Cold Enough for Ya?

My friends outside of Minnesota and it's neighboring states, count yourself lucky this weekend. It's currently -11 and it's not going to get all that much warmer today. I've been really hankering for a new puppy since the holidays, but I have to admit it's days like today that made me decide to wait until spring to embark on puppy training.

On the knitting front, I joined in on Jeanne and Chell's annual preemie cap effort this year:



I'm kind of embarrassed that it took me two weeks to knit that little thing. It's sitting over an onion, by the way. I've often heard that preemie heads are about the size of an orange or a grapefruit. I ate all my oranges before I managed to finish up this cap and it was a little too small for the grapefruit, so I figure onion is close enough :-) I used their pattern for this one and I encourage everyone to whip up a little hat or two for the cause - it really doesn't take that much time, as long as you sit down and actually knit! I'm going to make at least one more before the end of month, hopefully two more.

I also had the pleasure of a really fine dining experience this week. A friend and I tried out Il Vesco Vino in St. Paul and I would heartily recommend this place. The restaurant is on Selby Avenue, in the space where The Vintage used to be, if you're familiar with that. It's a gorgeous, romantic space - if you're looking for somewhere special to dine on Valentine's Day, this would be an ideal spot. The food was really delicious too. I had the fixed price three course dinner - you choose a soup or salad, a pasta and an entree. I had a romaine salad, gnocchi with tomatoes and cheese and a beef tenderloin with tomatoes and capers and roasted potatoes. The salad was good, but nothing special. The gnocchi and beef tenderloin were outstanding, however. Sometimes gnocchi gets a bit chewy, but it was a perfect consistency and the "sauce" (not really a sauce, more of a topping) was delicious. The beef tenderloin was done perfectly, moist and tender. I tried my friend's beef shortribs with a potato puree and loved those just as much. Even though I was completely stuffed because I had to eat every bite of my dinner, I wanted to try dessert, so I ordered the tiramisu. It was very good, but still not as good as the one I had in Italy, which is always the measuring stick for me. There is a nice wine list here too, though not as extensive as in The Vintage days. They sell wine by the quarter and third carafe too, which I always appreciate, since one glass of wine is usually not enough for me. Dinner wasn't cheap, but it wasn't horrendous, either. I would highly recommend this spot for your next fine dining event.

I also managed to scoot out of work and to a late matinee yesterday. I saw this film:



I thoroughly enjoyed it. The film is set in 1980 and it stars Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson, a Congressman from Texas who hasn't had much to show of his 6 terms in office when the film starts, but certainly enjoys the perks of being in Congress, namely it's cache with the ladies. Julia Roberts plays a very wealthy Texas woman who sometimes dallies with Congressman Wilson and clearly contributes quite a bit of money to his campaigns. She's a right wing religious anti-Communist true believer of the type that were taking over the GOP at that time and she lobbies Wilson (who is one the defense and intelligence committees and thus has great sway over the purse strings for any sort of covert operation)to begin funding the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan to defeat the Russian army who has invaded the country. After Wilson visits Afghani refugees in Pakistan and sees the conditions, he believes strongly in the cause and starts cashing in some of the good will he's stored up over the years of doing nothing much in Congress. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the CIA operative who is running the show in Afghanistan. The whole thing is just fascinating. Even though it's a pretty complicated story about funding and weapons and political factions, it moves really quickly and you don't get bogged down in details. It's written by Aaron Sorkin, whose tv shows I greatly admire, and I thought he did a great job with this film, too. Philip Seymour Hoffman is just brilliant in his role. He's hilarious and smart and just completely real. I'm sure you'll hear his name when the Academy Award supporting actor nominees are announced. If you enjoy politics and a good story, I'd really recommend this film.

I still have a couple more films to see before I do my final Top Ten of the Year (I'm sure you're waiting with baited breath!). Talk Cinema is today, but it's a foreign film, so I guess I'll have to get to a couple more films soon. Look for a bonus post next week since I have Monday off! Stay warm!!

A Lifelong Dream Fulfilled

When I was a pre-pubescent, I spent hours listening to Barry Manilow Live on my record player. I loved that man and I loved his songs and after 30 years, I finally got a chance to see him live for real. And I LOVED it! Yes, call me a Fanilow.

