Dainty Kitty

I Hadn't Seen This Particular One Before

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicise
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to: leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (I've also very recently been too scared to hold one which is just silly) 
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning 
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Held a lamb
25. Gone skinny dipping
26. Run a Marathon
27. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
28. Seen a total eclipse
29. Watched a sunrise or sunset
30. Been on a cruise
31. Seen Niagara Falls in person
32. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I'm going to be living in one country of my ancestors)
33. Seen an Amish community
34. Taught yourself a new language
35. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
36. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
37. Gone rock climbing
38. See Michelangelo’s David
39. Sung karaoke
40. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
41. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
42. Visited Africa
43. Walked on a beach by moonlight
44. Been transported in an ambulance
45. Had your portrait painted
46. Gone deep sea fishing
47. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
48. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
49. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
50. Kissed in the rain
51. Played in the mud
52. Gone to a drive-in theatre
53. Been in a movie
54. Visited the Great Wall of China
55. Started a business
56. Taken a martial arts class
57. Visited Russia
58. Served at a soup kitchen
59. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
60. Gone whale watching (apparently we get whales where we live, but I’ve never seen them.)
61. Got flowers for no reason
62. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
63. Gone sky diving
64. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
65. Bounced a check
66. Flown in a helicopter
67. Saved a favourite childhood toy
68. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
69. Eaten Caviar
70. Pieced a quilt
71. Stood in Times Square
72. Toured the Everglades
73. Been fired from a job
74. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
75. Broken a bone.
76. Been on a speeding motorcycle
77. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
78. Published a book
79. Visited the Vatican
80. Bought a brand new car
81. Walked in Jerusalem
82. Had your picture in the newspaper
83. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
84. Visited the White House
85. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
86. Had chickenpox
87. Saved someone’s life
88. Sat on a jury
89. Met someone famous
90. Joined a book club
91. Lost a loved one
92. Had a baby
93. Seen the Alamo in person
94. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
95. Been involved in a law suit
96. Owned a cell phone
97. Been stung by a bee

Coupledom

I resisted the 25 Random Things meme on Facebook but when Ginny sent me this one I had to join in because...well, my situation makes it funny.  I'm posting it here because I'm rarely ever on Facebook - when I am I usually get sucked into a chat with my brother's ex-girlfriend (like, over ten years ago-she's been married twice-had three kids ex).  Weird. 

This is kind of like the 25 things - except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you and your partner or spouse, not just you. Come on, play along - inquiring minds want to know! ;-)

♥ What are your middle names?
Richard and Elaine

♥ How long have you been together?
Five-ish months

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
This is where it gets funny.  Probably a month or so if you count phone dates which I do.

♥ Who asked who out?
If I manipulate this question to fit my situation, I think I pretty much invited myself to visit him so...me, I guess.  My protective brother suggested that I treat my entire trip to England as one giant first date.

♥ Whose siblings do you see the most?
His - my brother lives in New Orleans so Matt has yet to meet him.  I got to meet three of his siblings while I was there. 

♥ Do you have any children together?
Not yet!

♥ What about pets?
Two cats - they live with me but they are now well on their way to having pet passports and traveling across the ocean.

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Living 4,000 miles apart.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No but I do think it's sweet when he says he wishes we had gone to school together.  I don't think he would have liked me back then - he disagrees.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No

♥ Who is the smartest?
I love Ginny's response to this: Together we are one big brain! 

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
Me

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Hmm...I think we may have had snacks and sandwiches at Costa more than once while I was there so - Costa. 

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Neither of us, I think.  I hope. 

♥ Who does the cooking?
In the limited time we've spent together, he's cooked more - I look forward to that balancing out in the future.

♥ Who is more social?
We're pretty even there, Ithink - as in not very. 

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Ha ha, neither of us.  I like to have the towels hung up straight in the bathroom - does that qualify?

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
I'm going to venture a guess here and say me.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Neither of us.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
I think I do but when we're together we both wake up kind of early. 

♥ Where was your first date?
In person?  Tea and flapjacks at Fisherton Mill.  Via the phone?  A bottle of wine on the back porch. 

♥ Who has the bigger family?
He does.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
We're too new to use the word "often" - the flowers he did send were gorgeous. 

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
This has yet to be determined - I'm looking forward to wearing one of those paper crowns on Christmas, though.  :)

♥ Who is more jealous?
This is also yet to be determined and I kind of hope it never will. 

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
I was mentally pretty serious and so was he by the end of Email #1 but it wasn't spoken out loud until about a month later. 

♥ Who eats more?
We both like treats and snacks a lot. That's a weird question.

♥ Who does the laundry?
Both of us - together and separately.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He is, for sure.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
When the steering wheel is on the right, he drives.  When the steering wheel is on the left, I do. 

Christmas Toys

Little kids aren't the only ones enjoying their Christmas toys on the day after Christmas. 

I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful holiday!

No Right or Wrong Way - Just a New Way

Back to the Hershey's Kiss issue.  Like I said, there's really no right way to open one.  I've always opened mine by just peeling it apart at the top so imagine my surprise when Matt said, "It took me a couple to figure out how to open them."  What?  It's a bit of foil around a piece of chocolate - how hard is that?  Then he continued, "Then I figured out the little paper tag is like a ripcord."  What?  I grabbed a couple from the dish behind me and tried his theory immediately.  The paper broke on the first one but the second one...sliced that kiss right open.  I had no idea! 

