marirob

A new year, a new blog

2008-12-31T12:34:00.000-08:00

I started writing this blog... because all the cool kids were doing it! Little did I know how much I would enjoy sharing my crafts, our cats and our travels. I've also loved meeting new friends and sharing our joy of crafting. However, this past year was not a shining moment in my creative output. Well, sometimes change is what I need to get a little more inspiration. So I'm moving blogs! Hopefully, all of my four remaining readers (all family members, of course! Hi Mama!) will join me over at...

marirob.squarespace.com

Upcoming entries will include:

My Christmas present! (it's a brand new craft for me!)
Sweater(s)! (I've finished one fairly recently)
Cats! (because Unki demands it!)

Here's hoping that you and your families will have a wonderful 2009. See you at the new blog!

Day 7 - Victoria - Fish and chips... finally!

2008-11-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

One of the places I wanted to see while in Victoria was Butchart Gardens. I was worried that with us going so late in the fall was the flowers would be sad. :(

We got there early enough so there were barely any other people. Rob loved the old style maps.

I shouldn't have been worried - from our first view of the sunken gardens, we were amazed by the color and variety of all the plants.

The bush behind me looked like a alien being to me.

The fall colors were definitely in full force!

Beautiful view across the pond.

There were some fountains that we called, "Bellagio - Canada"!

Love the red color.

Although the roses weren't in bloom, the chrysanthemums were out in full force. They were amazing!

They had a Japanese garden too, which wasn't as authentic as the Nitobe Gardens, but, again, the colors were just beautiful.

After the gardens, we went in search of a fish and chip place recommended to us by Huay, but it was closed! Blast! So we went into town, found my museum...

(I think the sign is really pointing to the Maritime museum!)

saw Chinatown...

... and ended up back at Red Fish Blue Fish, where we had the yummiest halibut and chowder. If you're ever in Victoria, please eat here! It's yummy!

Our final visit of the day was to Government house, which has a nice hike through an oak forest and various vistas of the city.

There were little terraced gardens to enjoy the plants and view.

Relaxing is nice!

We also enjoyed seeing all of the ducks in the ponds - we love duck butt!

This wasn't our last day on the trip, we had one more day but it was a total travel day from Victoria back to Seattle. Nothing notable happened except...

...we flew the plane home! No, the nice pilot let us sit up front during a layover.

All in all, a wonderful trip, with great food and great nature. Definitely a fantastic destination without leaving our time zone!

Day 6 - Tofino to Victoria - From nature to man-made wonders

2008-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

This was a big travel day for us - a 5 hour drive from Tofino to Victoria. We stopped at the other side of Cathedral Grove

Look at the big tree!

I love this photo - doesn't the forest look primeval? (I said that word probably 30 times on this trip!)

A teeny tiny mushroom.

We got to Victoria in under 5 hours, and we walked immediately to the middle of town. Here's the famous Empress Hotel.

While we were in Vancouver, a fellow B&B guest recommended a fish and chips place called "Red Fish Blue Fish". It's a converted shipping container on the harbor.

We decided to get sandwiches, as we were supposed to go to a local fish joint recommended by our friend Huay the next day. It was fun to watch the whale watching boats while we were waiting for our food.

Side note - did you know that in Canada, Canada Dry is the "champagne of ginger ales"?

The sandwiches were so tasty, I got oysters and Rob got scallops. One of the condiments was a deep fried pickle chip, which tasted way better than it sounds.

Afterward, we went to the Royal BC museum, which was one of the best museums I've ever been to. Great exhibits about the history of British Columbia, including the First Nations cultures - these tomtem poles were very impressive.

They also had crazy recreations of different time periods in British Columbia. Rob says they are "full-size occupiable dioramas". Here we are next to the HMS Discovery (in my Klaralund!)

After checking in our B&B, we headed back into town for a movie. It was fun to watch a movie with the locals.

Our favorite highlight? Our lunch (it always comes back to food!)

Day 7 - our final full day of vacation...

Day 5 - Tofino - Hiking and recharging

2008-11-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

We were worried about the weather on Day 5, because rain was in the forecast. But we awoke to no rain that morning! Here's the view from the windows of our room.

The B&B owner told us that there are usually bears back here, but we didn't see any during our stay.

I am so excited to eat breakfast in my pajamas!

