Sushi Hubby cure

I had a bad day. Crying episodes involved.

My hubby took me out for sushi.

I love sushi.

I love Hubby.

Sushi and Hubby make bad day better.

Shopping hangover

I didn't sleep last night. Well, I slept, but it didn't feel like a deep sleep. It felt a little like I was floating just above sleep. My brain wouldn't turn off. It was a-buzz with thoughts of those hip, new, expensive tops from One of a Kind.

I woke up with my first ever shopping hang over.

Holy Smokes - that One of a Kind show!

Me, my pottery friend and my hubby go to One of a Kind Art Show & Sale every year, twice a year. Pottery friend and me have been going for about five years. Hubby joined us at the Christmas show in 2003. The three of us just walked the aisles of the Christmas show tonight.

Hubby lives for the food vendors. He loves the samples and really gets into checking everything out. We bought some fig and rhubarb jelly (my fav), but passed on the Apricot barbeque sauce. I really got into the almond raspberry chocolate brittle stuff and a chocolately candy apples - wow! Hubby also indulged in a little bag of ginger almonds that travelled home with us in our tummies. Yummy!

I used to be all about the pottery and the jewelry. Over the years I have bought a piece of clothing here and there, a nice hoody, a t-shirt and last Spring a beautiful dress that I wore as my wedding dress.

I came home tonight with three lovely, luxurious tops! I'm a loyal customer. I like what I like. I picked up two long sleeved tops at Mandala (now I own four of Mandy's super cool tops!) and one gorgeous, super sexy top from Kathleen Kovats Designs (the Montreal designer who sold me my wedding dress).

Kathleen was not at the show tonight, but her Toronto based assistant/friend remembered us from last April and after hugs and kisses cheerfully helped me. Hubby had found a wonderful velvety two tone top for me to try on. I was a bit surprised knowing that Kathleen's designs are priced appropriately (i.e. out of our wallet's comfort zone). I got really excited about a super sexy chocolate and blue/brown leopard print top with sweeping material across the chest. Hubby suggested this for a slightly early birthday present. I practically squeeled with delight and gushed my love for him all over the One of a Kind Show! The assistant got giddy listening to us and declared that there should be more people in the world like us! Before we left she threw her arms around us in a group hug and kiss-kiss and thanked us for existing! Somehow, by just being us, we made her day.

I just love that One of a Kind Show!

Dreadful errands (CAUTION: whiny post)

I have a busy day that is starting out with a massage and chiropractic appointment. Normally I would look forward to these ‘treats’. I think I am dreading what comes after the treats: queuing up to get my driver’s license and health card renewed. I am DREADING the transit, the long (I imagine) queues, feeling hot in my winter layers and likely hungry. If I didn’t have the massage at 10am, I would already be on my way to the Ministry of Transportation office to be the first in line when the door opens.

I have another complaint. I never know what to wear when the weather is like this: cold in the morning and warmish in the afternoon. I have figured out that if I take the fleece lining out of my coat and wear a thinish cardigan under the shell I can hit a nice balance. Leaving my beautiful Joy Ripple scarf at home is probably best too.

Enough whining! I shall charge up the iPod, get my crochet ready (something easy for travel), and grab my grammar book (I’m working on tense agreement and commas) to help me enjoy my torture errands. Perhaps a stop in Kensington Market at Ideal Coffee for a latte will curb my crankiness.

Note about commas: confirming my suspicions, I have learned this week that there is a literary trend toward using fewer commas. For example, it is no longer correct to place a comma before the word ‘too’ (see paragraph #2). I don’t like it. It just feels wrong to me.

Other things I should do today: laundry, buy hook and eye at Fabricland (for the finishing touch on the Luscious Stole!), buy a few groceries. The laundry chore also makes me cranky. We live in a low rise, walk-up apartment. We take our laundry across the street to a nice laundry mat with beautiful front loaders. The heaving back and forth across the street is a huge drag (ha ha). But really, it is a drag and I can’t wait to have a house with our own front loaders. I imagine lovely evenings at home doing laundry in my underwear and slippers. No more heaving across the street. Good for me; too bad for my chiropractor.