The only downfall I see to that method is that the paper breaks on at least one out of three kisses.  With that in mind, I think I'll stick to my peeling method.  I'm just glad to find out that I'm not the only one who opens them without the tag - to me it's just a cute little label!

A Meme Because I've Lost the Ability to Concentrate

Song you love: Virginia Woolf by the Indigo Girls

Word you love: Lackadaisical

Academic subject you love:  History

Hobby you love: Knitting

Type of baked good you love: Chocolate chip cookies

Type of sky you love: Big and blue with a few clouds

Beverage you love: Tea with cream

Vacation you love: The beach - any beach.

Restaurant you love: This Mexican place down the street from my office...and now down the street from my apartment. 

Way of getting around that you love: In the passenger's seat

Person you love: Oh my, let's not go there today, please

Room in your home (or ideal home) you love: The dining room - I love my kitschy crewel picture and awesome vintage kitchen chairs. 

Movie you love: Sliding Doors

Book you love: Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon by Marjorie Kellogg - I reread it just the other day, in fact. 

City you love: Charleston, SC

Future plan you love: Duh.  England, November 7th.  And anything that happens after that. 

Form of communication you love: I do love snail mail but emails suit me just fine

Junk food you love: Habanero Doritos with ranch dressing to dip them in 

My Life in Boxes

Due to the new wonky way U-Haul operates, I'm moving tonight rather than tomorrow morning.   Everything is as packed and organized as possible even though it might not look it.

I've decided I'm giving the people that are helping me move two chances each to use the phrase, "You have a lot of stuff" or any variation of the same.  I know I have a lot of stuff!

I've gotten some really great packages in the mail this week that I'm hoping to get to photograph and gush about at some point this weekend.   The journals that Matt ordered me from an Etsy shop arrived earlier this week and my package from my Swap Softly partner, Firefly, arrived yesterday.  This was the mother of all swap packages, seriously.  I'll give you a peek at the softy -

 

A hippo!  Wait until you see her tail!  I named her Gatwick after the airport I'll be flying into to meet Matt - 'cause I'm dorky and smitten and stuff like that. 

I have to gush a bit about Matt, too, just because.  I've been busy packing with Mom for the past couple of nights but he's stayed up past two, his time, each night just so that we could catch up.  The distance is starting to get painful - just a little.  I'm sure it'll be loads worse after the trip.  I try really hard not to think about that.  Really hard.  It's actually pretty easy because there are so many exciting things to concentrate on.

I'm so excited that, for the most part, my life is about to be back where it belongs. 

I am so behind at work today - it's impossible to concentrate!

Harry the Safety Cone

I just dropped this little guy in the mail to Matt because he's working on a documentary about road safety. 

Oh, and because I'm a complete and utter dork.

Uber cute pattern can be found here. 

Knitter's Hunk 2008

I can't believe a year has already passed and it's time to crown a new Knitter's Hunk!  For those who aren't familiar: you nominate two celebrities via my friend Kim's blog, hand eye crafts, and then the fun starts as the hunks battle it out via a voting process and are knocked out one by one.  It's really fun and I'm an even bigger fan because it's actually how I met Kim. 

I was lucky enough to win last year with my nomination of Alan Rickman and, wow, what a prize package!   Alan Rickman and Hugh Laurie are automatic entrants this year so I had to really think about my nominations this year.  I'm entering the same long-shot I entered along with Rickman last year...

Elvis Costello, who was quicklly knocked out but...look at the scarf action!

And a new long-shot, Alton Brown - my invisible boyfriend - looking oh so sexy on his motorbike...

Nominations are being accepted now!

It's Borderline Obscene

I had cake for breakfast and am taking next Monday and Tuesday off - thank goodness for four day birthday weekends.  Tomorrow night I'm going to dinner with my parents and then, even though they live fifteen to twenty minutes from my apartment, I'm going to spend the night.  My mom knows that the best birthday gift is not being at home.  Plus there's the added bonus of breakfast at Youngs Golden Jersey Inn the following morning....

Happy Friday!

Funny Rummage

I already had an issue of McCalls Needlework & Craft before I found the great stash at the rummage sale so I was familiar with its utter kitschy-ness but thought I'd share.

Dig those orange and pink earrings she's wearing and that oh so chic tote bag!

I think I might actually attempt to make one of these embroidered pictures, though.  I think they're kind of cute...and a little creepy.

I also picked up some crochet pamphlets...

And, ah, remember the days when the phrase "politically correct" didn't exist? 

 

A couple of the projects in this book actually border on amigurumi (there's an elephant I'm going to attempt) but most of them are braided and bundled yarn like the, ahem, "natives" in the above photo. 

Oh - I forgot to relay this little funny tidbit.   The rummage sale was actually at a church so imagine my delight and surprise when I found a copy Rosemary's Baby and a book by Alfred Kinsey... you know, the Kinsey who founded the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.  I almost bought them just because.  :-)