We went back to Chesterman Beach, where we got drenched the night before. It was so incredibly beautiful!

A sand dollar with some "fuzz" still left on it.

The sun peeking through the clouds.

The beach is very long, and there were only about 10 other people enjoying the morning.

We walked out to an island that's only accessible during low tide.

A lone paddle surfer.

After our walk on the beach, we went and hiked in the Pacific Rim National Park. There are a bunch of easy hikes that each had their own personalities. During the summer, the crowds are enormous, but we pretty much had each hike to ourselves.

This hike was through a lovely forest that ended going down lots of stairs next to a waterfall to a beach.

One of my favorite hikes was through this bog - it reminded me of the scene in Lord of the Rings in the Dead Marshes, but happily there were no dead bodies! The walkway is just sitting on top of the moss, so it was nice and springy.

Even slugs are beautiful in Tofino!

We took some more hikes to several beaches, each with its own personality. This was the first time I understood the appeal of beachcombing, because each beach had so much beach "debris" to look at!

Rob thought this would be a good before/after shot of some driftwood.

So happy that my ears are protected by my Chevron Scarf.

The last hikes we did were through some rainforests, which had walkways that took you through the canopies of of the trees. None of the photos did justice to the incredible landscape and scale of the trees.

This bridge is made from a fallen log.

Rob can barely fit under this tree!

The entire day was just what I had hoped for - great but easy hiking, beautiful scenery and a chance to be with nature. It was definitely worth the trip just to make it here!

Day 3 - Vancouver - Meeting a Blogging Legend!

2008-11-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

We started our third day by taking in some beautiful flora at the University of British Columbia's botanical garden.

We had the entire garden to ourselves (or, so it felt!) I loved all of the dampness and the mushrooms...

...and the fall berries.

Hey! Who are those people?

You can kind of see the blurry people in this photo - there was a class on tree climbing while we were there.

Oooo - pink berries!

An attempt at an artsy shot.

We went to the Nitobe Japanese Garden down the road, where we felt like we were in Japan when we saw the Japanese school group leaving right before us.

This garden is described as one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japane, and it really is.

The views are very well situated (I'm channeling my inner Austen - tee hee!)

After the gardens, we drove across town to meet... Felicia from SweetGeorgia yarns! She was so sweet to meet up with us and we went to lunch together. Her blog was one of the first ones I started reading when I first started knitting. I was so excited to meet her!

She is so pretty and super nice!

We went to her studio and saw her lovely yarn and her looms.

It was so much fun meeting her (and of course I bought some yarn!) Her restaurant/travel advice really made our trip so much more memorable.

After we left Felicia's studio, we headed to Granville Island and went to the public market. It was great to walk around the area, but Rob only took one photo.

Sometimes his love of all things industrial goes too far!

For dinner, we were slightly embarrassed to admit that we went back to the Foundation Eatery to get more nachos! We ordered the large, and the waitress said, "Have you ever ordered the large before?" Of course we hadn't, and it was even bigger than we had imagined! It was the perfect end to our short jaunt to Vancouver.

Highlights of the day? For Rob, it was the nachos!

They looked bigger in person.

For me, it was definitely meeting Felicia!

I took a blurry photo of the yarn I bought.

Thank you again Felicia! We'll have to return the favor if you ever visit good ol' So Cal!

Day 4 - we go to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to!

Day 4 - Vancouver to Tofino - Surfing in the rain?!?!?

2008-11-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

We woke early, sad to leave Vancouver but excited to head to Vancouver Island. We were headed to Tofino, which we kept hearing from everyone was beautiful. So we were definitely looking forward to this leg of the trip!

The trip would entail a 90 minute ferry ride, as well as a 4 hour drive across the island.

It was cold on the ferry ride!

But very beautiful too!

We landed in Nanaimo and immediately found a place to get some tasty seafood chowder - topped with cheese, yum.

As usual, we took one of our customary camera-on-dashboard photos.

The photos don't do justice to the landscape - the fall colors were just beginning to show.

We stopped at a place called Cathedral Grove, which had some huge old growth trees and felt like we were back in the age of the dinosaurs.

More fungi!

I loved all of the moss hanging from the trees.

We checked into our B&B, the Harvey House, which was perfect for our stay.

