Happy Valentine's Day!

We have a snowy Valentine's around here. Almost all of the snow had melted away, but we had a very heavy snowfall yesterday:



The dogs are loving it, especially Finbar.

Saturday's All Right

It was a very busy weekend! Saturday morning I finally got my haircut. I've needed one forever, but first I was tight on cash, then it was the holidays, then I got sick, etc. etc. etc. I'm not sure if I like the cut or not. It's not the look I was going for and my hair tends to do what it wants to do so it always looks the same.

Afterwards I went over to my friend Florence's house for lunch and then headed over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the Beauford Delaney exhibit.



It was a really good show. It was amazing to see how much his work changed when he moved from New York to Paris, despite the fact he was already in his 50s.

After the museum, we headed back to Florence's house for a little beading. We were going to take the "Zig Zag Bracelet" class at The Bead Monkey, but it's all crystals, so it's a really expensive project. They had a sale on all crystals, though, so I bought the supplies and decided to figure it out on my own. It was a little difficult re-threading two strands after the crimp without getting all the beads out of position, but I think it turned out pretty well:



I had a hankering for sushi, so I invited my brother out for dinner, so he, Jessica and I went to Fuji Ya. We had a great time and the sushi was really delicious.

Sunday

Sunday was book club and I hadn't quite finished "The Translator" yet, so I had to finish that up. I really liked it. It's a really well written book. He wrote a very believable female protagonist and developed characters well with a lot of economy. Not everything was explained and drawn out explicitly, which I liked. We had a really good discussion at book club. Everyone was there, which was nice and it was an interesting conversation.

I made Swedish Apple Crepes, so I also spent the morning making crepes. They didn't turn out as well as I'd have liked, but they were pretty cold by the time I had one, so hopefully they were better when they were warm. I always make way too much food for book club. I also made a strawberry cake from a mix I got at Williams-Sonoma in some heart shaped springform pans. I think I'll give those to Bill and Red, though.

After book club, I went home and watched "Notorious" for my class on Tuesday night. I started a new book last night too:



I'm a big fan of this series and I received this book for Christmas last year, so I'm happy to finally have time to read it. I also had some time to knit again, so I worked on Ruffles:



I love knitting this! It's so cute and I love this yarn. It's fun to knit too - it's easy to remember and it's just stockinette stitch, but you're doing short rows, so it keeps it interesting. I definitely want to knit one of these for myself.

Sports, Sports, Sports

Big weekend in sports in the Twin Cities. Flip got fired. I'm very disappointed with how the Wolves have played this year, but I certainly wouldn't hold Flip responsible for most of it. I guess since they can't find anyone to trade for Cassell or Sprewell, there wasn't much else to change up. Judging from their performance yesterday, it's not solving anything, though.

More positively, it looks like the McCombs will finally be selling the Vikings. Not a big McCombs fan. I'm disgusted by his decision to barely spend the salary minimum. Obviously hate the threats to move the team. I recognize the Vikings do need a new stadium, but I don't think it will ever happen for Red McCombs, so I'm happy to see a new ownership. My first choice would be Glenn Taylor because I like how he's handled the Timberwolves (well, except for firing Flip and the whole "wink, wink, ink, ink" deal) and I definitely think he's well-connected in the legislature and could get a stadium deal done. I love the idea of having an NFL team owned primarily by an African-American, but I don't know much about Reggie Fowler. Sounds like he wouldn't be an absentee owner like McCombs, though. If the team is sold, it would probably tip my hand toward renewing the tickets.

Elann

Here are a few more of my Elann purchases. First up, the Peruvian Highland Wool that has been so popular. I would like to make the Ribby Cardi that everyone else is making, but I didn't like any of the complementary colors offered right now. I may look for a green in a different line of yarn or just make it all in purple.



I also got this Berroco Cotton Twist. Love Berroco yarns and cotton and couldn't resist this green:



As you can see, Finbar was very interested in seeing what I was doing, as usual. I didn't even realize he was there until I pulled up the picture on my computer. Such a cute little nose!

I also got my kit for the Beaded Knitting Group's knitalong:



Looks fun, huh?