The show was pretty much exactly what you would think it would be. He played almost every song off of Barry Manilow Greatest Hits (another album I played over and over again in my room). Remember that meme that went around a few years ago where you were supposed to list five songs you know every word to? Turns out there's about 20 Barry Manilow songs I know all the words to, even though I haven't heard them in a while - the wonder of the young brain. The stuff you put in there at that age really sticks! Barry has been releasing albums that are standards from the 50s, 60s and 70s, so he did a few of those songs, as well.

The spectacle wasn't quite as big as I was expecting, but I think that's because this isn't a full on tour. Everyone got a Manilow green glow stick to wave around all night (well, almost everyone. Due to my Irish luck, I didn't get one). It looked very cool. Barry wore a dark suit, as you can see above. He changed the jacket about a half dozen times, though and his background singers had a bunch of costume changes. There was a few neat video presentations during the show, including Barry on the Midnight Special singing Mandy - which eventually became a duet between live Barry and video Barry. At the end there was a big streamer cannon. Fantastic.

Despite the fact that Barry is 64, he's still a pretty amazing performer. Yeah, he's had a little bit too much work done, but he didn't look as weird as he has in some photographs I've seen. And he had an amazing amount of energy - he sang and danced around and was totally upbeat. He's not the stringbean he was in the 70s, but he's definitely still lean and fit. And his voice is still strong and amazing. The man has perfect pitch and he can still belt out a tune. Yes, it was really cheesy, but I loved every minute of it.

My own personal favorite was Weekend in New England. He sounded just amazing on the song and it brought me right back to being 10 years old and dreaming of the Prince Chearming who was going to be pining for me. I'll admit to feeling some sadness too that 30 years later I'm still waiting for that Prince Charming. My life certainly isn't what I thought it was going to be when I was that 10 year old girl living in South Dakota. But I guess, whose life is? In any case, if you've ever thought that maybe you might like to see Barry Manilow and you have a chance, I strongly recommend you go for it. I'd like to see him in Vegas next time I'm there.

Here's the setlist, if you're interested:

1. It’s a Miracle
2. Daybreak
3. Somewhere in the Night/This One’s for You
4. The Old Songs
5. Jump Shout Boogie
6. Chattanooga Choo Choo
7. Moonlight Serenade
8. Weekend in New England
9. Bandstand Boogie
10. I Made it Through the Rain
11. Can’t Smile w/o You
12. Looks Like We Made it
13. Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed
14. Even Now
15. NYC Rhythm
16. Could It Be Magic
17. Yesterday
18. Cant Take My Eyes Off of You
19. Where Did Our Love Go
20. What the World Needs Now Is Love
21. Mandy
22. I Write the Songs
23. Copacabana
24. Old Friends
25. Forever and a Day

Before the show, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant I'd never been to before, The Tea House. It's on the east side of St. Paul, just off of 94, almost on the border with Woodbury. It's a really lovely restaurant. Once you step inside, you can't believe you're in a stripmall Chinese place. The food was really delicious, too. We started with the juicy buns and Shanghai pancakes, as recommended by Dara Moskowitz in the City Pages - they were both really good. I'd love to go to the restaurant for dim sum some weekend. For entries we ordered the Sweet and Sour Chicken and the Gui Chou Chicken. They both were really good and they were a good compliment to each other. The Sweet and Sour Chicken had nice, meaty chicken chunks and was pretty light on the sauce. The Gui Chou Chicken was chicken strips with roasted chilis and bamboo shoots and it was nice and spicy - I was happy to have the sweet and sour to cool off my mouth, though I liked the Gui Chou Chicken better. One caution if you decide to try this place - it got a great review in the Pioneer Press, so they've been really busy. They ran out of food last weekend and we had quite a wait for a table on Friday night. I'm sure in a few weeks it'll calm down again. I'd definitely recommend trying this place out if you're in the east side of town.

I have also been knitting a bit, too. I've made good progress on the hoodie for Jessica:



I've finished the back, the pockets and have started one of the fronts. Maybe I can get this finished up before the weather stays warm for good.

Still Stuck

I still haven't been knitting much. I have stuff going on every night and when I get home, I'm having a hard time picking up the needles and knitting. I really think it's because I'm not inspired by these projects and they're taking too long. It's an endless loop - I'm not knitting them because they're taking too long and they're taking too long because I'm not knitting them.

I didn't even knit at my knitting group last night because instead of meeting to knit, we went out for dinner at Ngon. This is a charming little restaurant on University Avenue in St. Paul. It's simply and beautifully decorated and everyone loved their food. I had a lemongrass beef lettuce wrap appetizer that was delicious and then the Pho Tai. Servings are generously sized. We all got desserts and I tried everyone's and they all were really delicious.

