Bucket List

A friend sent me one of those chain e-mails...like, what do you wanna do before you croak. But it had choices...many of which I didn't care about...so I'm making my own. Some I have already done but must list b/c they are cool.

1. Be a mom
2. Finish writing a novel
3. See the Crow in a movie theater (I was not allowed to when it came out, but it's okay, Dad, don't feel bad)
4. Donate money to the place where I work in the form of a scholarship
5. Visit PR
6. Adopt a frog
7. Wear a Sumo suit at fight someone
8. Go to Venice (done)
9. Make a cheesecake
10. Hear my uncle's music played in a big place
11. Eat at a fancy restaurant in NYC
12. Go to Paris
13. See Star Wars Episode IV in a movie theater
14. Teach Language Arts again
15. Get involved with the union
16. Play paintball
17. See my sister do comedy in front of people
18. Paint 1 room all black
19. Adopt a dog
20. Sleep in a castle
21. Knit an entire bed spread and matching pillow shams
22. Get a tattoo (see Mom, still sticking to the bargain)
23. Take my kids traveling (need to do the mom thing first)
24. Go to Prague
25. Walk on the beach at night
26. Travel in an RV
27. take cooking classes with Mr. G
28. Care for baby bunnies
29. Swim in the Pacific
30. Design a successful knitting pattern
31. Ride on a motorcycle
32. Go to Alaska
33. See a ghost (so silly, but I want it)
34. Have a huge ass theme party for a wedding anniversary
35. Stay up all night with my kids and have a Star Wars Marathon (again, mom 1st)
36. Go to England
37. Get a license to take my pets to visit schools so I can teach the children about them
38. Get blunt bangs
39. Write someone's memoir
40. See Rocky Horror live - I'm a RHPS virgin - I ALWAYS chicken out!!!
41. Finish my Masters (done)
42. See a whale up close
43. Go to Colorado
44. See Iron Maiden in concert
45. Get published
46. Look into the wolf display at the Museum of Natural History (half done - went with Griff and his mom and walked by but had to block my peripheral with my giant George Costanza wallet)
47. Make pottery
48. Go camping
49. Show my Dad that my book is in a library

I'm sure I'll have more to add. Hopefully I'm long off from the due date for this crap 'cause there's plenty of it. Off to paint, and then screw the house work (Mr. G is playing video games) I'm going to do some knitting!

Potentially Rockin' Movies 2 Come...

I love the band The Runaways and apparently there's a movie being filmed about them to come out in 2010...

The girl from Twilight is going to play Joan Jett...and I'm like, not seeing it. I wanna see the movie, but Joan is my favorite and I hope that girl does her whole persona justice.

That's Dakota Fanning (is that how you spell her name?) as Cherie Currie and the Twilight girl...Kristin *typing slowly trains off as GW of J realizes she doesn't know the actress' last name and is too lazy to tab over and look it up*.

I don't know...but that might be cool.

And then there's this...

Trailer here...

Some people are complaining about it already, saying Burton's lost his creativity and can't do any original work any more...I have a responce to that. If you had access to any resources you could ever need, wouldn't you pay tribute to all the things you love? Yes is the answer. The End.

This looks promising...

Back from Mass!

No, not a mass at a church....I am the GrimmWITCH:) Korny:)

Mr. G and I wanted to get away on the cheap just for a few days and our anniversary was coming up anyway (July 23rd was 4 years). We went to Massachusetts for four days...or planned to.

Our plans for day 1 were foiled when the Estate lawyer needed us to run around and do stuff for the closing of my late mother-in-law's home. This experience has been a difficult one from day 1 for poor Mr. G, and the town in which she lived made it very difficult. The town's requirements were insane (as we heard time and time again from different workers we hired for different jobs in the home). Phewy to you, Rutherford!

When we finally did get up to Mass. it was after 8 pm and the day was wasted:(

We visited quite a few places. One really great stop was the New England Aquarium in Boston. This was a spot I visited when i vacationed in Boston with my parents and sister. It has an amazing floor plan, with most of the exhibits spiralling around one massive cylyndrical tank in the center...maybe 24 some odd feet in diameter.

Pic pilfered from the New England Aquarium

These little guys are playing in the massive pool that forms the base of the aquarium. A bunch of them jumped into the water and took off swimming - they looked like they were flying under water. You can see the bottom of the central tank in the background.

