Melyssa-with-a-Y

The "rules" for the Olympic knitting competition say that we're allowed to do a test swatch of our project before the thing actually starts. I decided that it wasn't difficult enough to do a multidirectional scarf, I wanted to do it in two colors. :) The girls at KH warned me about weaving in lots of ends, but I'm brave! (By way of explanation, the yarn end of the first blue triangle is really far away from the end of the red triangle, so I will have to cut and re-start for each new triangle.) So here's the test swatch. (I didn't feel like cutting the blue to start another triangle.) It looks really cool, I think. Of course, the final product will be wider than this, 5" or 6" across instead of 3". In other knitting news, I finally finished the hood part of Sam's sweater, so all that's left is to put it together, create the drawstring parts, and block it. I'll post some pics of it when it's all one piece. (Soon - I'm gi...

... whether it's an Olympic Dream or a knitting-related dream. ;) A bunch of us have decided to participate in Yarnharlot's Knitting Olympics . The idea is to start knitting something when the Olympic flame is lit in Torino, and be done with it by the time the flame is extinguished at the end of the games. That's February 10 to February 26, in case you were wondering. Of course, depending on your skill level, that could be a real challenge, or a straight scarf. I'm going to make a multidirectional scarf . (much harder than a straight scarf, really.) Dani is still trying to figure out what she's making. There are three or four other girls (in Atlanta and DC) participating in our little group, and hundreds have signed up on Yarnharlot's page. I think she's even going to give out medals. :) Unrelated - we had Yenta birthday dinner at TenPenh tonight, since Judy happened to be in town, and all three of our birthdays are in Jan/Feb. YUMMY. I am going to have...

... or maybe it's just the paint fumes? For some reason, any time they paint or do any kind of re-furbishing work in the apartments in my building, MY apartment fills with fumes so bad it gives me an instant headache. Now that I think about it, I did see them delivering new kitchen cabinetry over the weekend. (As Val found out the hard way, they won't re-do anything in these apartments until the person moves out. Otherwise, I'd have a new stove/oven by now!) So, if you talk to me tomorrow and I'm a little loopy, this might be why. But I shouldn't complain - my parents lost power AGAIN tonight. bummer.

I am not the only one whose measuring sheepie died a terrible death! However, Phyl-phyl's take on the situation was far funnier than mine. :) (Viewer Discretion is Advised) * and many thanks to D. for coming up with the appropriate song lyric!

Golden Globe Commentary so far - Happy Moments: Sandra Oh won for Grey's Anatomy S. Epatha Merkerson won for Lackawanna Blues (and she got to bring Jesse L. Martin as her DATE! SO not fair!) Hugh Laurie won for House Mary-Louise Parker beat 4 Desperate Housewives for Best Actress in a TV Series-Comedy ("Weeds" on Showtime) John Williams wins again! I can't wait to see Memoirs of a Geisha. I wonder if the other movie score-writers just write off the award whenever he is nominated? Most touching moment so far - Mary-Louise Parker, in her acceptance speech, also mentioned what a wonderful man John Spencer was. This is probably the only time he'll be mentioned (except for the In Memoriam montage, which is basically a "who gets the most applause" competition...) since West Wing wasn't nominated for ANYTHING. Worst dressed - Virginia Madsen is about to pop out of her dress (Mariah Carey is too, but that's not unusual)! Harrison Ford needs to shave, as ...

As Dani pointed out, I am going to try to use Billy Joel lyrics as blog titles for the foreseeable future. (Or at least until after the concert.... but we'll see how it goes.) Fortunately, there are plenty of songs to choose from! :) I went to the gym this morning (third time this month! yeah!) and then D and I went for lunch/brunch. The thing about trying to eat healthy, at least at the Metro29 diner, is that it's much more expensive than eating junk food. It was very difficult to avoid ordering the fries... but D was nice and gave me 2 small pieces of her giant french toast. Yum. Saturday, we wandered by Knit Happens. I had to replace the sheep measuring tape that Marc surgically disemboweled in LA (see photo), and D needed help with her sock knitting, from resident guru Holly. I bought a book about " Modular" knitting . I've always liked geometric shapes and angles -- that's what I usually draw when I'm doodling during a conference call -- so this rea...

The ticketmaster site was very busy, but I managed to get two tickets to Billy Joel! Whooopeeee! Now, of course he'll have to announce a second show in DC -- he's playing 7 times at Madison Square Garden in Jan/Feb, three times in Philly... and he always plays at least two nights in DC. He's also playing at the MGM Grand in Vegas in April - anybody up for a road trip? :)

I am so excited! I heard on the radio this morning that Billy Joel will be playing at the MCI Center on March 16th! YAY! I have seen him every time he's been to DC since I was in high school, from the now-defunct Caps Center/USAir Arena, to nosebleed-level seats at the MCI Center -- and every time, I've gone with my MOM! We love Billy. :) He hasn't produced any new music recently, but the tour is to promote his "My Lives" 4-CD (plus DVD) set. Don't know if I'll buy it, since I pretty much already own everything he's ever done! heh (So as long as he doesn't drive into any trees between now and March 16th, it ought to be a great show!) He's so much fun in concert.