Since I haven't been home that much, I haven't been watching much tv, either, so I have plenty of shows saved up for when the re-runs start. Here's a nice list of how many episodes are left to air in a lot of the current shows.

I also finished reading this book:



I outlined the plot of the book when I reviewed the movie, so I won't go into that again. I loved this book, just as much as the movie. I wish I had gotten off my ass and read it before I saw the movie so I could have had a "clean" reaction to it. The structure of the book is different than the film. The book is much more linear - the film kind of skips back and forth in time, which I think works very well in the film. The book answered some of the questions I still had at the end of the film, so I appreciated that aspect. It was really well written - totally absorbing even though I aleady knew what was going to happen. I think I got a little fuller picture of Chris McCandless from the book - clearly Krakauer admires McCandless as much as Penn does, but he also isn't afraid to show his weaknesses. Krakauer inserted himself into the book quite a lot - he writes about his own experiences in mountain climbing as a man about the same age as Chris. On the one hand, I felt like it was pretty egotistical - this is supposed to be Chris' story, not the authors. On the other hand, I really did feel like his own story illuminated Chris' and helped me to understand Chris better, since chucking everything to live off the land is something that doesn't appeal to me in the least. There's a chapter where Chris' sister finds out what happened to Chris and I was literally sobbing. I know part of that comes from my own relationship with my brother, but Krakauer really does a fine job in telling this story and getting the reader invested in it. I highly recommend reading this book - it's very quick and easy to read.

Since I don't have any knitting to show, I thought I'd post some of the yarn I bought at last year's Treasure Hunt LYS Hop. Since it's been a year and I haven't knit it yet, I think it's time to officially call it stash. I did knit up a fair amount of the yarn I bought last year though. I haven't knit a stitch from this year's purchases yet, but that will change once I get ONE Of these Christmas projects done.

Coldwater Collaborative had a sale on all of their Alchemy Yarns, so I stocked up on some of these lovelies:



This picture looks kind of blue, but it's actually purple. It's Synchronicity, a silk/wool blend. I have 6 skeins. I was thinking of making a shell sweater for myself with the yarn, but I probably need another skein or two to do that and I haven't been able to find it so far. If you have more of this yarn hanging about and what to sell it, let me know.



This is called Silk Purse - it's 100% silk in a lovely green and blue variegation. I thought maybe a pair of wristers or something small and close to the skin like that.



This is Synchronicity. I was originally planning to make a baby hat if my sister had had a baby girl instead of a boy. I may still make a cute pink hat for my next friend that has a baby girl.



Another skein of Silk Purse, with the same intentions. Either a baby hat or some sort of small accessory. I just couldn't pass up my favorite pink in lovely soft silk!

I'm Back!

And I'll bet most of you didn't even know that I was gone. I feel sort of strange announcing on the internet "Hey, world! I'm going to be gone for a few days, so my house will be empty. Come on over and help yourself to anything you want." So, sorry for no warnings about my absence.

Before I left, I got a chance to see David Sedaris again. This was one of his best "readings" ever. He just seemed really relaxed and happy and the stuff he read was highly entertaining, of course. If you haven't read any of his books, I'll once again urge you to pick one up. Or better yet, get a book on tape so you can hear his words as they should be - spoken by the author.

I went to Utah for work. It was a nice, uneventful trip. I got a little bit of knitting done because we flew into Vegas and had a bit of a drive to Utah and back. I worked on the ribbed sweater for Michael, so it looks exactly the same as the front and I won't bore you with a picture.

I also had time to read on the plane, so I finished up this mystery:



It's the latest in the V.I. Warshawski series. If you haven't read this series, it's about a Chicago private detective named Victoria, but known as V.I. She's a tough lady from the South Side who went to college and then law school and eventually became a private investigator. She has a fondness for expensive shoes. She lives upstairs from an elderly gentleman who sort of watches over her and they share ownership of two dogs. I really like the character and the series. Unlike a lot of mystery series, this one hasn't deteriorated over time, in my opinion. Paretsky always includes some sharply pointed political aspects to her books and this one is no different. In this one, V.I. gets roped into coaching the girls' basketball team at her old high school when her old coach gets ill. She starts looking for corporate donations to pay for a real coach, including meeting with the family owners of "By-Smart", clearly based on the Waltons and Wal-Mart. She ends up getting tangled up in the family's internal squabbles and a murder investigation. Paretsky also explores the issues of immigration, low wages, health insurance coverage and teenage pregnancy. If you like a good mystery with a liberal bent, I'd recommend this one.

