To the people who schedule events at Nationwide Arena:

Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to hold a motivational speaker event that draws 20,000 *extra* people into downtown Columbus at such a time that you have all these people arriving, and trying to park and walk to event during *rush hour*.

My commute is usually only 10 minutes, and it was 25 this morning. Not a huge deal for me, as I live only blocks from the arena. Word has it that traffic into downtown was backed up on 670 and 315 clear to the outerbelt. High Street was a parking lot through the Short North. Not knowing what the hangup was, I chose to take Front Street, which took me right by the Arena.

That was a mess.

I was thinking of driving home at lunch time. I don't think I'll attempt that now.

(no subject)

( Question 9 -- Do you feel you were born in the wrong decade/century? If so, which one do you think you belong in? )

( Question 10 -- Forced to watch an old movie with friends repeatedly, what would it be? And Why? )

ICFD: Raw Foods Battle!

Last night was the Raw Foods themed Iron Chef Family Dinner, at my house. I have been campaigning for this theme for a year now, and it finally got picked (we choose randomly out of a hat each time). It worked out quite well. I made three things from Raw: The UnCookBook by Juliano: Strawberries Romanoff (strawberries, raspberries, and whipped "cream" made from pureed almonds), Cream of Spinach Soup (spinach, escarole, cilantro, mint, lime, olive oil, etc.) and Flax Seed Crackers (flax seeds, peppers, tomatoes, dehydrated for nearly 9 hours!). The crackers were an unexpected hit. Everyone was divided on the soup. I wasn't a huge fan of it. Other dishes were no bake banana cheesecake, guacamole, lemon yogurt ice cream, apples with honey & nuts, smoothies, rum punch, a couple of tomato mozzerella dishes, and pears. All very yummy. Afterwards, automat76, B and I went bar hopping and counteracted the raw foods with beer and french fries. Mmmmmm....

Next time: chili pepper. I am a huge fan of spicy, or of peppers, so I'm going to have to do something creative. Maybe a curry. I still have a recipe krasota posted a while ago tacked up in my kitchen, not having been tried yet. That might be the winner.

I am happy that my house is so clean still. Nothing like paper plates for quick cleanup after an event. I feel guilty, but I did use real bowls. That's worth something.

I actually got some knitting done yesterday too, since I got up so early for cooking. Another iteration of the pattern on my poncho, a few rows of seed stitch for the afghan (I love the way seed stitch looks, especially with big thick yarn, but it takes me forever) and two iterations of the pattern on the lacy afghan square. I think I'm faster at knitting patterns you have to count, rather than straight knitting or non-counted things like seed stitch. Or maybe it just feels that way since my brain is engaged. I don't know. I'm just happy the lace isn't as intimidating as I thought it would be.

(no subject)

Anyone in the NYC/NJ area want a cat?

dana_alison needs a home for hers.

(no subject)

So the downtown Lazarus is closing. I'm upset about this, not because I shopped there, but because this is the last nail in the coffin for City Center.

However, there's nothing I can do about that, so I've been shopping their clearance sale. I've seen two things I've loved. The first is a Kate Spade bag (when did Lazarus ever carry KS? I don't know) that's the 10th anniversary print. However, it's enormous. Like huge -- you could carry small children in this thing. It also is only 30% off the regular price, where everything else is way cheaper.

If they don't sell it, and it goes down to some reasonable amount (right now it's still $255) I'm going to buy it and ebay it. I think the fact that it's stuffed in the back of a dark display case is in my favor--no one can tell what it is back there!

The other thing I found is a ring. I tried it on today at lunch time. It's in white gold and it's a trangle shaped tanzanite, with tiny little channel set diamonds in the band. It's very modern, but without being too out there. They also had a vintage look one in a filagree setting, which would normally be more my thing, but it's enormous. All the fine jewelry is 50% off right now. So it's a great price on the ring. But I don't really have the funds right now. Yes, July is a three-paycheck month, but I promised myself that pseudo-extra was going to debts, not pretty things I don't *really* need. So, I'm going to put some stuff on ebay this evening, and start packing my lunch religiously, and if I have about half the price of the ring by next week, I'll go ahead and grab it. And if I time it right, maybe they'll slash the prices further by then.

Waiting is hard though. Especially for pretties. I'm learning though. Even if it feels like it'll kill me, I'm learning.

Blah!

Since re-posting my monster resume, I have gotten four emails from four different companies inviting me to come to an open interview for insurance sales positions.

And the last one was pretty much written in Engrish.

Um....no, no, no, and let's see, that would be no.

Accomplishments

I just finished my sister's birthday gift (a week early--new record for me!) It's kind of the Chinese Charm Bag from Stitch n' Bitch, but I basically read the pattern and just winged it so it's not quite the same size. My yarn is Lana Grossa Dito, which was on sale at my LYS.
( photo back here )

I must say, I enjoyed getting out my sewing machine for the first time in ages to do the lining, but attaching the handles was no fun at all. I haven't had the sewing machine out for real since I made myself an apron for the North Market Apron Gala a couple of years ago. (It was choclate brown taffeta, as befits a fancy event.) I may actually try to do some sewing soon. I've got about four outfits worth of patterns and fabric that I bought well over a year ago (I took a Flash 5.0 class that day, so it had to have been a while ago.) that have been languishing in a cupboard ever since.

Also finished dad's Father's Day gift last week--a pair of Fuzzy Feet in Pine Green Lamb's Pride. ( photo back here )

He's getting those when I go home for A's bday this weekend.

Iron Chef Photos here.

Bubble bath is calling my name now. And a glass of wine too. Hooray!