Welcome To The Destination, My Dear Unknown Friend

"All destinations are final! That's what it means: Destiny, final. If you haven't gotten where you're going, you aren't there yet." --George Carlin--

Other than my mother, I have one category of people I idolized when I was growing up: comedians. I sneaked peeks at shows like the Half Hour Comedy Hour and Sunday Comics when I was a kid. The HBO comedy specials I could grab late at night after my parents went to bed. The Stand-Up Spotlight I'd watch in my grandparents bedroom while the adults talked about adult things in the living room. I had many heroes - some I was allowed to watch from a young age, and some I glimpsed in those stolen HBO moments. A young Rosie O'Donnell, Steve Martin, Paula Poundstone, Richard Jeni, Gallagher, Rita Rudner, anyone who'd ever set foot on SNL, countless forgotten others....and one I loved dearly and later whose specials I would spend hours watching and bonding over with my mom: George Carlin. I had so many of his routines memorized - I still recite the airline announcements bit in my head every time I'm on a plane. He is - was - one of the most brilliant and forward-thinking voices of many generations, and I was lucky enough to get to see him at the University of Florida about eight years ago. (Thank you, Jessi!!)

Plus, you know, there's this:

George

Dad
One of the fun things about my stepdad is that he resembles two of my favorite twinkly-eyed mischievious men. One's George Carlin. (The other, Michael Caine.)

Me = Awesome

Wow, what a snotty post title. But it's okay as long as I acknowledge the snottiness.

So here's a little tiny snippet of crazy-awesome news that I can share with you - I am giving you absolutely all the details I'm allowed to give, and nothing more or less, so here goes:

I'm going to be a published designer in a REAL LIVE BOOK. A design of mine has been submitted and selected for a book of sock patterns to be published by Lark Books! Look for me to become a big(ger) obnoxious(er) snob now that I'm such a big huge fat deal.

(I kid - I'll go big obnoxious snob when I get my own book all to myself. For now I'm just kind of high on life, no nose in the air. Yet.)

I'm really excited, and I look forward to everyone seeing the book when it hits shelves (which is not any time soon, I'll tell you that.)

Next post - big ol' recap of our trip to Boulder and the Estes Park Wool Festival! I have a zillion pictures, and two words for you: sheep balls.

Yeah, it's exactly that. You know you're looking forward to it.

ETA: PS, I was on Lime & Violet Podcast ZOMG WHAT??! Okay, going to have to dash home and listen to that!

Colorado = Not Hot

All I really wanted out of Colorado was to not be hot. And it's not. So this is pretty much the best vacation ever. Right before taking off for this I was checking out my leave spreadsheet and it appears I have taken all of two days off since the beginning of the year. That is, uh, kind of not a lot for me. At all. No wonder I was getting a bit itchy and easily distracted at work. (Can be a problem for a training coordinator. "What you need to do is save these to your folder so that you can open them in Adobe and OOH LOOK AT THE SHINY.......I'm sorry, where were we?")

We have been conducting ourselves with the kind of grace and dignity that is the hallmark of any good houseguest. Immediately upon arriving, Travis locked everyone out of the bathroom and a locksmith had to be called in. (Because the keys to the bathroom were where? In the bathroom, of course!)

Travis is not a locksmith. No success here, but a valiant effort was made to thoroughly confuse Truman.


Success.

I wish I had a picture of the other slip-up, because if I could have captured that brief shining moment on film, it would have been freakin sweet. That was mine, and what I'm about to say will shock and awe those of you who have been privy to my goings-on for some time here - I SAID SOMETHING STUPID. I know. I know. It's bewildering. By stupid, I don't mean like, asking-"What time is it?"-while-standing-in-front-of-a-huge-clock stupid....more like "Iraq has been seeking large quantities of uranium from Africa" stupid. The facial reaction, a little bit kind of horrifying at the time, would have been pretty awesome to share, now.


Also, I'm working on a new sock (handspun)....


....and Travis has been working on a new hat.

And there were cupcakes. Yeah. What.

Tomorrow, Estes Park Wool Festival! W00t!

That Flickr MeMe Thing

I have some time to kill while Travis hits up the laundromat to wash his uniforms. So this was fun....

1. What is your first name?: Alyson

2. What is your favorite food?: (today?) Drunken noodles with tofu

3. What high school did you go to?: Martin County High School (I swear this was on the first screen of results.)

4. What is your favorite color? Orange (this was a TOUGH one to choose a photo on!)

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Angelina Jolie (hey, it is what it is. and she's at her most beautiful when children are present.)

