Melyssa-with-a-Y

Yesterday was the NFL draft. After much anticipation, Reggie Bush was picked 2nd, and went to the New Orleans Saints. Matt Leinart was picked 10th, to go to the Arizona Cardinals. (At least he won't have to move very far!) The big news story of the day, of course, was this whole mess with Reggie's parents ... ugh! Enough already! Vince Young went to the Tennessee Titans. There was a big hullaballoo to keep him in Texas, but the apparently the Houston Texans didn't need a QB. They took Mario Williams with their first round pick. That's enough football blather. ;) Big excitement this weekend - The Kid made it home from Sydney! He has at various times been at casa Fratkin, at least long enough to borrow the car (until he gets his own back tomorrow)... we've been promised an appearance at dinner tonight, but who knows. ;) In the meantime, mom got hurt AGAIN last week. She tripped over a cable last week and broke her two small toes on the right foot. The doctor p...

Team "Clueless in Clarendon" [Dani, Elizabeth, May, Joan and I] came in second at trivia night tonight, at our newest neighborhood Irish pub ( RiRa ). That makes two weeks in a row in second place! I can't take any credit for last week's showing, I missed it. But I don't think I'll miss it again. It was so much fun! (and my face hurts from laughing with the girls...) See, there are two things that are going to make this definitely a weekly event for me -- 1) I'm very competitive ( I know, you're surprised...) and 2) I love trivia! The first round was a set of 10 photos, who all had something in common. [and there's no way we would have gotten two of them without our waitress, she was the best! and she got a nice tip, too! :)] I mean, who ever heard of Jordan ? (she's a model from the UK) I can't even remember the other girl's name. Bonus question -- What they all had in common (including Rob Lowe, Paris Hilton and Colin Farrel...

I don't like to go to the supermarket by myself. Not because I am afraid I will be hit on by random guys (that might actually be nice), or because I don't like going out alone at night... it's more because going by myself is NO FUN! So as often as possible, I take Dani with me. What could be more fun than that?!? Here are the things that invariably happen when we go to "the Teeter": We sing along to the music in the store. It's not MUZAK, it's the actual songs, and it's usually stuff we like. (...and generally there is some dancing involved as well.) There's a lot of giggling. Whether it has to do with the music or something in the produce department or even the " EZ-Squirt" ketchup , well, that's anybody's guess. Sometimes I feel bad for the other people who end up down one of the aisles with us. They probably think we're nuts. [ no comments from the peanut gallery, please. no pun intended. ] On the way home, the carton of e...

Ok, so I haven't blogged in two weeks. I didn't have all that much to say! In the meantime, the list is up to FOUR duckies to make! Congratulations to: Viveka and Brian Ryn on the birth of their son Gabriel (Feb 20th, which also happens to be Auntie M's birthday! Easy to remember!) Brian and Stacey Krapf, on the birth of their son William "Max" (March 17th) Dan and Tracy Lader on the birth of their son Ian (April 2nd), and Kevin and Amanda Book, on the birth of their daughter Claire, on April 5th. (and thank you to all of them for choosing NORMAL names, unlike Gwyneth Paltrow who chose Moses for her newborn son... Moses? What, in honor of Passover? Please. That's worse than naming your kid after a piece of fruit or something. Oh wait... ) Clearly, my friends have been busy! (well, they were busy 9 months ago... ha ha ha) Fortunately, duckies are quick and easy to make. Maybe I should have brought the yarn and stuffing here to Richmond with me... but then agai...

In case you didn't already know, I'm lactose intolerant. So I buy Lactaid milk (lactose-free and fat-free, calcium fortified, as long as I'm at it). It comes with one of those little plastic spouts on the side that you unscrew, instead of having to open the end of the carton like we used to in the good ol' days. And, you have to shake it up before you pour it. All of that is a setup so I can tell you about adding milk to my coffee this morning... I poured the milk on my cereal, and then when the little coffee pod machine was done dispensing its yummy java, I went to shake up the milk to pour it into my mug. But, um.... I hadn't put the cap back on after using it on my cereal. Milk EVERYWHERE. Splat!! Almost made me miss the bus! Somehow I have a penchant for spilling stuff all over the place. Just ask Dani -- I'm also known as "ketchup girl"! (better yet, please don't.) ;) Went to the movies this weekend for the first time in a looooooong time...