We spent the last night in Vegas because we had an early morning flight, so I got to have dinner at Spago in Caesar's Palace. Oh, fancy! Everyone really enjoyed their dinners. I had a blue-cheese encrusted steak with fingerling potatoes. For dessert, I had a sampler platter, so I got to try the strawberries with a vanilla custard, peach melba, a mocha cake ala mode and a creme brulee. I just love to try little bits of different things. If you're in Vegas and have some money to drop for dinner, I would highly recommend Spago.

When I got back, I had tickets for a sneak preview of this movie:



One of my favorite movies of the year!! Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a guy from Wisconsin who cannot connect with other people, not even his brother and sister-in-law. They live in his childhood home while Lars lives in the garage. One day at work, one of Lars' co-workers shows him a website selling real dolls - sex dolls that are very lifelike. Lars orders one and when it arrives, he's convinced it's a real woman named Bianca who he met on the internet. Lars' family and everyone in town treat Bianca like a real woman because they're trying to help Lars. This of course leads to some really funny scenes, where the ridiculousness of this big doll being treated as a person is shown. But the film has so much heart. You just so want to join the town in taking care of Lars. Gosling does just an amazing job in the film. He's a man of few words, but a lot of intense emotions. Gosling conveys so much with his facial expressions and his body language. The rest of the cast is superb also. I was just blown away by the actor who plays Lars' brother, Paul Schneider. He's got his own complicated feelings about Lars and Bianca and their family and childhood and he also conveys so much through his face. I can't wait to see this guy in more films. I also just loved all the little details in the film - it doesn't lay things out explicitly, but it trusts the audience that they're going to be able to connect the dots and figure things out. I just loved this little film and I hope it gets a wide audience.

I've already seen three Lead Actor Oscar contenders (Ryan Gosling, George Clooney and Emile Hirsch) and it's only October. It's going to be another hard year to chose a winner.

This weekend also kicked off the new season of Talk Cinema over at the Edina Theater. The first selection was this:



It's a remake of an earlier film and stage play. Michael Caine plays a successful thriller writer living in an English mansion that looks like a normal country mansion on the outside, but inside is all poured concrete and stainless steel - all the furniture is highly modern and sparse and he has all manner of mechanized devices - a fishtank that slide up and down, lights and music that chance with a push of a button, an open elevator that takes you between floors. Jude Law plays an unsuccessful actor who is having an affair with Michael Caine's wife. He comes to Caine's house to plead his girlfriend's case for a divorce. In the original version of the film, Michael Caine played the younger man and Laurence Olivier played the older man. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the two men begin a series of battles of wit with each other. You get the feeling they aren't even really battling over the woman, but rather for intellectual supremecy over the other. The film is written by Harold Pinter and directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is highly stylized, both in writing and in look. The language is snappy and quick, and I especially enjoyed the first scenes, when the two men are meeting each other for the first time and sizing each other up. It's quite funny, but the humor almost disappears by the end of the film. I absolutely loved the look of the film too - all reflections and odd camera angles and extreme close ups. It is meant to be over the top, I think, and it worked for me, but my friend felt like it went too far. Overall, I didn't care of the movie much, though. As the film went on, each of the men got nastier and nastier and there are a number of twists and turns. For me, by the end, I really didn't care what happened to these men and I couldn't invest in what was happening on screen, because I felt like it could all be just a trick anyway. So, overall I'd say it was nice to look at and listen to, but I can't really recommend it.

Weekend Update

I know I say this all the time, but I'm continually amazed by how fast time is whizzing by. The past week looked to be nice and relaxed and turned very very busy. A lot of it was work related, but I had a lot of fun, too. I saw this awesome movie:



One of my favorite movies of the year! It's a documentary about two men competing for the champion high score in the arcade video game "Donkey Kong". The reigning champion is Billy Mitchell. He set the high mark back in the mid-80s and is part of the gaming establishment. He was named "Gamer of the Century" in 1999. The challenger is Steve Wiebe, a hard luck guy who gets laid off and decides to pass the time by trying to beat the "Donkey Kong" high score. You may be thinking, "Gee, that sounds really stupid and boring, I don't think I'd waste my time on that movie." Well, like all really good documentaries, this one goes beyond the subject matter of the film. Sure, if you spent some time at the arcade or the roller rink playing videogames in the 80s, you may be nostalgic about the competition. But this film is hardly about the game itself at all. It's about the nature of competition itself, about how we define ourselves, how we find a passion in life pursue it, forming a community and becoming in part defined by it. These guys are Gamers, they don't just play games. Sound familiar? I'm a knitter, I don't just knit. I absolutely love seeing people passionate about something. I also got completely caught up in competition and cared really deeply about these people and what was happening. I felt the same elation and indignation during some of the tournament scenes that I do when I watch the Vikings play, which you know I'm plenty passionate about. Give this film a watch if you care about people, about passions and love competition, even if you don't give a lick about videogames.



