check it out

I have been BUSY!!! Matthew and I just got back form Wisconsin where we attended his graduation and swearing in ceremony for the Wisconsin State Bar. Please read more here. I am busy putting the finishing touches on my prospectus and getting things done for school before we leave on our trip across the country on June 15th! I have lots to post, but I am afraid that will all have to wait, at least one more day.

Happy Mother's Day

I want to extend happy mother's day wishes to all of the mommies I know, especially all those who are celebrating for the first time this year, and of course to my own fabulous mommy, who is also celebrating her anniversary of becoming a mom.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

bad idea?

Knitting socks is hard. Matthew told me last night that I cannot knit anymore socks, because it makes me too stressed out, but I just know that if I get good at it I could really like it, and besides I think I have a lot more than socks stressing me out right now.

Here is where I went wrong :
1. I thought that I should use cheap yarn for my first pair - big mistake - it just frustrates things. You would think I would have learned this lesson by now, wouldn't you?
2. I also bought needles that I thought would be good, but they're really crappy. The tips are splitting and bending, so I think I may need to invest in some different ones if I am going to keep this up.
3. I also chose a pattern that calls for size 0 needles, which is like knitting with toothpicks.
4. Finally, why would anyone knit socks in May, in California? It's pretty pointless - much like my size 0 needles.

So here is the worst part, when I finish this sock, apparently I have to make another one! Either that or cut off my foot or make friends with an amputee.

this pretty much sums up my life right now

Welcome baby Aidan!!!

Congratulations Ziemann-Dow family! Aidan Ziemann Dow was born on Cinco de Mayo. He weighs 7lbs 9oz and is 21" long. For those of you who don't know, Aidan's mommy, Nicky, was my roommate in college and for two years in Iowa City. I spoke to her husband Ryan today and he says everyone is doing well. I am a little sad, because I was hoping that Aidan would be born on my birthday but he just couldn't wait to get here! Now that he's here I can't wait to meet him.

it's not what you think

Matthew and I stopped by to say hi to Emmett on Friday. Matthew had never been to the Malisch's house so he got the tour and met the pets and saw Emmet for the first time since he was just 10 days old. He even got to snuggle E himself which you can check out over at the Malisch blog.

the mocks

There is a new link on the blog to my friend Erin Quinn Mock's blog. I had trouble accessing it for awhile but now that I am reconnected to it I am sure it will be a massive new source of adorable photos for my own blog. Here are a few:

prom

On April 14th we attended UCR's annual graduate student prom. We took our furry little friend Fernando with us, who filled in as our friend Susan's date until her husband arrived.

I won the prize for "best dressed" thanks to a bridesmaids dress my mother wore for my uncle's wedding in 1984. Nice. Enjoy the photos!





The bottom two are of the philosophy students in attendance - you can tell we're rock stars.

may day

It's May!
I have been waiting patiently for it to be my birthday month so that I can go to my LYS and get my 20% off dicount. Designer Hand Knits or as it is more commonly called "Nancy's" is a wonderful place where they treat everyone like family and so for your birthday you get to go nuts with a fatty discount. I am headed there with the Malisches this afternoon.

I just received my first order of sock yarn from kintpicks. It's not the fancy stuff but I figure for starting out I would go with the cheap stuff (relatively speaking). While at Nancy's I am going to get all the tiny DPNs (double-pointed needles) necessary for sock knitting. I am planning to cast on my first socks for SnB tonight. I still need to finish Evelyn's Elephant, but I am at the head and it takes shaping and thinking and I am not so good at that at SnB - all that bitching can distract from the stitching.

For those who are interested these are the first socks I plan to knit, Roza's Socks from Interweave Knits Spring 2007:



I still have the Elephant on the needles as well as my alpaca cabled skirt (but it will be awhile before I can wear it so it's hard to motivate). I am planning to start knitting socks and I want to make a cute summer top. I am leaning towards Stephanie Japel's Orangina. Starting later this summer I plan to start knitting lots of sweaters to keep us warm in Santa Fe. That's right ladies - no more curse, I can knit Matthew a sweater. (For those who don't know, it is a well known knitting myth that a woman should never knit a sweater for her boyfriend, it can only lead to trouble) And before you know it, it will be time to start knitting Holiday gifts!

So those are my knitting projects, now it's back to philosophy projects. Currently "on the needles" I have my prospectus to finish (basically a little frogging and re-knitting and weaving in the ends, if you catch the metaphor), my advisor's book to index (starting to take shape, but quite a ways to go in a short time), and this weekend I am "casting on" my Latin exam which should be a fairly quick knit. I recently "cast off" my proposition.

Things are very busy here, but very productive.