First, here's a picture of the beautiful shrimp on rosemary skewers that I made two weeks ago. (yes, my plates are red white and blue. You're surprised?) I bought more avocados and tomatillos to make that salsa again... Yum! I forgot to note the best thing my mom did when we went to Billy Joel last week -- she smuggled in her Haagen Dazs! We had dinner at Clyde's Marketplace (the takeout place on the side). The great new restaurants down on 7th street were all jam-packed... it would have been a good idea for me to have made a dinner reservation. Oh well. Anyway, we went to HD for dessert, and when we came out, they were about to open the side doors to the Verizon Center. So mom tucked her little cup of (something chocolatey) ice cream into her huge tote-purse, and we went in. The security guard who checked purses giggled, but she let us in. Go mom! :) The APIC show was a big success. I was exhausted. We had a photographer from the Washington Times (I never saw the ar...

Must blog before bed. IT WAS AWESOME . Seriously.... I just love going to see Billy. He's so much fun to watch in concert. He always seems like he's having fun up there! I only wish I had splurged and gotten tickets a little bit closer to the stage and a little bit less in the nosebleed section.... cuz really, who knows when or if he'll come back around? (well, ok, he'll be back in DC in April, but that's sold out already...) But I digress. Mom and I had a blast. She was singing along! We got 25 Billy Joel songs, an AC/DC song (sung by a roadie!) and a lot of entertainment. :) Playlist: Angry Young Man My Life Everybody Loves You Now (from Cold Spring Harbor, a real blast from the past) The Entertainer New York State of Mind Downeaster Alexa Zanzibar (from 52nd Street, probably the least known song on that album) Allentown Don't Ask Me Why Pressure Goodnight Saigon* Movin' Out Innocent Man ** Always a Woman Captain Jack Keeping the Faith River of Dreams I ...

...and YES, that is a Billy Joel song! Never previously released, it's on the My Lives CD set. I doubt he'll play it TOMORROW NIGHT (yay! we're going tomorrow night!) but at least after this week I can use regular titles for my blog entries instead of song lyrics. I know you'll all be happy to hear that. ;) ok, ok, I haven't blogged in weeks. Sorry about that. It's been a little bit busy around here! [Before you ask, the scarf isn't done, and I spent two hours the other night taking apart the purple sweater. Don't ask about that, either.] I've been preparing for the APIC National Capital Chapter 7th Annual show, coming up this Saturday at Tyson's Corner. I've had to figure out who gets what tables, who sits next to whom... it's a headache. Particularly since my co-chair lives in Pennsylvania! But email is a wondeful thing. I'll just be really glad when it's over - don't call me on Sunday until at least 11am! I have also star...

... a way cool haircut! :) I even took a picture of it so y'all can see. -----> Luigi cut off about three inches of hair, and gave me some fun layers. Add a little mousse, and presto! Instant curly mop! It probably would be a bit longer if I straightened it, but this is more fun. The best birthday card I received this year came from Kelly's mom, who captured the essence of my dating life with a mutated chick and his mate (see below). "Carl wasn't exactly what Mindy was hoping for... ... but he was Jewish." My mother will love it. Biggest purchase of the week: tickets to SPAMALOT ! I'm so excited! The traveling company will be coming to DC in June, so as long as Marc's gonna be in town, we'll go. It won't be the NY cast (Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, etc) but I'm sure it will be fantastic. I'll have to watch Holy Grail again at least once before I go to the show.

