Thanksgiving 2010

John and I got back home late Sunday evening after a wonderful week with the family in Southern California. It was nice to have so much time to spend with everyone. We could relax and enjoy the beautiful to us (cold to them) weather.

I am especially grateful for the stories I learned about various family members, like how my great aunt and uncle met at a roller skating rink he was running, and how when my grandfather was born they had to light the stove in the farmhouse with walnuts, because all the wood had already been taken to the new farm his family was moving to.

Mr. Cleaver and I stayed with my Grandfather, who requested a turkey dinner for Tuesday night, so my brother and I spent the majority of the day cooking Thanksgiving dinner #1, which included turkey, stuffing, pumpkin cake and whoopie pies. Mr. Cleaver took on dish duty. We were joined by my sister-in-law after work, and Grandpa invited his friend Patricia from church to join us for supper. Patricia has encouraged my Grandpa to take up yoga at the age of nearly 83!

On Wednesday we explored San Dimas and joined my Aunt, Uncle and cousins for some ten pin bowling followed by In-N-Out. Mr. Cleaver was excited to bowl over 100 for the first time ever.

Thanksgiving day was spent at my Aunt and Uncle's, playing games (like Clankers( like horseshoes, but with washers), Corn Hole, and Skittles), chatting round the fire, eating delicious food, and gathering in the rec room for slideshows.

Friday we visited the Rancho Santa Ana Botantical Garden, goofed around in Claremont, and had dinner with my Great Aunt.

Saturday we spent with my Aunt and Uncle, looking through photo albums, walking in Bonelli Park,  and catching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

A big thanks to all my Southern California relatives, who made our visit so wonderful!!

Chicago - My Favorite Places

As long-time readers of this blog know, before my most recent move to Maine I lived in Chicago for a little over two years. I recently had the chance to return to my old stomping grounds for a work conference, and leapt at the chance and added a couple days onto my trip to revisit my favorite places and hang out my my dear friend Kasey (who graciously let me crash at her place).

So below, some of my favorite spots (including a couple of new finds).

(A quick explanation on this photo: on the way to pizza, Kasey & I found a lost purse. We found an ID card, but  when we called the person on it, we only got a very confused young woman in Philadelphia. So we looked a bit further into the purse and found that the ID was fake, and that the purse owner liked to return one-shoulder leopard print dresses to the store after wearing them to Ne-Yo concerts at local lounges. One classy lady.)

I ate my way across the city stopping at The Billy Goat Tavern of SNL sketch fame (get a minimum of a double cheezborger), Giordanos for stuffed pizza (like deep dish, but even better), Thai food at Yes, and two stops at A Taste of Heaven for lunch and breakfast (Katie Cakes!!!).

I took advantage of all the free entertainment the city had to offer - old favorites like Free Thursday evenings at the Art Institute, where I stumbled upon a promo performance by Hubbard Street Dance Company, and the Lincoln Park Zoo; along with new finds at like the Lurie Garden in Millenium Park and the Lincoln Park Conservatory.  Urbs in Horto indeed! I did some shopping and picked up another sock's worth of yarn at Loopy Yarns, after visiting a co-worker in the South Loop. I also got to experience some turtle racing at Big Joe's bar.

Best of all, I got some valuable "just hanging out" time with Kasey, which included watching both the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel miniseries. (Which means I now really want to watch the Avonlea series, which my mom recorded every episode of off the Disney Channel back in the day.)

All in all, Chicago was familiar and wonderful and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to return.

On a completely unrelated note, I just wanted to make mention of two things:

• Barbara Billingsley, the original Mrs. Cleaver, passed away while I was in Rhinebeck and I just wanted to acknowledge the pop culture debt I owe to her.
• In all the Hub-bub, my 3-year blogaversary happened (on Oct 18th), without me even realizing it. So thanks to all the readers out there who keep me motivated to keep putting my words and pictures out there. I truly appreciate you all.