Today I am experiencing some form of mild depression - or maybe just mad-at-the-world? or maybe the winter blahs? I feel like nothing went right this weekend. I'm finally over the jetlag from London (they say it takes as many days to recover as time zones you pass through), but maybe it's some residual disappointment because USC lost the Rose Bowl. :( hmm... and Verizon cut off my DSL over the weekend because I owe them a whopping $1.94... I just feel like everything is going wrong and there's nothing I can do about it. And I got stuck at mom & dad's until 11pm last night because somehow the network printer doesn't seem to want to print anything and I can't figure out why. The blah's are probably also tied to the fact that I seem to have gained 10 lbs or more last year, and am not making it to the gym after work, so nothing fits right. UGH. On the one hand, it's a bummer that I gave away my larger clothes when I lost weight. On the other hand, ...

Here's a link to my Kodak Gallery album of pictures from last week.

So I went to Radio Shack today and picked up the $9.99 earbud for Skype so I could call my brother in Australia. It's not that I didn't think that it would work... but I just didn't know what would happen. Clearly, so many people are using it that they must be doing something right. I signed up (my ID is MelyssaF, for those of you who are interested) and found Bryan online, and decided to call him. What the heck, it's 1:45pm on Friday there! Well, it works -- We are chatting as I write this. It's very cool! I'm definitely going to have to set up mom and dad to do this. I remember thinking it was funny when people first got telephones and they used to say that it sounded like the person they were talking to was "in the next room" - but this little headset works that well, too! And when he called me back (just to test it), my computer rang like a telephone! Funny. He's off to the gym now, as it's Friday afternoon and he doesn't have a j...

Monday night, we went back to the Gaucho restaurant for dinner. Mom was smart enough not to order the fish this time. ;) I had a burger. Yes, it seems silly, but it was a tremendous sirloin burger, with a big slice of shaved parmesan on top, and marinated mushrooms underneath. Yum. Mom also tried their beef empanadas, which were very tasty. This time, we didn't have dessert. (we stopped at Tesco and bought ice cream instead -- we had to replace the stuff in the house that we had eaten during the week!) That night there was a Fawlty Towers marathon on TV, with commentary from the actors and other news people and comedians. I haven't laughed that hard in a loooong time. :) Tuesday was a long, busy day. Mom & Dad got up at 6am to get ready to leave. The car service was coming at 7. After they left, I tried to go back to bedp, but that big creaky house got the better of me. I went downstairs and turned on the tv (we never did figure out how to get the bedroom tv to work...

The only problem with sleeping late in the house is that, to save money, the heat automatically turns off after 10:30am. So by noon, it was a little chilly -- then again, it's only just above 60 degrees when the heat is ON! We decided to venture out into the world and see what was open. Some of the shops in the high street in Hampstead were open and having sales. We looked at boots again, but nothing really caught our attention. We walked down to Belsize Park and had hamburgers at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen . It's sort of like an upscale Fuddrucker's... excellent huge burgers and fries with all kinds of toppings. But really, that was the extent of our time out. We went back to the house and I decoded the fancy-shmancy washing machine and did some laundry. (at least it wasn't one of those washer-dryer combo machines, those scare me!) I watched Muppet Treasure Island and Annie, and then had to relinquish the remote to Mom & Dad for the Poirot Mystery. I have done...

Well, we made it to 2006. I can't believe 2005 went by so quickly! Amazing. Friday afternoon we did go to the British Museum, but we were so exhausted and it was so rainy and gross outside, that we did a quick run-through of the money exhibit and the early greeks & romans, and then had to go sit down for a while. Dad came and found us and we all went to dinner at the Punjab (I knew we'd have Indian food at least once, and we just happened upon this place, between the Museum and Picadilly, where the theater was.) It was YUMMY. Top notch. And we're lucky we got there when we did - by the time we left, it was very crowded! Phantom was wonderful. I am glad I finally saw it, and now I understand why Sarah Brightman became such a big deal when she appeared on the scene ... the vocal range of the soprano part is in the upper stratosphere! I might have to get the original soundtrack. And the theater was absolutely beautiful (Her Majesty's). There were a few points when...