I feel like I should balance the universe with a little appreciation of what is good about today. Here goes... I do not have to work; I have Hubby's Metro Pass; I can get around the city on my own; something fun and unexpected could happen while I stand in the torture queues; I can crochet while I wait or sit on the streetcar.

Enough blogging. Must go on a wee search for the paperwork for my dreaded renewal errands and then get out of the house.

Nice weekend

I have been blessed with another nice weekend. Although I was crampy girl and missed my new friend's opera and had to run to the bathroom every 40 minutes or so, I still had a nice weekend.

Hubby and I spent a lot of time together. We are best friends and we like being together, being quiet, reading the newspaper and listening to the radio. We prepare snacks for each other, read parts of interesting articles aloud, massage feet, smooch, laugh... you get the idea. We had a lot of time to hang out and be lovey.

That hanging out time was balanced with time for me to be on my own. I poked around the apartment. I did some chick flick watching, chores, some of my never ending hand washing. I like taking care of our space. I tend to get that nesting urge in the Fall and I like to indulge when I am alone.

When I was filled up with alone time, I hung out at Knitomatic. Lots of girl took. Fun, fun!

Sigh. I just had a nice, nice weekend and I am thankful.

Little footnote: I watched Match Point on TMN. Creepy and good.

Monstrual cycle

I am going to start decreasing today on the Luscious Stole! I think it will be finished by tomorrow night! I am determined to get it sewn up, too, since I have a little problem finishing projects off if they need any sort of assembly.

Right now I am all enthusiasm for getting it done, but the menstrual cycle could set me back. Got my period this morning after a slightly achy day yesterday. I do like being in touch with my body enough to know when the blood will flow. Too bad it is because of symptoms so severe that I couldn't possibly ignore them.

Once, in my twenties, a roommate had to take me to Emergency. One moment I was stepping out of the shower, perfectly fine, no period. The next moment I was crawling to my bedroom, wet hair in towel, blood flowing down my legs onto the carpet. The resident at Emergency, a woman in her early thirties, told me to have a baby or face periods like this month after month. I told the doctor that I thought her suggestion was not so helpful since I hadn't yet finished my BA and only had a part time job at Fairweather. She gave me a shot of Gravol and sent me home.

A few months later I got my period while visiting my parents for the weekend. My mother took one look at me standing on the tips of my toes while puking into the toilet and suggested a trip to the hospital might be in order. Between vomits and dancing from toe to toe, I declined the offer.

I started taking Anaprox. It rotted my stomach.

For many years I had uneventful periods. Well, that is to say I could rely on ibuprophen to manage the cramping pain, as long as I ignored the dosage limits on the first two days of bleeding.

I had a bad episode or two in 2003 and then nothing again until this past August. After more than an hour of moaning, groaning, sitting on the toilet while puking into a bucket between my legs, my hubby asks if we should go to the hospital. I can’t think straight. I can’t see straight. I can’t recognize my own abdomen. It has been involuntarily sucked inward in one constant, hour long cramp. I can’t imagine getting off the toilet, getting dressed and into a cab. I don’t like the idea of pooping and puking in a cab. Imagine the detailing bill!

My doctor gave me a prescription for Arthrotec, some kind of big gun pill for arthritis sufferers. Take with food or suffer serious gut rot. This pill gets to the source of my cramping pain and beats the crap out of it. I am so in tune with my pre-cramp cramps that I can tell if I need ibuprophen or Arthrotec to deal with what is coming down the pipe.

Today is an ibuprophen day for now. Next dose due in 30 minutes.

Grown Man Toy

My best friend and husband wants Playstation 3. Yikes. He's mentioned it on and off for a few months. I thought it was a passing fancy. I guess not.