Speaking of passion and competition, Thursday night I went to the last Vikings pre-season game. Normally I don't go to the pre-season games because there isn't much passion and competition. The best players either don't play or see limited time. The game plans are very simple and limited. It's just boring. But I'm not alone - the market was flooded with tickets and Greg didn't want to go either, so I took Bill's step-son, Ben. And we stayed until every second had ticked off that clock. It was really fun to see the game through Ben's eyes. He's become really obsessed about sports and especially football over the last year. This year is his first year playing, so now he's really excited, seeing it from another angle. Neither Bill or Beth are that into football, so it's something that Ben and I talk about all the time and it was his first time going to an NFL game. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to share that with him. I also had my fantasy football draft this weekend, so I'm all geeked up about football starting for real, now!



Saturday night I saw The Counting Crows at Midway Stadium. It was a gorgeous late summer night, so it was really fun to sit outside and enjoy some live music. I'd say the concert itself was a mixed bag. I've seen Counting Crows in concert a few times and this show was really different. They didn't play many of their older, established songs. Half of the show were songs from their forthcoming album. I tend to like to listen to a new album a few times before I see the songs performed live, just so I have some familiarity. Some of the new songs immediately worked for me, some didn't. Maybe I'll like them better after I've heard them a few times. This was the last show of their tour and the lead singer, Adam Duritz, seemed to be in a very contemplative mood.

Labor Day was a nice, relaxing day for me. I met a friend for brunch at Highland Cafe & Bakery in the old Village Bistro spot in Highland Park. The baked goods are incredible! We shared a caramel roll that was pretty much perfect. I had a Monte Cristo sandwich - the bread was homemade, thick, rich slices. The cafe is definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. I hope it does better than the other restaurants that have been in that space.

I also did some knitting over the last week, but I'll save that for another post.

It's July already?

I know I say this constantly, but doesn't it seem like this year is going faster than ever? I can't believe it's already July. With July comes my birthday and I had a great birthday weekend last weekend. I got a number of very nice gifts from my friends - I'm so blessed with kind and generous friends! On Saturday night a couple of them took me out to True Thai, a restaurant that was just mentioned by Andrew Zimmern as perhaps the best Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities. My first time there and I will definitely be back. We had a few different appetizers and they all were delicious. I had the Drunkard's noodles. It wasn't very spicy, but I didn't specify what spice level I wanted, so I imagine they set it at "Minnesota hot" if not specified. My friends had the curry which was really tasty. This winter I want to go back and try the lemon chicken soup.

After dinner, Deb treated me to an evening at The Guthrie for the play 1776. I really liked it - and what a great way to celebrate Independence Day than to remember how it all began. The play tells the story of the Continental Congress' debate and eventual signing of the Declaration of Independence. It's sort of a musical, because there are a number of musical numbers. However, there's a lot of just straight dialog too, so it's not like your typical Broadway style musical. The music is ok. Enjoyable, but not something that's going to stay with me forever. In fact, less than a week later, I can't hum a single tune. The performances were really great. The play shows the "founding fathers" as the real men they were - human beings with faults and strengths just like everyone. I particularly enjoyed the performance of the actor playing Benjamin Franklin. We all know Franklin's wit from his famous sayings, and at least in this play, he seems to be a great fun to be around, too. I'm definitely going to have to pick up David McCullough's book, "1776" and read more about this.

I started my birthday as I traditionally like to, with a pedicure. There aren't very many spas open on Sundays, but Solimar was, which is a spa that I do enjoy. It wasn't quite as relaxing as I would have hoped because there was another patron there, so the four of us (the clients and nail technicians) spent the time chatting - mostly about books. Mostly about Harry Potter and the Outlander books (yes, we were all girl equivalents of fanboys). After that I headed over to Bill's for a picnic. Red was being absolutely adorable and even sat on my lap for a little while when we were watching some animation on the computer, which was the best present of all! In the evening I had dinner with Michael and Greg, so I got to spend the day with all my best boys at one time or another. A very nice, relaxing birthday.