We took a quick walk to the beach (in the rain) where we were SHOCKED to see about 15 people surfing! We didn't get any good photos because it was cold and RAINING!

As we walked the beach, we got really wet but still enjoyed ourselves.

Afterwards, we headed into the town of Tofino for a lovely dinner. It was too dark to take photos!

Our highlight? The surreal landscape of Cathedral Grove.

Day 5? It stops raining! Yay!

Day 2 - Vancouver - Biking and... eating!

2008-11-04T05:59:00.000-08:00

We were really lucky to enjoy great weather during our trip. Cool, in the 50's and 60's, and it really only rained on our travel days. The first thing we did was to grab the mountain bikes from our B&B and ride to Stanley park.

For some reason, we woefully mispacked for this trip. I forgot a hat and proper gloves, Rob forgot good hiking shoes. Luckily I remembered my newly finished Chevron scarf and it gots lots of play during this trip!

There were lots of totem poles during our trip. I love looking at them and seeing the different personalities of the animals and artists in each piece.

Hey! That's how I hold Unki!

Rob's friend Ryan told him to look out for the big sulfur piles across the water - Rob took many, many photos of them (don't ask me why!)

There were some beautiful fall colors along the ride.

Our bike ride took a couple of hours - it was just amazing to be able to get such beautiful views along the way.

Our B&B (the West End Guest House) was a great find! There were such beautiful flowers in the front yard.

Lunch took us to another of Felicia's restaurant recommendations - Finch's Tea and Coffee House. Super fresh, super tasty baguette sandwiches right near Gastown.

Yummy prosciutto sandwich.

We walked around Gastown and Chinatown - Rob swore he took a photo next to this statue from over 20 years ago!

We are such dorks! We got so excited to see posters advertising the Canadian version of our favorite summer tv show!

For dinner, we went to number 3 of Felicia's recommendations - Chambar, a belgium restaurant specializing in mussels. This was such an amazingly tasty meal - we really, really loved this restaurant!

We had to take a photo of Rob's beer so he could remember what brand it was.

I had a beet and crabapple salad - it was so delicious.

Rob had the moroccan style lamb with couscous. Again, super yummy!

Of course we had mussels, which were the best mussels I've had in a long time. They just didn't photograph well...

So, the highlight of the day for both of us? Dinner!

And they had the best frites!

Tomorrow? Do we actually get to meet the person who is made sure we ate so well? Wait and see!

Day 1 - Seattle to Vancouver - Mexi Fries, anyone?

2008-10-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Rob and I went on a trip to Vancouver and Vancouver Island. It's been a while since we took a vacation so we were both very excited! So... you'll notice that the theme of the trip was FOOD! We ate lots and ate well.

We flew into Sea-Tac and drove across the border to Vancouver. We had to stop in Seattle at Hole in the Wall BBQ for some delicious BBQ pork sandwiches.

We went here on our last trip to Seattle and luckily I remembered the name of the place!

My boss Jen told me once about the Mexi Fries at Taco Time so we had to stop and get some to sustain us on our drive.

The tastiest tater tots in town!

It didn't take us too long to get to Vancouver, where we checked into our B&B and took a walk to Stanley Park and our neighborhood (in the rain...)

Even the pigeons looked a little cold and damp.

Before we left, I had asked Felicia from Sweetgeorgia yarns for some restaurant recommendations. She gave us a list of super tasty places. That day just happened to be Canada's Thanksgiving, so we were a little worried if anyplace would be opened. Luckily, we went to the Foundation Eatery, a vegetarian place where they had the best nachos ever! We also had great entrees.

I thought I'd list the highlight of each day of our trip... and for this day? The nachos for both of us!

nani iro dresses

2008-07-22T10:38:00.001-07:00

I've left my camera charger in Toronto and, for some reason, I am unable to get myself to buy a new one, so I haven't had any photos for a little bit. But I did do a post for the purl bee about some dresses I made. I really made them for myself!

I love these dresses, I've worn them out and about already. The fabric is different from regular fabric, if you've never felt it before. I think it's a way to have a lightweight fabric that isn't sheer, and it's perfect for a humid climate.

I've been knitting a little, also planning to make a dress for a wedding later in the month. My serger hadn't been working and I was so angry at it when it discovered it was... USER ERROR! Gasp! Maybe I can finally work on all of those knits I've been planning to make!

