotype of the person who wrote the quiz.

either way, i wouldn't have picked hufflepuff as my house. but then, like i know enough about the houses to have even picked one to begin with.

took my last final today--hooray! now i get to work full time for a couple weeks--double hooray! :( went to a scrapbooking "party" at a friend's house. it was small, but nice to talk to girls. went alone b/c a friend flaked out on me. probably one of my 2 pet peeves:

1-not finding something i'm looking for
2-people who flake

oh well. i should have seen it coming. derrick did.

tried to fit into my skinny jeans tonite. didn't quite make it. soon, tho!

I need a 12 step program

my name is karen, and i'm a product addict. more like a junkie. it's been 24 hours since i purchased my last product.

seriously, i can't help it. i read about johnson's & johnson's baby oil gel in woman's day and went out and got it. and i love it. i put it on when i get out of the shower and i stay moist and supple all day long! heh. no really, it's a great moisturizer. and then today, i wound up at walgreens.com--no idea how--and saw tea tree cholesterol hair treatment. sounds gross, but i love the tea tree effect. and i've used the normal chol. product before, and it's not THAT nasty. makes your hair super soft. so yeah, going to walgreens now. only $1.99!!!

sabahat made consultation appointments for us at evolution for next wednesday. if we like what they say, our appointments for the cut and color are for the 4th. !!!!!!!!! this is a huge deal for me! i never color my hair! last time i did was in college, and cheryl did it, and it looked like my hair took a dip in carrot and poop puree and never recovered. and then there was the growing out process. yikes! but now, i think i've had enough healing time, and i can be a grown up with pretty highlights and a sharp cut. basically, i've decided that i'm tired of being boring looking, and want to change things up. that, and it's summer, and i feel like a caterpillar ready to break out of the cocoon of endless winter and be the summer butterfly. light (skinnier), bright, and beautiful!

i can be a butterfly, can't i?

Since derrick has been sick, and i was not going to miss seeing keane, i had to find a friend. more difficult than it sounds. miranda wound up going with me, which is super cool of her. the rave is a pretty sweet set up. brandon benson and the stiff tissued opened. gross name, but they were actually really good. bass player was super sexy.

then keane came on. they were sooo great. it made me miss provo and the local music scene. i started thinking about shows at the wrapsody-turned-muse music. going to see spitball-turned-one cent stamp and just being a groupie. i realized i could see a show every single day of my life and be completely happy. listening to "somewhere only we know", it felt like the music was occupying every single cell in my body. i was completely immersed in it. i couldn't tell where i stopped and the music began. i would die if i were deaf. music is my life.

Just another manic monday

Quote of the day: Relish today. Ketchup tomorrow

So today, unlike every other day, I really did not want to get out of bed. I kept thinking for some reason that our meeting today was cancelled, and that it would be ok if i just slept a little longer. well, at 820am, i realized our Friday call got changed, not the monday call. so i run around like a fool trying to get ready and out the door in 10 minutes. i made it in 15, which is still impressive. would have made it to work on time too, if it hadn't been for the invisible accident on the 94 that had everyone backed up. honestly, there was no reason for there to be traffic, but everyone was braking. wisconsinites..sheesh. but i made it to the meeting just a smidge late; i don't think anyone cared.

for lunch janice and sabahat and i decided to try the new place in brookfield mall, bravo. pretty cool interior, yummy bread, and the waitress said all entrees only take 10 minutes. sweet! janice and i just get soup and salad, but sab gets the shrimp scampi--hey only 10 minutes, right? well, 25 minutes later we still ain't got no food. manager comes by and says it will be out shortly. it comes, and it's pretty good, and then he comes back again and says "go ahead and order dessert ladies, your lunch is on us today. our guests shouldn't have to wait that long for their meal". what customer service!! well, we didn't get dessert, but still. thanks sabahat!

derrick is sick. he came home early and went to bed early, so i've been all by my lonesome today. started knitting some baby bibs for a friend who shall remain unnamed should she happen across this internet mecca. because i'm so sure that she had time to browse the internet when her new baby is coming any day now. please, like they really need to find a crib, and paint, and prepare themselves for a new member of the family. pbbbth. ;)

taking the purplerolla in to Appleby's Service tomorrow. hopefully they can fix my wee autito for cheaper than what the dealer was going to charge!! highway robbery!

note to self: call gramps and find out what he would have charged. he's prolly already mad that i haven't called him yet. gotta stay on his good side!

i have a final tomorrow. have i studied even one ounce for it? no. wish me luck!

spose i should get to bed soon. i love staying up late, but hate getting up early. sometimes i wonder why i'm considered an "adult". well, maybe i'm not. maybe that's my problem!

i don't wanna grow up.