Thursday's first order of business was to go to Leicester Square to the half-price ticket booth, to see what was available for last night. We got tickets to Blood Brothers, which has been here for ... 20 years, but we'd never seen it. Then Mom wanted to go to the Wallace Collection at Hertford House, which she had been to once before. To get there, we had to go through Oxford Street (the big shopping street). It's clear that the after-Xmas sales here are as good as the ones at home, if not better. Oxford Street was packed with people yesterday, just like Fifth Avenue in NYC around Xmas. (I took a picture of how crowded it was). Everyone we saw was carrying at least one shopping bag. We had a yummy lunch at a little mediterranean place behind Selfridge's, and then went to seek out the museum. Unfortunately, we didn't get there until 4 (after our great late lunch) so we only had an hour to run through and see everything. :( We'll have to go back -- something ...

Yesterday (Weds) we didn't have time to come to the Internet cafe, we were too busy being tourists. :) First we went to the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace , where they were showing the Royal collection of Canaletto's paintings of Venice. The Gallery also displays some of the Royal collections of other things - paintings, sculpture, furniture, jewels, etc. - and a wonderful gift shop (or 2!). When we stopped for lunch before the gallery, we met a family from Fairfax, VA! I swear I don't know how these things happen to us... But anyway, they are here for the week and my parents recommended some shows for them to see, and things to do. After the Queen's Gallery, we went over to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms . The Museum part has only been open since February. It's all dedicated to Churchill's life, although it's not in chronological order... it goes from 1940 through to his death (which I suppose are the important years, WWII and afte...

Was awakened this morning (even with the earplugs in) to what I thought was the sound of heavy rain. They had predicted snow for London, but nobody really believed it. So I thought it was the sound of heavy rain... Anyway, mom jumped out of the bed (we are sharing the big bed becase 1) dad still can't sleep lying down, and 2) there aren't any sheets on the other beds, and we can't seem to find the linen closet!) and ran to the window (this is beginning to sound like the Xmas story...) and looked out and apparently there were two rows of horses being led down the cobblestone street in front of the house! We are still trying to figure out where they came from or where they were going... there aren't any riding academies in the neighborhood as far as we can tell. Anyway. We went to a Boxing Day party yesterday, given by a friend of my Uncle's (a New Yorker, natch) who lives in the renovated warehouse apartments over by Tower Bridge. (Here's a pic of Dad and Betty)...

So, here I am at an Internet cafe near Covent Garden in London. Cold, grey, everything-closed-for-Boxing-Day London. But, I'm here! My parents seem to have survived. The house we're in is a little bit out of the way (not right in the city like we're used to) but it's a VERY nice house. HUGE. Big marble bathrooms, three kids rooms (of course, the one I napped in had no heat, so I won't be sleeping there any more...) a large kitchen, gorgeous sun room, and a big backyard, complete with wooden deck and basketball hoop. Thanks to my cold medicine and antibiotics and nasal spray, the sinuses didn't have any issues with the plane ride... but even with the cold medicine, I didn't sleep much either -- between the guy snoring on my left, kid crying on my right and kid puking behind him. That poor mom -the whole plane was virtually silent when the kid coughed it up... we all woke up super-fast after that. Fortunately, it was also 5:30am UK time, and time for brea...

Today, we embark on a journey to another continent! (ok, there's no WE, it's just me.) I slept late today but now it's time to actually buckle down and pack before I have to leave for the airport in a few hours. I just hope the rain stops. Blech. And mom says it's gonna be super-duper cold in London this week. goody gumdrops. Yesterday was Xmas Eve dinner at Kelly&Jeff's. I have been going to Xmas eve dinner there for at least the past 6 or 7 years. The group changes, but it's always around 10-12 people. And Kelly always makes lasagna - excellent, spicy, meaty lasagna. And after we're all stuffed to the gills, we trade Chanuka presents. Hannah loves opening presents, but with her cousin Eric there, she wanted his matchbox cars (and really cool 18-wheel trailer) more than her My Little Pony or Dora's Greenhouse. And she couldn't understand why we weren't opening ALL of the big wrapped presents under the tree (not really *under* the tree,...

Bryan is enjoying the holiday traditions "down-undah", which apparently has him pondering whether he should convert (yeah, mom wouldn't have a cow about THAT!). I wonder if he even remembered to bring a menorah with him in his luggage? ;) But really, how can you argue with Santa on a surfboard?! Too funny. I am aleady done with my holiday shopping (with one or two notable exceptions) and wrapping. I guess I shouldn't say 'already' since tomorrow is Xmas eve! The only thing I absolutely had to buy today was a bundt pan, because I am making chocolate-chip bundt cake for Kelly's xmas dinner tomorrow... [Hee hee, every time I say the word "bundt" I think of the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the WASPy family brings a bundt cake to dinner at the Greek family's house, and Mama can't pronounce the word bundt. :) ] I would have borrowed mom's bundt pan, but hers was ... just plain scary. I think it's at least 40 years old! N...