Rob's big run!

2008-10-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's always a surprise to see how fast time goes by. My brother-in-law says, "The minutes go by slow, but the years go by so fast". I have to be honest, this hasn't been a good year for marirob. When times are hard, blogging kind of takes a back seat. But I just had to share Rob's huge accomplishment from a couple of weeks ago.

You may remember from this post that Rob and I ran in a 5k/10k back in May. Rob's goal was to run the Long Beach half-marathon in October. Well, even with a couple of injuries and busy times at work, he managed to do it, and I had a blast cheering Rob, my sister Mina, and my brother-in-law Steve onto victory!

The beginning of the race.

Go Mina!

You can do it Rob!

Steve at the end of the race.

The triumphant trio after the end of the race.

Mina and Steve had awesome times (2:07 and 1:50 respectively) and Rob's goal was to run the entire race, which he did! I am so proud of the three of them - they did a great job! I know that I'll be rooting them on next year too!

a travelling fool!

2008-06-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

...is what I've been. I went to Toronto last week to visit my good friend Anna. I didn't do many touristy things, I mainly hung out with her and her two adorable children and just followed her around. The highlights were...

- seeing Anna's son sing at his music class
- going to several of Toronto's parks
- experiencing a CRAZY thunderstorm one night
- meeting the deputy mayor of Toronto and getting a Toronto lapel pin from him!
- going to a Filipino Independence day picnic
- bouncing a super cute baby a million times

See? Isn't she cute?

The one touristy thing we did do was to take the ferry out to Centre Island, which was great fun.

I got back Sunday afternoon and then Rob had to go to Las Vegas for an overnight trip for work, so I tagged along! The highlight was that we stayed at the Bellagio with a view of the dancing fountains.

I've done a little crafting, which includes -
a pair of socks
almost finished with my chevron scarf
demolishing my first attempt at making a t-shirt with the serger

But I leave you with the cutest baby feet in our house.

Hopefully I'll craft some more next week - I have so many projects in my head I'm going to burst!

Taking a break... cruising!

2008-06-03T09:20:00.001-07:00

I wanted to thank everyone for the thoughtful comments you left on our last post. It's always such a comfort to hear from fellow bloggers, even when I've only met two of you! It definitely is appreciated by Rob and his family. :)

We felt like we needed a little emotional break after coming back from the east coast. So, I started researching, and a couple hours later, we were booked on a four day cruise to Cabo San Lucas! Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before, and we had a great time! It's not the... well, we'll say "classiest" way to travel, but we were thoroughly entertained by everything we saw and experienced.

The main pool and slide.

Looking down into the main atrium.

Wow! It's windy!

Relaxing next to the ocean.

Look! We won the scavenger hunt! Next stop, Amazing Race!

During our snorkeling trip in Cabo.

Our favorite part was meeting different people that you would never meet anywhere else. Our favorite people were Ted and Terese, who live in Idaho on a dairy farm. I also thought a lot about how hard it must be to work on a cruise ship. There were so many employees it was mind boggling. Rob's favorite entertainer was a guitar player that sang at the "Drama Bar". He was truly not very good. Here's a video to show you:

Rob's parents both loved to travel so I think they both would have appreciated the trip. :) So, we are refreshed and ready for summer! Rob is going to have half day Fridays at work so we're hoping to do lots of sightseeing in our own backyard.

in memoriam

2008-05-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some very sad news with our blogging community. Rob's father Olaf passed away last week at the age of 73. It's been a very emotional time for our entire family. The funeral service was on Saturday, and Rob's brother-in-law Glen gave a very touching eulogy. One of the things he said that has really resonated with me is that Olaf always made clear how much he loved his family. There was never any doubt how proud he was of his 4 children and 7 grandchildren, and he talked about them to whoever would listen.

Even though I find it difficult to blog about personal events, I wanted this to go out into the blogosphere. I think part of me feels like it will keep someone's memory alive even after we're gone. I hope everyone reading will take a minute to be like Olaf and let their loved ones know how much they mean to them. :)

Run marirob, run!

2008-05-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Rob and I, along with my sister Mina, participated in a 5k/10k run. If you remember this entry, we've been trying to run since January. We took the month of February off (something about moving?) but Mina suggested signing up for a run to motivate us.