Check out my comment about his post.

Progress on Luscious Stole

Here's the progress on the Luscious Stole:




I started it two days ago and it is about a third complete! I did work on it a lot yesterday evening while 'watching' a movie. With this lovely Cherry Tree Hill Froth yarn I've had to keep my eye on the crocheting rather than the television. Thanks to Haley for suggesting this yarn! I love it!

Well, better get to some ironing, a little bit of grammar review and then I can get back to the stole. Somehow I have a feeling the grammar review will get rushed or ignored...

Crochet updates

I’ve started a new crochet project.




















This will eventually look more like the Luscious Stole that the name of the pattern predicts. However, it will not become that way with help from the pattern itself. Yes, I chose this free pattern from the internet. And yes, as Haley has warned me so many times, it is miserably lacking. The pattern skips the entire portion of the stole that will cover one’s back. (insert sad head shaking here)

Now, I am an intelligent gal and I feel confident that I can figure it out by measuring and using clues from the pattern and the picture. It will get done and I think it will look gorgeous on my mom. She’s having a milestone birthday next month and I wanted to get/make something special.

Stayed tuned for progress reports.

On to other crochet news:

Last week at grammar class a young, hip woman approached me and said she has taken up crochet and is even teaching herself. I like to think that I inspired her since I crochet my heart out in class in between note taking, questions and exercises. Young, hip woman reports that she has trouble keeping her rectangular projects rectangular; they end up looking like triangles (diagnosis: not starting and ending rows in the right place = losing stitches each row = triangles). I promised some helpful magazine articles and assistance at next class. My first teaching opportunity! I’m excited!

My lovely knitting friend and I are doing a scarf exchange! What fun! What fun! She chose a lovely ripple scarf (Vogue Knitting Crocheted Scarves page 24) for herself. I’ve been coveting a chic dress up type scarf and, with my friend’s help, I have picked a lovely knitted leaf pattern. Check out the image on her blog! Once my mom’s stole is well on its way, I shall start the ripple scarf for the exchange.

I’ve also finished a few more crocheted shopping bags and am making an effort to darn in the ends. I plan to take a colourful picture for the blog once they’re in shape.

Grammar test update

Almost forgot:

It seems all that studying paid off.

I scored 100% on the test!

Defeat of de feet

The new boots are extra hot. There is no denying this. I walked to work in them this morning, looking very sharp in my dark grey wool skirt, stripy tights, leather jacket and iPod.

Yes, these boots round out the ‘hot professional’ outfit perfectly. I have the blisters to prove it. I’ve got a nice puffy, pink blister on my right little toe, one on the pad just beneath my right big toe and a third one on the heel of my left foot. Boy, oh boy my gals hurt!

My right little toe is always giving me some sort of problem. It has this strange way of sticking out and curling under at the same time. Its nail tends to spilt at the edge and the cuticle is often quite scary. You know that saying ‘she just rubs me the wrong way’? Mhmm. You get the idea.

Here I sit, achy feet up on a stool, admitting defeat. Defeat. Ha ha. That’s funny. I just don’t know how other women do it. I just can’t wear hip, good looking footwear when I walk. I’ve rarely been able to handle the fashion before comfort rule. It just hurts too much. If I want to wear fashionable footwear out on the town, I either take a cab or make sure I can catch the bus to the subway.

I guess I’ll go back to my ‘commuter’ look. I usually wear black runners for the walk to work and change shoes when I arrive. I hesitate to do this with the stripy tight, wool skirt and leather jacket outfit. The thought of it brings up all my old high school geek self consciousness; runners with pants is one thing, but runners with striped tights and wool skirt is another.

It has only been the past three or four years that I’ve started to feel I can ‘do feminine’. Being sexy has never been a problem for me, but being feminine is different. All that femmie hair, hip clothes and make up. I just never thought I could pull it off. I gave up make up years ago because my artificial eye has always been quite snotty. Wiping up the discharge meant wiping away the mascara, eye shadow and foundation. I realized I must look a bit lopsided most of the time. When you have an artificial eye the last thing you want is to look more lopsided in your face.