Roadtrip: Rhinebeck!!

I'm leaving for a business/fun trip to Chicago today, but before I left I wanted to jot down a few words on my trip to Rhinebeck.

As group of seven of us left bright and early Friday morning, divided into, as the running gag was all weekend - an old people and a young people car - henceforth referred to as OPs and YPs.

The YPs car before:

We left early so we could make a detour to Northhampton, MA to visit WEBS: "America's Yarn Store." Yes, we stopped to buy yarn, before we spent a weekend at a sheep & wool festival, buying yarn.

WEBS is huge.

We even spotted a Great American Afghan (Karen's nemesis) live and in the wool.

And if the main store wasn't big enough, there's a warehouse.

We, as a group, found a thing or two... I ended up with a sweater's worth of Williamstown for my 2010 knitalution (to design and knit a full-sized sweater).

That night we landed at our hotel, ordered in some Chinese food (that came with a complimentary bottle of Grapette Soda), and read aloud from the Amish romance Novel, The Parting.

Saturday morning, we made sure we were at the gate at opening:

Our first stop was the Evergreen Farms booth for an angora. Maggie had recently lost her bunny Cocoa Bean and was debating whether she was ready for a new one. Petunia convinced her she was.

After a quick stop at She Shoots Sheep Rhinebeck Style photoshoot (I think  Maggie, Bristol and myself were models  #9, #8, and #7, respectively. I'll post a link when the slideshow is up), we headed out for the vendors.

After the first two barns I had checked off my three must-haves from my shopping list: 1750 yards fingering weight yarn in a natural grey for a Pas de Valse sweater from Snowshoe Farm Alpacas,  semi-solid sock yarn from Persimmon Tree Farm, and an eye-catching spinning fiber from Gnomespun Yarn Fiber Arts. Fortunately for my wallet I slowed my pace and bit and my final two pruchases of the day, buttons for my knitalution sweater from Jennie the Potter and a BFL/Silk braid of roving from Gale's Art waited until after lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the Ravelry lunch meet up and got to meet Sarah, Casey and Mary Heather.

We also made dead center behind the banner in the official meet-up photo, which hasn't been posted yet.

We spent a bunch of time with some folks who raised Soay sheep, an primitive sheep breed . I didn't note the farm unfortunately.

By 3ish - we were tuckered out and stopped for a apple cider doughtnut break, before leaping back into the fray.

We left the fairgrounds at 4:45. We left the parking lot an hour and a half later. (Noting for future trips, leave early!!)

After a break back at the hotel, the OPs went out to dinner and the YPs went to the Ravelry party in RedHook. We arrived too late for the goodie bags and cupcakes, but did get a chance to hop in the photobooth and chat with some lovely folks.

On Sunday, we packed up the cars (don't worry, we didn't really store the bunny in the back), had breakfast at a local diner and headed back for a few last hours at the fair.

We caught a sheep shearing (the sheep's not a fan)

and picked up a few more items. I snagged another sock yarn, this time from Sliver Moon Farm, and fought off Maggie for some into the whirled roving. I have received much mocking from my knitting group for my color pallette/phases and how my knitting often matches my outfit. I have been firmly ensconced in a blue and yellow phase (my Manu and a pattern I'm releasing at month's end is a good example), but it seems pretty clear that my next phase is definitely leaning green.

All in all, the trip was fantastic and totally worth the drive and slightly sketchy hotel. We're aiming for a return trip in 2012. If you're planning a Rhinebeck trip, I'd make the following suggestions:

• Book your hotel early. We did it about 3 months in advance and everything good had been booked by then.
• Break up your days and catch some events. We wish we had seen some more of the events or taken a class. It all gets a bit over whelming, just doing vendor after vendor.
• If you're doing both days, leave early on the first day. The traffic out of the parking lot was awful day one.
• Talk to as many strangers as you can. Every person I talked to (usually started by one of us complimenting the other's knit-wear) was super nice and friendly and you have an automatic topic of conversation. I wish I had takend the time to chat more.