A couple of days later, I enjoyed a gift for myself, a concert:



When I heard The Police were doing a reunion tour, I literally screamed. And waited for an announcement that they were coning through the Twin Cities. When it finally came, I realized that tickets were going to go on sale day I was leaving for the cruise with my mom, so I wouldn't have access to a phone or internet to buy them. After checking with several of my usual concert-going buddies and striking out, I finally convinced my brother to go with me and buy the tickets for me when he could - they went on sale at 10:00 on a work day, so most people were in the middle of their work day at that time. We got first row of the middle level, which is great because we didn't have anyone in front of us, but sucked because everyone around us was very sedate. But we were there and I was so excited!!

My top three bands of all time (in no particular order) are:

The Police/Sting
U2
Pearl Jam

I've seen Sting in concert a half dozen times, but I never got to see The Police because the last time they played together around here was in the mid-80s, while I was still living in South Dakota. I remember how jealous I was of Diego in Spanish class when he came back from a trip up to the Cities with his new Police t-shirt from seeing the concert. (On a side note, I just found out that my Dad went to that concert. He used to work for Carlson Companies up here when I was in high school - he commuted on weekends from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis. I'm so glad I didn't know that back then - I would have been so bitter - as only a teen can be).

I loved the concert. Every song they played is one I love. I thought they sounded great together and they looked fantastic. I think Sting and Stewart Copeland could still wear the clothes they had back in 85. Andy Summers is even older than the other guys and looked a little older too, but still great. They re-arranged a lot of the stuff, which really didn't bother me. I like it when you see a show live and it doesn't sound exactly the same as it did on the record. Sting plays some of the Police songs on his tours, so maybe I'm just used to the way he performs them. They got bad reviews from both of the local papers. I think it just depends on whether you like Sting or not. The re-workings are definitely more of his style and his work. Andy Summers also plays a lot of jazz, so I think he and Sting both gravitate more to a jazz sound than a reggae sound that The Police had in the early years. Stewart Copeland was just completely intense and high energy throughout the show. He and Sting were always the two battling it out in the old days and given I was a teenage girl, I always thought he obviously was a jerk who was jealous of Sting's popularity. That may be true, but now that I'm a little older and little wiser, I have to say that Stewart's amazing and talented and maybe he's right, too. If you're interested, here's the set list:

1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking on the Moon
4. Voices in My Head/When the World Is Running Down…
5. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
6. Driven to Tears
7. Truth Hits Everybody
8. Bed’s Too Big without You
9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
10. Wrapped around Your Finger
11. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
12. Invisible Sun
13. Walking in Your Footsteps
14. Can’t Stand Losing You

Encores:
15. Roxanne
16. King of Pain
17. So Lonely
18. Every Breath You Take
19. Next to You

Not Much Progress

There's not a lot to blog about around here lately. I've been busy, but it's mostly been work or things that just aren't that interesting. I did try out the new Taste of Thailand in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday night. Just as good as the St. Paul location.

I have been knitting a bit, but I haven't made a lot of progress. I'm almost done with knitting up my Yarn of the Month samples - I'm working on this month's selections. I have fallen in love with a couple of the yarns. I spent about two hours spinning my wheels on the Weeping Willow Shawl. This pattern is just one big chart and there's an error on the last row that I knit (there's a K2Tog toward the beginning of the row that should just be a knit). I knit and re-knit and counted and just couldn't figure out why it wasn't coming out right. I FINALLY figured out that I should check to make sure that all of the YOs were paired with decreases and found the extra K2Tog. So, I need to undo that row again and re-knit it. UGH!!!

I made it through the heel and started the leg on my Shimmer Socks too. I put all the stitches on a piece of yarn and tried it on and it seems like the short row heel and toe fit really nicely. Here's how the toe looks:



and here's the heel:



I can't wait to finish the leg and really try it on and see how the ankle fits. Still loving the pattern.

While I was knitting on these I was watching "Shut Up and Sing", a documentary from last year about the Dixie Chicks and the whole controversy about Natalie Maines' comments about being ashamed that the President is from Texas. I'm not a huge country music fan, but I did really like the film. It was interesting to see how these women work together as a group and their reactions musically and emotionally to the controversy. I wonder how an all-male group would be different. I'd recommend checking it out if you like documentaries or have any interest in the DC music.