Mina and me right before the race.

Mina and Rob ran the 10k, I ran the 5k so I was able to take photos of them at the startline.

And here we are after the race with our medals!

My goal was just to run the entire 5k, which I did. Yay! Rob's goal was the same, and he ran the whole way too! Yippee! Rob's planning to run a half-marathon in October, so he'll be training quite a bit. Me? I'm happy with my 5k!

On a crafty note, I managed to buy some knit fabric to start some serging - hopefully, it'll be fun!

Hand sewing IS fun!

2008-04-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

A few months back, wee wonderfuls released her "Hand Sewing For Fun" patterns. Of course I bought them right away and I actually made all of the animals immediately - and it was tons of fun! I brought them to work to show off, and I left them there for a long time. I finally brought them home and it's like seeing some old friends!

I made them out of the Mary Flanagan wool packs we have at work, and stuffed them with cotton, which made them nice and firm.

Rob's favorite is the turtle...

... and mine is the butterfly (complete with Liberty fabric, ooh-la-la!)

Bear Knits asked in my last post what brand of serger I have. It's a Janome My Lock 634D, which so far seems great... but I will keep reporting on it. Especially since I got a book that will hopefully help me make a ton of knitwear.

SO exciting! I can't wait to get started!

Serging mania!

2008-04-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all of the comments about our big boy Unki! Every time someone comes over they ask, "Has Unki gotten bigger?" We don't overfeed him... in fact, he doesn't eat that much. He's just big from love!

I finally managed to use my Christmas present for the first time... and all I can think is: "What took me so long?"

After fiddling with the thread for a little bit (the serger came pre-threaded) my new serger works like a charm! I used it to help finish a couple of new spring pieces.

This is a pattern from linnet that I bought when I was in Japan. It's a very simple tunic top that I think goes well with the fabric, which I bought from purl way before I started working there. It took about 2 yards of fabric, and was pretty straightforward. I serged the sleeves and the raw ends of the sleeve caps... maybe not the neatest looking project but Rob says it's his favorite of my home-sewn projects.

I also made this wrap skirt, after seeing my boss Jen's great version.

This is a Indygo Junction pattern called "It's a Wrap!". It takes three yards of fabric and is one size fits all. I made a couple of mods, including making the waistband thicker (I cut a 4 inch piece instead of 2.5 inches) and making a hole for the tie to come through. I really like it - it only took me a couple of hours from beginning to end.

Yesterday we took a day off (it was our 4 year anniversary) and had lunch at this restaurant called Clementine. They have a great promotion for National Grilled Cheese Month, where they have little menus that look like voter ballots and each week in April they have 5 different grilled cheese sandwiches.

We had the Philly cheesesteak and the Gruyere with Creamed Spinach and Bacon on country wheat bread - so so so tasty! I wish every month was Grilled Cheese month!

Knitting resumed!

2008-04-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

My wrists have sufficiently healed to let me sew and knit again! Yay! The craft room is still a mess, so I've only sewn some napkins for a friend, but I managed to finished some socks I started a couple of months ago.

Yarn - Sock Hop yarn in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Pattern - my own, generic 56 stitch cast on sock

I've been coveting this yarn ever since I saw it on January One. I might be a little late to the game, but these are the squishiest, funnest socks I've made. I love the fact that the striping changes almost every row.

I've also finished a sweater that had been languishing a while, just need Rob to take some photos... I'm trying to finish up some UFO's before I get started on anything new... and do I have a ton of UFO's! So embarrassing. So to completely change the subject, let's talk about the cats!

They've really enjoyed the new place, even if Unki keeps crashing into the walls because of the hardwood floors. They love to sit in the windows and enjoy the fresh spring breezes.

Speaking of spring, there are mystery flowers everywhere I look! Is this an iris?

To round out the randomness of this post, I wanted to share how big Unki has gotten over the past three years.

This is when we first got him. So cute! So small!

And this was last week.

No wonder my wrists hurt!

spring is springing!

2008-03-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that it's spring? I really feel that it just snuck up on me. But, the flowers are blooming, trees are leafing, and blossoms are blossoming...

... and wonderful fruits and veggies are at the farmer's markets! One of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles is the abundance of local fruit and veggies we get year round. Today I went to the wednesday Santa Monica farmer's market (my favorite!) where I saw Tom Colicchio (I recognized his voice before I saw him) and I bought a few seasonal tasties.