6. Favorite drink?: iced caramel macchiato (but only because "sweet tea" didn't give me any images of anything remotely related to sweet tea)

7. Dream vacation?: Thailand (even more so now that I've been rooting through pictures.)

8. Favorite dessert: (today?) Creme brulee

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Pregnant (as soon as I grow up....)

10. What do you love most in life?: Husband

11. One word to describe you: Talented (I let Travis pick the word - not that I don't think I am, but it wouldn't be the first thing that came to mind. And compared with this cat, I got nothin'.)

12: Your flickr name: Terrible YoYo

Note: Of course none of these photos are my own - please see credit for each photo by clicking on my mosaic's flickr page.

WooHoo!!

Travis got the electric skeiner up and running (my husband is a genius!!) so you know what that means....

Big ol' happy yarn updatin' time!

If I Have To Suffer, YOU Have To Suffer

One of the kittens has the farts. And not cute little bebbeh kitteh farts. Wretched, foul, plant-wilting farts. They weigh 27 and 21 ounces. There cannot be that much concentrated noxious gas in such a small creature. My eyes are watering and it's quite possible all those little nasal-membrane-protecting hairs have withered and fallen away. It's THAT BAD. Imagine the kind of gas you might expect from, like, the Predator. Or Godzilla.

My sweet baby kitties release Godzilla farts.

And that was this evening's announcement. You're welcome.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

First of all, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the wonderfully sweet comments, emails, and Ravmails wishing me a happy birthday and us a happy anniversary. It's been a great week - I need to take a picture of some of my awesome birthday gifts. I did get a shot of my gift from Travis:

While HE PLAYED WITH IT. (S'okay, I'd had like a two-hour turn on it already.) And sorry for the mild nudity - in Florida, boys don't wear shirts after April. So yep, he got me the Wii Fit, and it is AWESOME. You totally need one. (And don't tell me you can't have one because you don't have a Wii. I told you to get a Wii after Christmas, didn't I.)

I had a sewing lesson the evening of my birthday, but his mom and sister were at the house when I got home with a little family surprise party. I wasn't expecting much fanfare since I already had plans that night, so it was an extremely pleasant surprise. Plus, there was cake. Cake is never a bad thing.

And we spent plenty of time on the Fit, finally making it to bed around midnight. It's such good healthy fun, and smart too - look at it celebrating my birthday!


Party hat!!! Party hat!!!!! (He started throwing confetti after this.)

And look at him telling Travis to celebrate my birthday!


Then he told Travis to make sure it was a special one. How cute is my little Fit, soliciting gifts and showers of affection on my behalf??

We celebrated our anniversary on Sunday by going back to the place where we had brunch last year on the morning after the wedding. The same guy was at the piano:


He is REMARKABLE. He plays all sorts of things - my favourite that he played last year, which he played right before we left on Sunday, is "Black Hole Sun". That's right, the guy plays Soundgarden arranged for classical piano. 'Cuz he rules.

But then, so does the food:


All those tables down that hall? They all have food on them. Not boring food. But food craziness. Caviar, 20 cheeses, huge crab claws, brandied cherries, lobster, buffalo tenderloin, jumbo asparagus, spring rolls, sushi...you name it, it's back there somewhere. Click for more food pictures. It's totally worth it.


It was a very nice day.

And in eight days (eight days!!) we leave for Colorado! Hurray! We're heading to Boulder for a nice long weekend - and it just happens to be over the weekend of Estes Park Wool Festival. Gee, how did that happen? We'll be staying with an Anonymous Knitter, which I am TOTALLY excited about. And there may be a TRAPEZE EXPERIENCE! AWESOME!! The whole thing is just going to rock - and then three days after we return from that trip, I'm off to Key West for my best friend's bachelorette party weekend. (One night, one party? HA! That's not how we do!)

And if you're in the Boulder/Denver area, and/or are planning to attend Estes Wool, let me know! I like meeting people, it's fun and cool and special. ;-)

Oh, right, and a shop update thingie, in case you like those sorts of things - I finally got a shipment of fingering weight yarn (that didn't go to Kentucky first!) and dyed that up on Saturday. So I'll have a shop update probably this Saturday afternoon. Li'l bitty preview pictures of wet stuff:

Wow....Is It That Time Already?

One year ago, the happiest day of my life....

....until the next day....


And that one until the next...


...and then the next...

Here's to a lifetime of next days. I love you, boo.