Now off to Chicago! Be back Sunday.

Roadtrip: Boston on Foot

Mr. Cleaver & I took the train down to Boston (our last visit was in 2006!) to wander about and have some fun on the last unofficial weekend of summer.

While we bought T passes, we kept looking at our map and saying "that's not too far", so we ended up hoofing it the entire day and racked up about 5 miles around the city.

We promenaded the Boston Common

We munched lunch at The Paramount (after standing in quite the line - this is a popular and tasty spot!)

We stumbled upon the cutest community garden in Cambridge.

And found happy turtles and triceratops,  indoor lightning, and knitted brains at the Museum of Science.

Now, during this daytrip, Mr. Cleaver insisted on taking more photos of me than usual, because, in his words, "Your blog readers aren't interested in pictures of me, they'd much rather have picture of you."

So, as a concession to the mister, I leave you with this photo of me running from dinosaurs and an opinion poll:

[polldaddy poll=3726516]

Roadtrip: Lexington, Massachusetts

Mr. Cleaver and I had been talking about how there are so many things we wanted to do this this summer, and how often we never get to them because we just never picked a day to do it. So late last week we pulled down the calendar and started putting dates: concerts we wanted to see, camping reservations, etc. and we decided that this weekend - with the forecast for rain and general dreariness in Maine, we would head down to Lexington, Massachusetts.

Every Sunday, Mr. Cleaver picks up two papers, the Portland Press Herald for him, and the Boston Globe for me. I read the paper in a very specific order: Comics, Parade magazine, Travel, Arts, Movies, Ideas, and Globe Magazine. Yes, I read no news in my newspaper.

A month or so back, I saw a review of Jim Henson's Fantastic World, a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian, currently at the National History Museum in Lexington through June 27th (psst- Chicago folks, it's coming to the Museum of Science and Industry at the end of October). One of the first jobs I ever wanted to to be a Muppetter- so I was thrilled that we got a chance to catch this well-curated exhibit. Unfortunately photography was prohibited in the exhibition, but let this prove that I was there and that it was wonderful.

Mr. Cleaver and I both though our favorite part was the way the young children reacted to the clips from Henson's career - they were enthralled and laughing, even at the somewhat dated clips like "Visual Thinking" from Sam & Friends, from around 1959.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEBEh84Nvo0]

After we finished at the museum, which also had a beautiful exhibit of National Park photos by Quang-Tuan Luong, we hit the street of Lexington for lunch and history.

Lexington is the location of the "Shot Heard Round the World" or the first armed conflict of the American Revolution against the British. According to a marker for the men who died in the battle, it is the place where "The Dies Was Cast!"

The battle green where the conflict took place has several markers notating where the British stood and where the Revolutionaries stood, but otherwise, looks very much like a your standard municiple park. We also peered through the windows of the Buckman Tavern, not wanting to pay the tour fee.

After soaking in what history we could on the cheap, we went to a nearby Trader Joe's an picked up copious amounts of tasty food we can't yet get in Maine. All in all, a worthwhile trip.

Roadtrip: American Textile History Museum

On Sunday my knitting group took a field trip out to the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. Tucked in the back of a former mill along with the Lowell Sun Newspaper and some loft condos, this jewelbox of a museum winds through  textile production, fashion, history, and innovation.

Some exhibits made more sense than others (I guess bicycle frames are a textile...), but it was a fun afternoon and I learned  how baseballs are tested and how linen goes from plant to fabric (Winnowing! Retting! Scutching! Heckling!).

The loom room.

Measuring warps.

A circular knitting machine.

Bloomers and bustles.

We went to the museum specifically to catch the last day of a special exhibit "Aprons: Fifties Functional Fashion." We all wore aprons in honor of the event (and got a surprise $2 off admission!)

The exhibit consitsted of about 50 or so aprons and I was glad to see the majority of pieces in the exhibit were homesewn, and some were quite dashing,

kitschy,

nostalgic,

or busty!