The juiciest mandarins ever!

English peas, which everyone was buying. I've never bought peas, but these are so delicious raw I couldn't believe it. I decided to try to buy one new thing at the farmer's market each week.

Gaviota strawberries... which are so beyond your standard strawberries I can't even describe the taste... yummy!

And a big artichoke... make that a HUGE artichoke! Rob's friends Kieran, Alicia and Brendan came to visit us last week, and they bought two of these that we cooked up. Delicioso!

And... some crafting! Well, old crafting. A while ago, whisperine pine and I did a swap. She sent me the most wonderful silk/cotton fabric that I made into a shirt. Somehow, it got lost in my closet and I never blogged about it - here it is!

I have no statistics about the pattern, other than I remember that it was a knit top pattern that I converted to a non-stretchy top. It's a little hard to get on but once it's on it's super comfy. Thank you Blossom, for the beautiful fabric!

My wrist has gotten much better over the past two weeks, and I managed get some knitting in! The next step is to clean up our craft room / office and get some sewing in. Yay!

Isn't it fun when relatives visit?

2008-03-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

My hand is still injured, so I haven't set up my craft table yet. Right now it's a riotous mess of boxes and fabric. I'm hoping that my hand will heal soon and I'll be able craft... especially when I show you what I got!

My aunt Kanchan (of takayama fame, we visited her on our trip last year) was here for a visit last week. We always love seeing her and she brought us some lovely gifts. She very thoughtfully brought me some fabric!

She also got us some tenugui, which I either use in my projects or use in the kitchen.

My cousin Miyuki not only sent me some lovely heavyweight blend fabric...

... but what might be the supplies for the most fun quilting project ever:

Pre-cut quilt squares! What a fun quilt these will make!

We had a lovely pizza lunch on the deck with her and my mom and sister.

Domo arigato Kanchan! We can't wait to visit you in Takayama again!

A valentine's day post not about valentine's day

2008-02-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a first! My first blogosphere meet-up with Lori and yai-ann. They came by the purl warehouse and then we ate and chatted at the Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa. I forgot my camera but luckily yai-ann's boyfriend remembered to take a photo for us.

It was so nice to meet them in person. Lori showed us her amazing WIP of the Rambling Rose cardigan. It's going to be beautiful when it's done!

I wish I had more crafty stuff to blog about on this crafty holiday (don't ask me why, I always think of it that way!) but there are two big reasons why I don't have crafty things to give to loved ones.

I fell on Super Tuesday (on my way to vote!) and hurt my LEFT wrist. So now I have one very painful wrist and one less-slightly painful wrist that is doing it's best to compensate. This happened to happen right before the weekend we moved into our new place! Rob was a super trooper and packed pretty much everything, and with the help of my brother-in-law Steve, they got us moved!

We're renting a house from some friends of ours, and one of the most amazing things about this place is the landscaping. Look at the view from the deck!

There are a ton of little plants around that make me smile.

There are some trees in the front yard, does anyone recognize the fruit?

My favorite part is all of the bamboo, which sounds great in the wind.

We're planning to do some crafty improvements to the house, namely curtains and cushions. Darn it wrists, get better soon! I gotta sew!

Travel tidbits

2008-02-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to have more exciting photos to show of our trip back east, but it looks like all we did was take photos of pets.

Although we had lots of good food, the only photo we have of eating is at Papaya King.

But, most importantly, we braved the cold, crowds, and grumpy security guards to get this photo.

That, my friends, is evidence of a successful trip!

Distractions right! and left!

2008-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

I've been silent, and I wish I could say it's because I've been working on a fantastic project, but it isn't. The reality is that I've sprained my right wrist and I'm not able to craft. Boo!!! Hiss!!! Not only that, but we're moving as well. Not only THAT, but we're leaving for the east coast on Saturday for a week. We are going to see lots of family and friends but what we really want to see is this.

But what have I been doing? Running, my friends. RUNNING. I bought Rob an Ipod Nano and a Nike-ipod sensor for Christmas, and now we're in a "challenge" with my sister Mina and her husband Steve. This is the first time in ages we're both running consistently and it's great! Both Mina and Steve ran half marathons last year so I knew I would be in last the whole time. But... look at this photo.