Other than the ‘hot professional’ outfit, my cool clothes are all picked out by my wonderful hubby. It was his suggestion to grow my hair, too. I’m not bad at picking out earrings. I’m so-so in the bra area; better with undies. Jeans, cool t-shirts, hip jackets, shoes and pants – all my hubby.

When hubby and I started dating I owned only two pairs of shoes: Birkenstocks and Docs. I’m serious. One of my favourite weekend outfits was jeans, white Gap t-shirt and a old plaid shirt. One night we were curled up on the couch watching Family Guy. Stewie becomes frustrated when his plan to make Janet jealous flops. He tells his naïve accomplice to save herself years of sexual ambiguity and go ahead and buy Doc Martens and a plaid shirt now. I sheepishly hid my head under the throw while future hubby guffawed and carried on.

I don’t think I could go back to Docs now. Couldn’t they just make hot, sexy boots that don’t ruin women’s feet? Why doesn’t a smart, fashionista, entrepreneur type woman make hot, sexy boots that are actually comfortable? Some skilled woman out there could do that. I don’t think it is too much to ask.

The hot boots

At the resquest of Mezzodiva, here are the boots! I received many compliments on Saturday at the 40th birthday bash. I love 'em! (The boots and the compliments!)

Hair dilemma

I've been toying with the idea of cutting my hair. For those of you who don't know, I used to have very, very short hair. Very, very, very short hair. Here is 2D Girl's hair history:

Various lengths throughout childhood, usually tortured by severe perms.

Age 15ish dyed my hair hard core red (grounded by parental figures for 4 months!)

Age 16 or 17 had the local barber buzz my hair into a chelsea.

Age 18 started growing out my hair.

Undergrad graduation photo of 2D Girl with beautiful, long hair curled over her shoulders. This involved a LOT of work with a curling iron.

Post grad days. Hot summer. Cut hair to above shoulders. Summer got hotter. Cut hair completely off, but not as short as the chelsea period. Short, spikey style that screamed sexually ambiguous feminist.

Here is one of the more flattery photos of this look:





Hair remained short for about 10 years. Highlights happened off and on.



2004: Dating great guy (now the Hubby) who suggests that I grow my hair. I am skeptical, but after a discussion with my trusted hairdresser I decide to try it.

So, for the past two years I have had some lovely locks. Growing it out wasn't that hard, although I find that my hair tends to grow forward and get in my face more than I would like. I also have very thick hair that is sometimes hard to style. Although I like sweeping all of my hair up in a large clip, I think it would look better day to day if it were about three or four inches shorter than it is now.

Here are three photos showing various stages of the growing out period:






















Here is a photo from August:












Maybe all I need is a trim, but I am distracted by thoughts of taking off about four inches. I am not good at these kinds of decisions. Any advice is welcome!

Me back!

Busy, busy, busy! I've been super busy and haven't had time to write.

Things I've been doing:

studying grammar (took up most of my time)
crocheting scarves
learning about life insurance (yikes! so adult.)
buying cool calf high boots with little heals (hot!)
worrying about sick hubby (only a little sick and only a little worry)
listening to Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 500 Songs of All Time on the ipod
washing dishes
reading O Magazine October issue
buying advance discounted tickets for One of A Kind
planning the next crochet project (other than scarves)
buying new bras (hot!)


Things I will do this weekend:

bake a birthday cake (with help from Hubby)
buy cool tights to go with cool new boots (done!)
make birthday card for 40 year old birthday boy
buy birthday gift (done!)
wrap birthday gift
figure out how to get double layer slab carrot cake to birthday party
read newspaper in bed with cup of coffee
get my legs waxed
read some short stories
maybe see a movie

Hopefully I will feel inspired to write something a little more insteresting, too.