The sea horse below is a species that blends in by mingling with the sea weed it looks like.

Neon green anemonies glow in the background as fish chase eachother in this tank.

This giant puffer lives in the massive tank...I think I remember it having somthing like 200,000 gallons of water in it constantly being filtered.

The guy below, Issac, is one of the seals that lives at the aquarium. I was splashing around playfully the entire time we were there.

This peachy - red jelly fish looks like it's made of some pretty frilly fabric.

When we were done with the aquarium we went to eat at Todd English's Kingfish Hall Restaurant in Quincy Market in Boston.

Mr. G had perfectly cooked steak and a delicious crab cake...excuse the poor phone pic.

My lobster and corn chowder was so good I actually said WOW involuntarily before I could stop myself.

After that we walked around Boston and did some exploring. Mr. G caught a pic of the Paul Revere statue.

Later on in the week we went on a late night tour of Bostons legendary spook spots in the Ghosts and Gravestones tour trolly. Sounds KoRny, but it was immensely informative. The people who work the tour are very knowledgeable. One of the most important things to me when I indulge in my cornier side is to be respected. Jumping out at me, grabbing at me, checking out my boobies (not that I'm a hot mama or anything, but it has happened), not cool. These people were wonderful! Respectful, and what I found most endearing, great with and sensitive to the young children who came on the tour. The two well behaved boys were not too young.

On another day we took a trip to Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, MA.

John Hammond Jr., the former owner, was an inventor with a pension for collecting anything medieval or reminiscent of the time. Here is an exterior shot.

The castle is pretty much on the water, and I spent most of my time outside viciously inhailing the sweet smell of the sea as if it were laced with drugs.

Just a few pics of the more remarkable areas in the castle. One shot I don't have here is a pic of the indoor pool...awesome...here's a link though.

Below is a shot of the great hall. There was a cute, but massive group of middle schoolers there that I kept dodging...don't really like being around any large groups of children but my own.

This chair in the great hall...I suppose then, a thrown, was so beautiful.

We also went to Salem, although I have no pics of that (thanks alot, Mr. G, you pain you:)

I love Salem...yeah, it's got all the witch stuff (I actually identify unclassifyable pagan, but I do have a lot of beliefs that overlap with Wicca) but again, it's really all about the sea proximity. So beautiful! And a great place to bring kids.

Pic pilfered from usatourism.com

One of Mr. G's favorite visits was to the Higgins Museum in Worcester. The collection of weapons, armor, and other related items was compiled by the late steel tycoon John Woodman Higgins (I wonder if he knew Mr. Hammond...I imagine they would have been great friends).

Some of the weapons were rare versions of concepts that never took off like this gun/shield combo.

Another of the more unusual items was this doggie armor. The collection is second in size in this country only to the Met's weapons and armor wing and is far more varied.

Our last visit of the vacation, or so we thought, was a stop at Lizzie's house in Fall River, MA...

There I am outside waiting for a tour.

This is a pretty much exact replica of the couch where Lizzie Borden's father was found murdered. Mr. G and I posed for a pic on it later. Morbid, yes. If you're offended please skip to the bottom. I'd say I was sorry but I think you're being too sensitive and I'm a bad liar:)

This was the spot where her step mother was found.

This was Lizzie's room.

Here's my homegirl Living Dead Doll Lizzie in Lizzie's room... well, not really mine, mine was still in /jersey, but you understand...

We were driving home when we decided to stop in Mystic, Conn for fudge and food. Here's a gaggle of phone shots.

We got delicious food at the Sea View Snack Bar

Crab cake...yum!

Scallops and Calamari!

And saddly, I did no knitting:(

Just to show mom...

Although I did do some knitting today I didn't take any pictures of it...just finishing up the Sophia Tomten. I saw her today at Griffin's 1st Birthday party and thank the Gods it looks as if she'll still fit into it. She's so cute and tiny. And I managed to get some in-my-arms time with the Grif. He smelled like birthday cake:) He is the most gentle baby ever.

So why am I here if I don't have knitting pics again? Hey, 'I do what I want,' and what I want is to show mom my new hair...