Ok, so.... I didn't finish my scarf in time for the closing ceremonies. No medal for me. But if I didn't actually *watch* the closing ceremonies, does it really mean it's over? heh. Pam finished her scarf, Dani finished Thorn (aka Rose) and Carolyn made multiple kitty beds . So at least some of my teammates earned their medals! I will keep working on the scarf -- it's still fun to do -- but I accept the fact that, like Bode Miller and Michelle Kwan, my Olympic experience wasn't all it was meant to be. Oh well. My birthday, on the other hand, was FABULOUS, "possums"! First, I have to say that the first person to wish me a happy birthday was in fact my baby brother on Friday night (it was already Saturday afternoon in Sydney, after all!). And he sent me a text message on my cell phone, too! What a good kid. :) So, in the back corner of Aria Trattoria's indoor patio, under the hot hot hot lamps (which we made them turn off), a dozen of us gathered for ...

... or rather, that's not something I want her to wear. I'm talking about the raglan hoodie sweater. I think because I didn't know how to do the right kind of seam decreasing when I made the pieces of the hoodie, it just didn't come out right. So, here's a picture of the nearly-finished sweater. --------------> And now (with a bit of sobbing), I will take apart the seams and frog the front and back down to the armpits, and make straight side seams like the sweater I made for Hannah last year (see below). I'll probably do the stripey sleeves, too, maybe with the hot pink that I was going to use for the pocket. (maybe I'll keep the pocket?) In Olympic news, my scarf continues to grow -- it's now about 27" long... I have until Sunday to finish for a medal. :) I wasn't too sad not to have gone to Vegas for the weekend. The thing I missed most was time with Samantha, Jae & Teri. Otherwise... I hung out with my friends, I cleaned my apartment...

... or frog it and start over. :( As Dani would say, "reading is fundamental." My advanced reading skills were not enough to keep me from knitting an extra row on my second and third triangles, so by the time I was done, I was making a hexagonal... placemat or something. UGH. Pulling out the two triangles wasn't as hard as picking up the top row of the red triangle, unknitting a row, and starting again! So, I have started again. I knit a triangle the other night, it took about 90 minutes. At this rate I might be done in ... April? It's about 15" long, so only 45" more to go. But at least I'm on the right track now. That's the good news. The bad news is that the family vacation to Vegas didn't happen this weekend... Dad has a bronchial infection that is keeping him from sleeping (and mom too) so we stayed home. :( But, on the plus side, I got a vacation day back (still took Friday off! Yay!) for use later in the year. And, having eliminated the ru...

The Olympics have started! (both the knitting and the Torino events) :) We decided that our team should be called "Team It's All Her Fault". It's a long story, but mostly it's because Dani is the one who taught a lot of our other teammates to knit, and on top of that, we tend to blame her for *everything* whether it's her fault or not. So here's our team logo. We gathered at P's house last night to watch the opening ceremonies from Torino (VERY COOL, although some odd moments -- and what's with the German team's coat colors? Yeccch!) We had chinese food and brownies and wine, and started our Olympic projects. Of course, we all had to pick our Olympic "crushes" -- the athlete that we will follow through all of his events. But, during the parade we saw a female luger from the US Virgin Islands (the only athlete from USVI at the games) who is known as " Grandma Luge " -- she has been in every Winter Olympics since 1988! (that...

Yes, ok, it's been a week since I blogged anything. This was a pretty boring week, generally... not much I thought anyone else would want to hear about. But here are some tidbits. [Today is Amy's birthday, I hope Rob took her out someplace nice! Happy Birthday, Amy!] I had to un-sew the seams on Samantha's sweater... (the next time I decide I want to make raglan sleeves, somebody SHOOT ME! ugh) I will spend some time this weekend sewing the parts back together and hope that it looks better the second time around. Also on my to-do list is a duckie for Hannah Rose Davidson, whom I hope to meet very soon! And, because USAir and AmericaWest have no clue what to do for people who have actually *paid* for tickets, my flights to/from Las Vegas for Prez weekend will now be in and out of BWI, rather than Dulles. UGH. Expedia has been calling and emailing me in near-panic mode to make sure that I know that my itinerary has changed. At least they're paying attention! On the p...

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...