Rob is in first... and I am in second!! Yay!! I know it won't be long lived, but I had to blog about it so I can revel in this moment FOREVER.

I hope something fun and crafty will happen on our trip. Otherwise, I will just be sharing photos of food. And friends. And family. And maybe a trip to Purl!

Quick and slow crafting

2008-01-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

When I decide to make a gift, sometimes it can go really quickly. For example, I decided to make a quilt for my friend Anna's newborn daughter. I was inspired by the Nani Iro fabric at work (I bought some of a different color while in Japan), threw in some Shot Cotton, and this is what I came up with.

I think it came out very nice, considering I made it in a day. I really, really love the inspiration fabric.

I quilted each of the colors a different direction.

The back is the same color as the binding - watermelon!

Now, for slow crafting. A few months ago, Anna told me that a Bobbi Bear I made for her son was lost. So sad! A couple weeks after he lost it, he got sick and asked for "Snoopy Bear". I immediately cast on for the bear, but I couldn't get it finished before the holiday crafting bonanza. I finally finished the bear today.

I hope everyone will like their presents - fingers crossed!

Happy 2008!

2008-01-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a great January 1st! We sure did! I got some awesome Christmas presents, including..

The entire Veronica Mars series plus season three of Arrested Development.

And...

My whole family chipped in to get me a serger! Yes, it's still in the box, I have to get the courage to open it up and try it. Maybe this weekend?

Rob and I took this photo next to our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve - will it be next year's Christmas card?

Here is Unki enjoying his Christmas present, an alpine scratcher. You have to wait for the end to get the full effect - he's really enjoying the catnip. (and yes, that is "Christmas Story" on the TV!)

Where did December go?

2007-12-23T07:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how this month's flown by! My intention was to do a post a day in December - ha! I managed to do one so far this month - that's just so sad. I will now give you marirob's month in review, image heavy and chock full of crazy people!

After our attempts at decorating the house, we had the girls Huay and Su over for some delectable pizza, including Rob's combination of our two favorite recipes of the year, ratatouille and pizza.

The next event was Rob's work party, where baby JG made his public debut.

A couple of months ago we had a grilled cheese sandwich competition at our friends' Jared and Karen's house, which was followed up a couple of weeks ago by the epic pancake battle.

Here are Rob's delectable pear pancakes.

And only in California can you have a pancake battle and eat outside in December.

The next day, Sarita and Chris invited us over to decorate gingerbread cookies. We started out with some delicious homemade hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows.

The next two hours were filled with such hilarity that I proceeded to get a headache from all of the laughing and sugar. Here are the only cookies I can share on a g-rated blog.

Sometime during the month Rob brought home a real Christmas tree. This is important because 1. Rob has never had a real Christmas tree and 2. I have not had a tree since I lived with my parents. My biggest fear was that Unki would jump on the tree and bring it down, but it seems that Unki is very fearful of non-human items and has only batted a ornament once or twice.

When Rob brought the tree home, he announced, "We're going to make all of the ornaments!" To date, I have made seven and Rob has made none. Here are two that I whipped together in haste.

I remembered that I had six ornaments that I had brought home from Prague four years ago, so carefully because they were made of eggshells.

I also made a tree skirt from some Nani Iro fabric from work - I just have to bias tape around the edges to finish it.

We had a Secret Santa gift exchange at work. I thought it would take forever to draw names that weren't our own, but it only took four tries. The only stipulation was that the gifts had to be handmade.

Jen made Rickie this incredible colored quilt.

Tracey made Jen this adorable apron.

I made Tracey a scarf from the new Manos Silk Blend in Wildflowers.

I think I got the best gift of all.

A cornucopia of handmade cookies from Rickie! I was stunned when I opened the box. They were even more delicious than they look!

I can't show any of the gifts I have made and given to people because I am still in the process of finishing some gifts. But I can show you one gift that I know won't be seen, it's a scarf for my dad. I don't think he's ever touched a computer in his life.

And it's not a post without parting shots from Unki and Maggie! Maggie was easy to shoot, I just woke her up from her usual spot on the couch.

I had to chase Unki all over the house taking crazy photos.

Of course, when I had despaired of taking any nice photos, Unki settled down to take some very handsome photos.

Merry Christmas!