Roadtrip: FunSpot - or I am a big nerd.

At work I get a "floating spring holiday" that I can take whenever I want, so on a sunny Thursday last week, I played hooky from work and drove with Mr. Cleaver to New Hampshire to play pinball. Because that's what you do when you play hooky. Obviously.

I may have mention it before, but I have a thing for pinbal, and this place?

Pinball heaven.

Over 35 different pinball machines, my favorites of which were the 1979 Superman machine seen above and the 1986 PinBot.

Mr. Cleaver spent most of his tokens relishing in DigDug from his youth.

We also played some good old Skee-Ball,

Tried a few rounds on the machine from King of Kong (which if you like video games in the tiniest bit you need to see, because it is an awesome documentary),

We also tried our hand at some newer games, including this Star Wars number that made me feel like a real Jedi. :)

Don't worry, we didn't stay inside all day, we also enjoyed the beautiful shores of Lake Winnipesaukee:

All in all, it was a good day of playing hooky, and thanks to some coupons we have so many leftover tokens we'll have to take a return trip someday!

Roadtrip: Philly

Last weekend, Mr. Cleaver and I took our big summer vacation, a long weekend in Philadelphia.

We were fortunate to spend a few days with Mr. Cleaver's college roommate and his family, who showed us around town and make sure we got plenty of great food to eat.  Our days pretty much went like this: sleep in, eat break fast, go out and see awesome things, eat some local food, head back to the house, play with the kids and chat with the adults, sleep and repeat.

Some of the awesome things we saw?

Star Trek: The Exhibition at the Franklin Institute (nerds, eat your heart out!)

If sci-fi tv series aren't your thing, the Franklin had a lot of other incredible exhibits including the Amazing Machine, which contained one of the coolest things I've ever seen, an automaton who can draw pictures and write poems with better handwriting than me (seriously - check out the videos - so cool).

Another great thing about the Amazing Machine is that a old Singer sewing machine was used to explain the majority of the types of machine parts. Also - the first sewing machine caused a tailor's riot in France!

The Franklin also had a lot of great hands on exhibits including the Franklin Airshow and Sir Issac's Loft, when Mr. Cleaver is shown literally pulling his own weight.

Of course it wouldn't be my first trip to Philly without my first cheesesteak and for those who know about these things: Geno's, with, no wiz.

On our second day, we went out to Valley Forge to pick up a little Revolutionary War knowledge, including learning about General Baron Frederick William Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben, who I had never heard of and turned the Colonists from a rag-tag band of individual militias in the U.S. Army.

And there's no better way to follow up a load of history with some Guitar Hero.

Our last day in Philly we headed out our own to Old Philly for some more history and learning. We saw the Liberty Bell, which was smaller than I thought it'd be; the National Constitution Center, which made me cry and I highly, highly recommend; and a lovely and haunting performance of a glass armonica.

These are just a sampling of the photos I took on the trip, but if you want to see more you can check out my "Philly Trip" photoset on Flickr.

Lent Weeks 5 & 6, or I am a Human Chain Letter

I didn't realize it until a co-worker mentioned it today, but this is my lest week of Lent. It really flew by me this year. Maybe because I was working in two-week increments due to paychecks, but yeah, I can't believe I have only 3 more days (good thing too as my Pro Flickr account is due to expire come Sunday!)

Without further ado, Week 5:

A shiny new haircut courtesy of Nina at Bei Capelli, which I am quite fond of, which is a big deal if you're me - at least according to Mr. Cleaver.

Some travel essentials from Hannaford's (our local grocery chain). Where did I travel, you may ask? I spent a lovely weekend in New York City visiting friends, which brings us to...