The roots were a half inch and the bright red was very different than my fawny brown and ever graying natural...so I dyed it dark, dark, dark brown yesterday and left some streaks of red. Wasn't happy with is this morning, though, and had no black left, so I dyed the streaks dark fuchsia (showing up hotter pink here I guess) and a few thin pieces light red.

Tomorrow Mr. G and I are spending the morning filling out paper work for my doctors appointment on Thursday, and planning a trip to Boston:)

When I am knitting what do I read (yes, if I'm not doing something really crazy, like an evil lace, I read at the same time. Many people do this). In addition to the Twilight series and some comic series I'm reading the book I just got...around ten years old me thinks...

Hysterical! Like the beginning of the Fisher King but way more creatively bizzare and silly. I also picked up the Graveyard Book...Neil Gaiman!!:) and a discount art book og Gil Elvgren's pin up art! Hubba hubba...and my avatar is featured inside:)

Super Busy...No Pics

Pepper moved yesterday. The whole week was all about getting her ready for it. It was very tiring. I never realized they (my sister and brother-in-law) have so much crap:) The things we accumulate. As a bonus I've been running regular migraines.

The 4th of July was very nice and surprising. Usually Mr. G works, but he was off so we BBQed. I invited a few people but didn't expect anyone b/c I knew some go to the same BBQ each year, or they were busy...but we had nine people. It was a very nice surprise. Griffin, my friend's son born last July 8th, stumbled around my house and I just adored watching him.

I can't believe Griffin turned 1 on Wednesday. I thought about him all day long, and the stressful time my friend had waiting to get pregnant, and couldn't help think of my own difficulties. Spending time with Grif or seeing other women w/ their babies doesn't make me sad or bother me. I like to see others happy; it makes me happy.

Fittingly, but coincidentally I attended a Resolve meeting Wednesday night, migraine blaring like my own personal internal car horn perpetually honking in my head. Resolve is the National Infertility Association. The group meeting (confidential, so I ain't sharing and hard for me 'cause I'm super shy) really guided me to feel more hopeful. I wasn't depressed, but I had kinda given up. I was waiting for Mr. G to come around to be comfortable, something I was thinking about long before I found we had problems having kids of our own...actually before I met Mr. G. I made an appointment to go to a fertility clinic next Thursday to consult w/ a doctor that specializes in infertility. I'm kinda private about this stuff...can't imagine posting this...but I'm going to.

The following day my girlfriend from work is going in to the same place to see if she's pregnant. Please pray to your respective gods for her. Even though I don't think the gods will pick to bless her w/ a child b/c I prayed more I do believe in positive energy. And, after all she's been through, I can't believe she still has any of her own left...but she does. She's just amazing and with an adopted son I can see what a great mom she'll be to a second. Now that I'm crying I will sign off.

WhAt?

I did not make this up. This is real.
And Maven of Fiber Pron asked about New Hope. It is just across the state line b/w NJ and PA. The NJ town bordering it is Lambertville, of Abandoned Lambertville high school fame. We tried to drive by the school but couldn't get close and I got chicken:( It's a nice day trip for anyone in the area...small shops, intimate places to eat, etc:)

New Hope, PA

Today Mr. G and I went to New Hope, PA. Behold, a gathering of my day's booty and the reading material I took with me. Not wanting to tote Eclipse around I raided Mr. G's comic collection to find the next volumes of Fables.

The white bag contains FUDGE! I can't recall the small shop's name.
The bag is from a New Hope LYS called Twist Knitting & Spinning. The store has a nice variety of yarns and the people are very cordial and helpful.

I dug up some Ellyn Cooper's Yarns while there. It's not available where I live and I was really pleased - this was the only colorway in the boucle, but I love it. Her colors are so vibrant! she needs a web site!!:)

I was almost ready to ring out when I came across these...

I first saw the Zauberball on Jenny Leggings blog. She described is as slowly transitioning b/w one color & the next. I had a hard time finding them.

All this while I needed BSJ yarn and wasn't finding anything I liked. I had to stop at Michael's & get the Cotton Tots yarn that I love!

That handsome man in the picture on the left is my late Tio (Spanish for uncle, yes, I am latin). I did not intend for him to be in the pick...but this one was the only shot with the yarn in focus, and why would anyone mind that adorable smile. He was an amazing guy, an absolute perfect example of a good human being. I love you, Tio!