Of apples and lemons

Yesterday morning Sabahat and I volunteered at the Hunger Task Force for the kick off of the Letter Carriers of Milwaukee Stamp Out Hunger food drive. 5:30 AM rolled around waaaaaaaay too early for me. It was stormy all through the night, and i woke up to see lightning flashing behind the blinds, and thunder, and lots of rain, and lay there having visions of my soaking wet in a food suit. but, when i got up, it had stopped.

so down at the food bank, we picked out our costumes. the polish sausage and cow were already spoken for, so i settled for the apple, and sabahat took the lemon. it really was a pretty funny sight. they sent us out to the fence which borders the 94 and we waved to the commuters. it was just us 2 for awhile but then we were joined by some grapes and a raisin, who turned out to be two scary dudes just out of prison doing some community service. they were telling us how they are bad people who shoot other people. ok. that was pretty creepy. luckily their parole officer was there to keep them in line!!!

by then we were joined by another set of grapes, the polish sausage and the cow, and Mr. Pig from Piggly Wiggly. We were quite the sight. Well, then it started to rain. hard. so we ran inside. ate some krispy kremes. (total for the day=3 OUCH!) and we met Gus from Fox 6. Sabahat was really excited about this.

it really wouldn't have been that bad if it were warmer and we were drier. we had to be there for the press conference, where some mailman from green bay who is the wisconsin letter carriers ambassador sang some usps.com songs for us. uhm.....weird. then this lady played her bagpipes for us. then the county exec said some stuff about how we need to collect more food than buffalo, then some dude from the governors office read a declaration about how the food drive is officially on. and then we left.

had a working lunch meeting with marty and bob and deb. didn't get much accomplished. i actually dozed off for a bit. whoops!! haha.

what a crazy day.

Derrick took the quiz---I knew it!!

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Knit Club

watch me

Pretty funny. But you'd probably only get it if you knit. And saw Fight Club.

How's this for accuracy??

>

American Cities That Best Fit You:

80% Honolulu

70% Atlanta

60% Los Angeles

60% Miami

60% Portland

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Well, all except the Portland bit. Too rainy for me.

Gas and Sausage

Yesterday was a bad day. Work sucked. I didn't feel good. (still don't, but oh well). Driving home my gas light came on so i stopped to gas up. it was RIDICULOUSLY windy yesterday. i HATE wind. my car was all over the road. so, i get to Mobil, get out, almost fall over b/c of the hurrican force winds, hurry and put the nozzle in my tank and get back in my car. i hear the click, so i get out and take out the nozzle, and it's so freaking windy it whips what gas is left out of the nozzle and all over ME. that was the last straw. now i'm smelly, my car is smelly, and i get home and just cry and cry. derrick didn't know what was going on! i stripped off the gassy clothes and just wanted to crawl in bed but i couldn't b/c i was stinky. so i just curled up in the mound of dirty clothes on the floor. what a pathetic little scene. me in my underwear in a pile of laundry.

let's hope today is better.

except i think i left the curling iron on in the bathroom. so i have visions of our apartment burning to the ground.

but today is Strawberry Shortcake day at Kopps!! Yay!! i just may have to stop by and get some before going to work. i'm sure janice and sabahat would like some too. mmmmm.....

i started cutting out pictures from magazines for those marble magnets. do you know how hard it is to find eensy weensy pictures??? really hard.

tomorrow sabahat and i are volunteering for the Hunger Task Force. they're kicking off their food drive, and we're dressing up like food for the commuters. i have to get there super early--like 630!!--to get first pick of the costumes. and i want to be a brewers sausage!!! how cool would that be?? that's my favorite part of the games!! the sausage race! i will definitely have to post pictures of that!!!

speaking of pictures, we posed for Shannon and Cassidy for their photography website. if you really wanna check them out, go here. Their business is called Brittann Photography. We're under weddings and bridals. You can also find us on Jennifer Gilmore's website too. Our whole album is on there. What a bunch of photo pimps we are. :)

Big Willy Style

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Cool craft!

I'm definitely going to have to try and make these marble magnets. How cute are those???

I knew it all along...

You Are 40% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

I'm a weiner!

So after entering every day for the past 2 weeks, i finally got the email from The Rave last night telling me i won 2 tickets to see Keane on the 18th!!! I'm sooooo pumped. So one of my favorite bands.

Keane. So hot right now. Keane.

I get around....

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

FOs!

Well, I finally sucked it up and posted my pics. Here are some of the fruits of my labor!!


My beautiful sweater!


Morgan and his Griffendor scarf. He loved it! Yay!


Spiderweb Capelet from Stitch n Bitch


Baby blanket for Alison Malnar


Felted Tote, made from aforementioned dyed green kool-aid.

Hooray for me!!

I finished the possum shrug last night--need to post pics of that too. i'm wearing it right now! wore it to school and to work. it was perfect too, b/c obviously at this time of year, it is freezing (note bitter sarcasm) and it kept my little (well, not so little these days) arms nice and toasty.

Next up on the needles, itsy bitsy tote from knitty, and a baby blanket for the Myers new little boy that they are getting. The shower is this saturday, but we'll be in minneapolis so i can't go. which is ok, since i couldn't have knit anything by then anyways!! i'm thinking either a blanket or a hat and bootie set, but i haven't found any booties that i LOVE yet, except for the adorable ducky and froggy set.

man, my shrug looks awesome. i amaze myself sometimes.