Lent Week 6:

I'm going to preface this by saying my solo weekend in NYC, despite some plane delays and a vigorous rainstorm was incredibly awesome thanks to the lovely friends I stayed with and who guided me around the city. I had a blast - I had so much fun that I didn't take many photos - I think I took something around 42 before I deleted any out of focus ones, etc. The hardest thing I find about photography, aside from feeling a little awkward about whipping out my large SLR is that I feel like I can either be in the moment or I can document the moment - and this weekend I was far more about being in the moment.

Airport water and some  snacks from home. 

After a long airport delay I finally reached JFK and took a cab to Monica's (a friend from the Chicago days), where I was met with freshly baked cupcakes!

Monica with some tasty cupcakes in the apron I made her.

The next morning we went out for breakfast, which for me meant French toast and Fresh Apples juice at Gracie's (?- the diner at the corner of  86th and 1st). 

Monica had to go to a performance for school around 1pm, but before depositing me on a train to my next meet-up she took me to a 107 year old bakery neat her apartment.

I bought a 1/2 lb of black & white cookies for Mr. Cleaver (which I'd never had before and thankfully my husband is the sharing kind) from Glaser's Bake Shop, whose payment policy was right up my alley (see below)

After I left Monica, I met up with Susie, a friend from high school I hadn't seen since we graduated back in 2001. 

She toured me around the East and West villages with stops at Purl Soho and Purl Pactchwork, the latter of which I bought some awesome rooster fabric; downtown yarns where I got the wine-colored malabrigo lace-weight; Lupe's Kitchen for some mexican food (another cash-ony establishment); and Strand, where I eyeballed several books, but decided after a day of carrying all my possessions around New York that I didn't want to add any further weight.

We also stopped at lovely little tea shop for lavender and camomille tea, but unfortunately I have no clue whatsoever what the name of it is, though it does have some awesome wallpaper in the back.

Continuing as a human chain letter, Susie deposited me on the F train around 6:30 and sent me off to Brooklyn, where I met up with college buddies Jenna and Rebekah for a very tasty three-course dinner at the Vinegar Hill House, to celebrate my visit and Rebekah's news about her job at a summer camp in Maine. Our meal lasted for about 2:30 hours, when once again I was placed on a train and delivered to Washington Heights and Brenna, a roomie from my first go-around in Portland.

The next morning we headed out for brunch at Good Enough to Eat, where you knew if must be good because we had to wait in line to get a seat. And good it was, my apple pancakes, though not quite my Katie Cakes, were delicious.

Because my friends know me well, Brenna and I headed to another yarn store, Knitty City, which lives up to it's claim of being the friendliest yarn shop in NYC.  I picked up some of my beloved Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock in the new Andersonville (my beloved neighborhood) colorway. 

Street Art in Brooklyn.

We then rode over to Williamsburg for some vintage shopping and hipster watching at  Beacon's Closet. Though the  stock is overwhelming I didn't find anything to my fancy. Around this time we both realized we had to go to the bathroom and started the great Brooklyn bathroom hunt.

We stopped in Penny Licks bakery for a cookie and found their bathroom out of order. We kept peeking into shops hoping against hope and meeting no luck until a friendly store employee sent us to a nearby bagel shop. 

When we made it back to Washington Heights it was around 6 and we were both pooped so we picked up some snacks at a convenience store, ordered a pizza, watched chick flicks on HBO on demand and knitted socks.

The next morning we ate bananas and bagel and I took a cab to the airport, reaching a waiting Mr. Cleaver at 2:30pm. 

I didn't visit Time Square, Central Park, or the Empire State Building, but I had the best New York trip I could have imagined.

Adventures in So. Cal - Day & Night

As I mentioned in my last post, I took a couple of field trips while visiting my relatives over Thanksgiving. My brother and his wife took us to the Huntington Gardens, where they're member and gave us the highlights tour. The weather was perfect and the Gardens (and art collection!) are lovely. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

That evening we when to the Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside, where I met my quota for palm trees and fireworks:

I made it back to Portland just in time for the first snow of the year.

Just the thing to put you in the Christmas spirit!