on the upswing

Umm…hi!

Been a while, hasn’t it? First off, thank you for all your well wishes. The pneumonia, stubborn little thing, has been banished. Unfortunately, allergy season is in full swing. Blech. Better sneezing and sniffling than wheezing and gasping for air though.

Things are generally on the upswing. To fill you in quickly - The Bodies exhibit was just in Pittsburgh, and my co-worker D and I drove down to see it. We’d been meaning to see this for a while, but waited until the day before it ended to actually go. Apparently, lots of other people were slacking too. Witness the line to get in -

Since I teach a gross anatomy class, I was pretty interested in their preservation techniques and how they staged the exhibits. The Bodies exhibit is very similar to the Body Worlds exhibit I saw in Houston, but this one is put on by a different group, and I guess there was some controversy associated with it coming to Pittsburgh.

Then off to the Bay Area for work-related stuff. Busy and slightly brain cell killing, but I love the Bay Area! I got in some great aikido training (the bruises were totally worth it!). And you see signs like this on the BART -

Finally once I got home, look at what was waiting for me!

Mmmm…yarn! My beloved Houston SnB’ers recently had a yarn swap. I was telling Amy that I was just a teensy bit jealous that I wasn’t there to join the fun, and lo and behold, Kelly and the girls sent me a box of bright yarn goodness. Thanks, guys! Y’all know just how to make a girl feel loved

 

three cheers

I. My friend Lisa got married! I made a quick trip to Houston for the occasion. She looked gorgeous, the ceremony went off without a hitch, and the wedding banquet - OMG, I could sing praises for a long time about the food. Mmmm…..

Lisa (in red), Felix and Sandra (Lisa’s sister). The women are wearing the chi-pao, a traditional Chinese dress for special occasions, like weddings!

Lisa and Felix chose to have a traditional Chinese wedding banquet, which involves multiple courses. This was the first time many of the people at our table had ever partaken of a Chinese wedding banquet - I had fun “translating” what were in the yummy dishes. Fortunately, everyone at our table were good sports and refused to be cowed by my sometimes rather, umm, interesting descriptions of the ingredients. More photos here.

the lobster of happiness - mine, mostly

II. I got to hang out with the Houston gals!

Kelly and I took a trip to Twisted Yarns, where a skein of scrumptious Mad Tosh yarn (so soft!) fell into my hands and refused to return to the shelves. I’ve been hearing plenty of wonderful things about this yarn all over the blogosphere. What kind of knitter would I be if I left that poor skein of yarn back at the store?!

Madeline Tosh in Robin’s Nest

I also got my twisted (violently!) by Kelly and managed to take a skein of Wollmeise yarn off her hands. Can you believe how rich the color is?

Wollmeise in Farn - dark

There was a trip to Chinatown with Amy, Liz and Susan (with Brian in tow). Not only did they allow me to order for them at the restaurant, they also allowed themselves to be dragged into the Asian market with all its, umm, exotic treasures.

Doesn’t look like any bird I’ve seen

III. Look at what I got in the mail the other day -

Isn’t it cute? The project pouch is the work of the lovely ladies at Piddleloop. For the longest time, I’ve been looking for an excuse to purchase their stuff. Then I saw the cute owls on their Etsy store and found my excuse. They also sent along some extra goodies - these cute stitch markers and sheep-y tags. There was candy too, but that ended up in my tummy lickety split.