Older male attorneys - boo on you!

Why oh why does this opposing counsel (an older male attorney) think it is in any way appropriate to refer to his client as a "young lady" in discovery responses?  She's over 50 years old!  So annoying!

Baby Booties

K's high school friend A and his wife S are having twins!  We went to their baby shower last month (btw, easily the biggest baby shower I have ever been to with probably close to 150 guests...) so I knitted these baby booties out of 100% organic cotton.  My lil sis A sent me the pattern for "one hour baby bootles" from her Stitch n' Bitch Nation book.  I followed the pattern exactly except I did not put buttons on the sides to decorate the booties because I thought that might be a choking hazard; instead, I did one pair with single straps and the other pair with double crisscrossed straps.

I love how easy they are to make and the fact that each pair really only took an hour...and the fact that anything that mini just looks so adorable!

Pair #1 - single strap

Pair #2 - double strap

Both pairs next to my cell phone for size-reference.

Finished!

I completed my second 1/2 marathon (Carlsbad) and I am officially retiring from running for at least a year.  This race was really tough on my shins but I'm just glad I finished!  The course was super gorgeous...right along the Pacific Ocean.  Even better was the mounds of all-u-can-eat Korean BBQ we all went out for afterwards :)

WOW MOM

The wind & rain storm blew a big branch right off the tree across the street from my building!  It's hard to tell by the picture, but the branch is definitely bigger than a SmartCar.

Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen...

Bear Down Scarves

I knit these two red & blue striped scarves for the Holiday Bowl last week because none of my UA gear is cold-weather friendly.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to knit stripes using two colors! D'oh I should have tried it much sooner! I used this youtube tutorial on knitting stripes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyE4zBSyGng

The scarves are 2x2 ribbing and were fairly quick to make because I used oversized (in relation to the yarn) size 10.5 needles.  For stiff, 100% acrylic yarn, the scarves actually turned out very comfortable against the skin.[1]

Here we are, bundled up with our new scarves!  Even though our seats were high up, we were right on the 50-year line which was pretty cool.  Not-so-cool though was UA's terrible performance in the Holiday Bowl.  We got totally shut out and there were way too many Huskers fans sitting on the Arizona side, boo!  I was all ready to sing "Bear Down, Arizona" but the opportunity only arose after the marching band played it once in between quarters due to the aforementioned shut-out.  Even though UA was not that great at football when I was there as a student, the games were always still a ton of fun ...probably because of the rowdyness of being in the student section.  Alas, I suppose the grass was greener then :)

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[1] I would have liked to use nicer yarn but it was the only type that came in both red and blue at Michaels and there are not many other places to get yarn here in SD...the knitting stores I do know of are only open until maybe 5 or 5:30 pm.  ***Note to SD knitting store peeps -- people with full time 9-to-5 jobs knit, too!***

Weeks 8 & 9

So I've totally fallen off the training wagon after dealing with a month-long cold and the return of my shin splints. K and I did work out 5 out of 7 days we were on vacation (with K actually running 10 miles on a treadmill...that might have more to do with our boredom with all-inclusive, but I'll save that for another post.) The last couple of weeks I did 8 miles at MSP and then 10 miles this weekend at DAC. Twenty more days until the Carlsbad 1/2! I'm thinking I'll do 12 miles this weekend, then a nice easy 8.5 mile taper down the week before the race.

Travel Tips

It's almost 2 a.m. (haven't stayed up this late in awhile...I know, I'm lame now) and we are finally packed and set for our trip to Riviera Maya tomorrow morning! Being in such close proximity to Mexico, this trip is not a new country to add to our list but I really wanted to go to Tulum after seeing K.L.'s postcard-perfect photos on Facebook of the crystal blue beach and the lure of the Mayan ruins was just too much to resist.[1] In August I saw an amazing deal on Travelzoo at for an all-inclusive resort and here we are now, ready to go!  We’ve never done the all-inclusive thing, as we are typically adventure-in-a-backpack travelers, so we’ll see just how much lounging around we can stomach =)

Here are some tips I have learned (usually through my own tribulations) and come to live by from my many travels:

1)    Always pack a sarong – it hardly takes up any space and has multiple uses…[obviously] as a coverup, makeshift pillowcase/bedsheets if the ones the hotel provides look questionable, towel, rolled up pillow, etc.

2)    Make a photocopy of your passport photo page and drivers license all on one sheet.  I have used the photocopy to cash travelers cheques and even get on board domestic flights abroad in lieu of showing my actual passport, which I usually have hidden (see #3.)  I [almost] learned the hard way just how valuable a U.S. Passport really is when mine turned up missing just before docking in Cuba.  Lucky for me, my passport got stuck in someone else’s…but those sinking couple of hours in fear before it was found were NO FUN at all!  On a side note, if a cop in a Latin American country pulls you over and asks for ID, give him the copy and NOT your original…tell him it’s locked up at your hotel.  Or else be prepared to pay a bribe.  (Happened to my friend S, not me.)

3)    Carry your passport, money, valuables, etc. in an under-the-clothes wallet.  I personally like the one that hangs on a long string (like a purse) rather than the one you wear around your waist.  It’s especially convenient for the ladies wearing dresses when traveling in humid destinations (i.e., South East Asia) because you can strap it around one shoulder, across your chest, and basically let it dangle between your legs.  If you have on a skirt—so long as it’s not skin tight—the undercover wallet doesn’t get in your way at all!

4)    Call your credit card companies before you go to let them know where you are going and for how long.  Duh.

5)    Photocopy the fronts and backs of all credit cards you are taking (preferably on one sheet) so you have all the pertinent info, including credit card number and international phone number to reach your CC company on one sheet.

6)      Roll your clothes, don’t fold, to save space.  I like to sort first by article of clothing.  For example, I roll all the tops together by laying out the biggest one (usually a long sleeved shirt), then piling up each next article by size so that the smallest article is on the top.  Then you roll ‘em up like a cigar.

7)    Pack a few extra plastic grocery bags.  They take up almost no space and come in surprisingly useful for dirty laundry or wet clothes, etc.

8)    Scan all the above mentioned 1-pagers (passport/drivers license and credit card info) and save as pdf.  Keep the pdf in your email account…if you somehow end up with no originals and no copyies, you can rest assured knowing that you have an electronic copy somewhere in cyberspace.  I haven’t run into the situation to need the pdf version ever but still…

9)    For multi-day or destination trips,keep clothes in luggage separated into clean/never-worn,  worn-before-but-not-dirty, and dirty-cannot-wear piles.  Makes it easier when you’re on the go and when you get back home and unpack!

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[1] I seem to have an excessive number of people with K names in my life!