Lil' Bit of This and That

I've been working on a supercute party dress for a friend to wear to her sister-in-law's wedding last Saturday, it was a honey-gold polyester shantung that snags pretty easily and left shiny golden fibers all over my little sweatshop of a front room. Luckily my folks gave me this white shelving unit that is perfect for my sewing room and makes it much more functional. This dress was much more complicated than the black cotton stretchy one I managed to finish within a week; it needed a lining and that is something I've never done before! So last night I was half-watching the last disc of 24/Keifer Sutherland and hand-sewing the lining next to invisible zipper because I cut it too close... It was a tough job but the finished product was, I must say, quite adorable.

For a while there my sister and I were going for walks up around college hill on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it was so nice having her only 10 minutes away at the parents' house. I can't believe her internship ended last Friday already, but we celebrated with a night of delicious sushi at Pure Sushi, the new place in the 5th St Market. It was my 3rd visit there and each visit was fantastic! They have some deep-fried rolls that are out of this world and reminiscent of Sushi Domo, although the SBC at S.D. really can't be beat. At any rate I would happily snarf down sushi again and again at either location.

Summaaaaahhhhhrrrr-time-time-time

(in the style of Janis Joplin...) Summer feels like it's slipping through my fingers! Here we are, officially in the middle of July and everyone's talking about how hot it is, and how it's supposed to get into the 90's, etc etc. and I've gone swimming twice. Somehow the worthiness is of my summers is directly related to the amount of times I've gone swimming. Silly me! Lucky for me my dear sister is officially in town for five whole weeks and we're definitely gonna go swimming when she gets back from visiting her Portland peeps.

I went to the Country Fair for the first time last Sunday and ironically, there was record rainfall that day. I bought tickets the previous Tuesday, because that was the only day I would be able to go, and as I was white-knuckles driving out there with my windshield wipers on the fastest setting I was thinking to myself, 3rd time's the charm.... really? Because I had attempted to go to the OCF twice in the past 17 years that I've lived in Eugene, the first attempt was when we didn't have the cash on us (back in the day) and the other time I tried it was sold out. I am willing to give it another shot next year, but trudging through the mud got really old, really fast especially since there seemed to be just as many people as there might have been during the good weather. I don't know how, but we made it to the main stage and back without getting more than a few mud splashes on our skirts.

Listy McListerson

Favorite Driving Songs: tunes I think might encourage me, inadvertently, to get a speeding ticket just by listening to them while operating a vehicle.



1 tom petty/ running down a dream

2 bob seger sbb/ hollywood nights

3 (artist?) hot rod lincoln

4 journey/ don't stop believing

5 tornadoes/tel-star

6 rebel rouser (f g sndtrk)

7 .......?

If You Want to Think Your Way Through It - There's an App for That, Too.

(The subject/applications/strategies/?? of marketing = a fascinating topic to me.) Enough said. Old adages? Cliches to pull at heartstrings? Marketing. Is. Everywhere.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I tagged along with a group of wonderful people last Sunday to the top of Mary's Peak, located near Alsea outside Corvallis. It was breathtaking - the 360 view of Oregon just can't be beat - I can't believe I've lived here so long and never been! I suppose I do take this beautiful state for granted sometimes, but times like that make me realize how lucky I am. I will be going back there very soon, I'm sure.

Speaking of soon, I keep telling myself I'm dodging the "adventures in knitting" portion of this blog, but that's only because I don't have a good camera-computer set up just yet. And, although I love knitting all year long, the warmer days inspire me to sew and chop up various fabrics rather than fabricate the actual fabric. If that makes any sense :)

On the upcoming tip - I'm also VERY excited that there's only 16 days until my biological other half is back in town once again for sisterly birthday fun. More to come!

Indoor vs. Outdoor Kitties

Back when I was at U of O, I would visit a couple friends whose roommate kept her cat indoors. At the time it seemed cruel to me- Elvis wanted only to escape outside and do cat-things, like chase birds and roll around in the dirt and grass and leave his mark on trees. I can't say that I blame him. Growing up we had several indoor/outdoor kitties throughout the years, and it was tough but a part of life, realizing that Heckel and Jeckel (yes, our two black kitties were named after the black magpies from the old cartoon) had run away and were never coming back. Then there was Little Rat, my brother's first kitty, who got hit by a car when we lived in L.A. The fleas were also kinda gross - needless to say those kitties never slept in our beds as little space heaters. And the vet bills were pretty expensive after one of the cats had altercations with who-knows-what.

From a leasing perspective, outdoor kitties cause a lot of havoc, driving the poor dogs left indoors crazy who consequently bark their heads off, not to mention scratching up screen doors and leaving surprises in their neighbors' barked beds. For those who are on the fence about it like myself, there is a great (although biased) article about the controversy of indoor vs. outdoor kitties at http://www.cfainc.org/articles/safer-indoors.html.

All in all, if we didn't live on a very busy street on the way up a hill, I might consider letting Hermin outside to roam. Demon knows she's got a good thing going and has little to no desire to explore the outside world. My wayward purpose behind this blog? Contrary to what is pictured here, I'm not actually about to chomp down on Hermin's foot. I keep telling him that if he escapes his little safehaven and gets hit by a car or dies as a result of a racoon attack, I will be forced to keep one of his cute little feeties on my keychain in his memory, much like a lucky rabbit foot.

Mindless Musings

There are cat people, then there are dog people. I love cats because they only want 3 things: a clean litterbox, crunchy meat-flavored provisions, and a warm dark place to sleep. They provide a heat source when I'm cold and seem to know when I need some company - they even find creative water sources (i.e., the tub or planters on the back deck.) I find dogs impossibly cute but when it comes down to it, I feel that I'm much more of a cat person. However, this begs the question: how do I know I'm a cat person since I've never had a dog?