#39: Go to the Beach completed, #99: See 3 live music shows in progress (picture heavy)

Things have been pretty busy here for the past month or so, and I realized that I've completed a few list items that I haven't had the chance to blog about, so I'm hoping to catch up over the next week or so. 


The first weekend in February David and I visited our friends Jess and Frank in L.A. The trip was great, and pretty packed. We drove in on Friday, and went to an art show at one of their friend's comic book shop in Silverlake. We also got to peek in to Home Ec, a craft store Jess' friends owns and where Jess works on the weekends.


On Saturday, we saw the Pee-wee Herman stage show...





...which was amazing. We originally bought tickets when the show was supposed to be in November, however it sold out so quickly they changed to a larger venue with new dates. Everyone who bought tickets for the original show was able to stay after the show for a Q & A with Pee-wee! So much fun.


Sunday we hung out in Santa Monica for a little while for a superbowl party. David and I left the party early so we could head to a They Might Be Giants show. However, before we left Santa Monica we went to...

Progress (or lack thereof)

So, I didn't finish my Knitting Olympics project in time, but I'm actually really okay with that.  I didn't exactly plan ahead, like picking out a pattern in advance and swatching, so I didn't realize the lace pattern I picked didn't have any rest rows. This is the first time I've knit lace w/o rest rows, and I didn't realize what a difference that can make. Also, I didn't really think ahead to the fact that the last week of the Knitting Olympics was also going to be the last week my parents were going to be in Tucson before moving back to New England, so...I was much more interested in spending time w/family who I might not see for a year or so than hole up knitting in my apartment. 

However, I am very excited for the project once it's done. The Malabrigo Lace yarn is amazing....soft, squishy, gorgeous. The whole scarf just looks like it's the knitted embodiment of Spring, with the bramble leaf stitch pattern and gorgeous bright yellow with it's slight varigation....Now that I no longer have a time limit, I've decided I'm going to do about 20 repeats of the center pattern instead of the recommended 16 (I've completed 16 repeats already, and it is way too short as is) plus knit the wide borders.  

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Last night was the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics, and also marked the beginning of the Knitting Olympics hosted by the Yarn Harlot.  For the Knitting Olympics, one casts on a new project during the opening ceremonies and must finish that project by the end of the Winter Olympics.  I consider myself to be an intermediate to advanced knitter, but I do not happen to be a very fast knitter. So, I wanted to chose a project that was technically interesting but not too long. Looking through my queue on Ravelry, I quickly chose to knit the Raha Scarf by Nancy Bush from the book Estonian Lace Today. The book was a gift from my sister and I haven't knit any of the patterns yet, and was really looking forward to finally getting a chance to knit one of  them.

So Friday rolls around and I select the Malabrigo Lace yarn in a gorgeous, bright yellow from my stash, get out the gorgeous wooden size 5 needles I received along with the book (it only seemd appropriate) and go to my mini knitting library so I can make several photocopies of the pattern and...it's completely missing. Every other knitting book I own is in the same spot, except for this one book. I quickly look through all other bookshelves, check the living room, bedroom, but to no avail. Running out of time, I quickly review the other patterns in my queue, looking for a comparable pattern that would be challenging enough to complete in 17 days but not impossible. I finally settled on Scarf with French Trellis Border from Weldon's 1890 and Bramble Leaf Center by Jane Sowerby.  However, for the Olympics I am eliminating the wide borders and just knitting the Bramble Leaf Center as that seemed a little more comparable to what I was intending on knitting originally.

#79: Dye my hair a color I've never tried (Strawberry blonde!)

Growing up, one of the areas my siblings and I were given lots of freedom in was out hair. In middle school I dyed my hair using boiling kool-aid, only to continue using regular hair dye consistently until graduation (and beyond). My sister had flourescent pink at one point, and shaved her head completely our senior year. My brother rocked a mohawk. The only major rule regarding our hair was that we were required to have it look "normal" for our senior pictures, as our parents were paying for those to be taken and thus could dictate no unnatural hair colors and whatnot.

Throughout the years, I've gone from my natural medium brown hair to many shades of red and auburn, to black, to purple highlights. Pretty much the only color in the spectrum I have never tried is blonde. I've bleached or lightened my hair as the means to the end of adding purple or stop-sign red, but never as the end itself. There was always something about "blonde" that I just decided didn't suit my personality. I liked going darker, brighter, redder, but never lighter.

Aside from putting this on my list, I was emboldened to try a blonde hue as my hair is shorter than it has ever been, and I'm totally loving it. I figured, if I don't like this color it will grow out very, very quickly. I can also just dye back over it if I *really* hated it without fear of completely ruining my hair, as most of it will get chopped off next time I get a trim. I decided to go with a strawberry blonde to keep the comfort of familiar red hues and picked L'Oreal Preference "Light Reddish Blonde". I have to admit: I totally love it! Here are the results:

New Years Resolutions

Perhaps one of the greatest things about creating a 101 in 1001 list is that it completely absolves me from not making New Years Resolutions. I am not really into the whole New Years Resolution thing as it is, and the 101 list is clearly way better. I didn't have to wait for a new year to make my list, and I get to add some longer term goals that couldn't be completed in just a year. Therefore, I am officially not making a single resolution for the new year since it seems, at best, redundant.

In other news, I got a new camera for Christmas! David actually let me pick the camera out myself, after the holiday, which was amazing. Here is me and my new camera:

#31: Go on 5 different hikes (1/5)

100_5179, originally uploaded by Michelle's Blog photos.

This is one of the photos from Saguaro National Park that I took while hiking with David and Brandon a few weeks ago. (I think I'm going to have to ration out my current photos, as our camera died last week and thus I have limited new photos to share.) David and I really haven't done that much hiking since moving here, which is one of the reasons I added it to my list. This is one of my favorite photos from the hike, and I think that sometimes living in Tucson I forget how gorgeous the natural scenery is.

In other news, David and I had a wonderful holiday, and got to spend time with both of our families for Christmas. I worked on Christmas Eve, but did take tomorrow off, so I still get a nice long 4 day weekend.

Oh, hello there!

Wow, has it really been nearly 3 weeks since I've updated? Sorry guys, things have been pretty busy around here lately. Our friend Brandon came and stayed in Tucson for a little over a week, which was awesome. He's a friend of ours from Boston (he went to Berklee with David), and we haven't seen him since stopping in Detroit en route to Tucson.  We had a really wonderful time, did some hiking at Sahuaro National Park, went to the 4th Ave Street Fair, hit up some of our favorite bars. I'll be putting up some pictures soon, along with some of the other stuff that's been keeping us busy.