29 September 2006

Frank Black Is...

Frank Black... courtesey of Wikipedia.

Frank Black is many things to many different kinds of fans.

To me, Frank Black is founder, song writer, guitarist and lead singer of The Pixies. They rocked the late 1980s and early 1990s in ways no one had ever heard before or since. David Bowie is a huge fan. Nirvana and other later 90s "grunge" and "alternative" bands site The Pixies as a major influence. Their rock is like nothing else out there. A few years ago they got back together and started touring again. I was not a Pixies fan. Mike was insanely devoted to them back in the day. He took me to one of their first reunion shows and I was instantly and fully converted. Their CDs are good, but nothing compares to their live shows. I recommend The Pixies Live at Coachella mp3s if you can find them. (Coachella is where I saw them for the first time.) If not, The Pixies Sell Out DVD, their appearance on Austin City Limits, or their newest DVD, an acoustic set from the Newport Folk Festival.

Frank Black and Tom Petty tonight!

26 September 2006

I highly recommend you watch, or at least tivo, Heroes tonight when NBC re-runs the premiere. It was great. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.

I'm so sleepy this morning. Mike had to get up at 4:30. At first I woke up with him and couldn't get back to sleep. Then when I did fall asleep again, I slept until 7:00, when I had to drag myself out of bed and start working right away. I hate when my sleep gets broken up like that. It exhausts me. I wish Grendel knew how to make coffee. I could have used his help this morning.

Sewing update: I'm anxious to cross some items off my Fall Sewing List. On Sunday afternoon I was tired from my race, but I put myself on autopilot and made two simple knit tops from a pattern I've used dozens of times. Yesterday I created a sweater vest pattern from a store-bought sweater, and used my red boucle sweater knit to make a new vest. It's not quite complete, but I crossed it off the list anyway. It's nearly finished and I hope to have it done this afternoon.

25 September 2006

Sunday Update

Mmmm, fall. Even though the weather sticker says 94 degrees, I'm made myself a mug of hot apple cider. I bought some delicious fresh apple cider from farmers' market yesterday. I've been buying apples and thinking about pumpkins. I'm all ready for fall. I wonder how much we'll get here?

Can you believe 94 degrees? This is definitely the warmest place I've ever lived.

Yesterday I ran the Race for the Cure. It was great. The weather was perfect. Sunny, but not too warm. Mike was there as my support team. We were able to park for free in his office building a few blocks from the race staging area. He held my backpack and after the race he greeted me with a nice hot cup of coffee. During the race there were no clocks or mile markers, and I wasn't wearing a watch, so I had no idea what my time was or how I was doing. I let myself relax and enjoy the bayside scenery. And I thought about the $465 my friends and family members had donated to the cause on my behalf. And I admired the breast cancer survivors who ran, and the family teams who walked in remembrance of a lost love one. It was truly uplifting, and I became even more determined to keep myself healthy and to continue working for this cause. I spotted the clock at the finish line, and after I deducted some time for the slow start (it took me a while to actually get across the starting line) I figured I ran right around the goal time I had set for myself--26:30. (Seems like ages ago that I could run that distance in 20 minutes!)

23 September 2006

Fall Sewing List

This is mostly for my own organizational purposes, but some people will be interested in reading it. I have to type up my list and place it somewhere secure. I keep losing the scraps of paper that I keep writing my list on.

What's done:
brown tweed skirt
red corduroy jacket
red flower print blouse
off-white knit top*
berry knit top*
red boucle sweater vest*

What I'd like to do:
linen blouse
olive sateen pants
teal flower print corduroy jacket
brown pinstripe pants
off-white knit top
berry knit top
red boucle sweater vest
yellow sweater knit jacket
teal/red sweater knit coat
cream boucle skirt

My ultimate goal is to have this all finished by Thanksgiving. I have a week in San Diego coming up that I'd like to have a few things done for, and a weekend in Los Angeles that I'd like to have a few more things completed for.

I was trying to sew in a bottom-top-bottom-top alternating way, so that I have outfits being created rather than a bunch of tops or a bunch of bottoms. But I think I'm going to zip through a couple tops with the off-white thread that I have in the machine now. I have plenty of skirts and pants already to wear with neutral tops. I'm anxious to check some more pieces off my list.

Some Fall Sewing Photos

*Updated 9/25/06

22 September 2006

Grrr!

Listen up Today Show, USA Today, and any one else who is reporting as news the possibility that McDonald's might some day serve breakfast all day long. It's not news! It's a commercial for McDonald's! A commercial for something that may or may not happen at some unknown time in the future. Is it really that slow of a news day that a McDonald's press release that is essentially about nothing gets published as real news?

21 September 2006

I guess one reason why I haven't been blogging a lot lately is that I'm tired of posting fluff. There's probably lots of interesting things going on in my life, but I'm either not ready to share, or they really are inconsequential, self-indulgent fluffiness. So, like a bad story within a story, I am now blogging about how I don't want to blog about things.

I've been listening to music from high school and college lately. Suede, The Sundays, Belly, Throwing Muses, and with me as always, The Smiths and Morrissey. I don't feel old, but I certainly don't feel as young as I used to be. Running and working out have become a chore. Remember when I could eat anything I wanted to, at any time of day, and still have a great workout? Did I abuse my body back then, causing it to rebel against me now? I've gained a couple of pounds. Pounds I could probably use. But pounds who settled in places I'd rather not have them. Boo Metabolism!

I'm trying to convince myself that I'm just feeling nostalgic for some reason. For what, I don't know.

For the record, I know I'm not old. But I don't feel like a kid anymore, either. I feel like I'm just here. Floating. Stuck in between stages.

Speaking of being stuck between those stages, we have tickets for Frank Black and Tom Petty next week. We are curious about what the audience make-up will be. "Kids" like us, who grew up with Tom Petty as classic rock and Frank Black as uber-modern? Or people our parents' ages, who have always been Tom Petty fans and have no idea who Frank Black is?

19 September 2006

I'm Even Eating Broccoli

I know I've been away from the blog for a while. I have no excuse except that I just didn't feel like it. I've been online, busy with work and other stuff, just not at Blogger.com.

I'll do a better, bigger update later, but for the time being, I'm posting a glaring reminder to everyone that I've emailed, and who hasn't responded to me, about the Susan Koman Race for the Cure coming up this weekend in San Francisco. Please consider even the smallest donation: My Race for the Cure Page.

A donation as small as $10 is all it takes to make a difference. If you can't, or won't, make a donation, then at least make a promise to yourself to talk to someone you love about breast cancer. It will affect us all some day.

One in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime and the more we raise, the more the San Francisco Affiliate of The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation can give back to fund vital breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs in our own community and support the national search for a cure.

I thank everyone who has already made generous donations.

If you are in the San Francisco area and want to participate on race day (walking, running, volunteering, or cheering!) please visit http://race.sfkomen.org

Please forward this information to anyone you think might like to make a donation or participate.

P.S. Those of you who know me well know that I hate broccoli. But I've started eating it for the sake of good health. That's how serious I am about breast cancer prevention. If I can eat broccoli, you can spare a few dollars.

05 September 2006

Work Break

I've been a busy bee today despite being very tired. But now I'm terribly distracted, so it's time for a little break. I just spilled a glass full of water in my lap. Luckily for Grendel he was not at his usual post at my feet. Another benefit to working at home--when you spill something, you have a change of clothes handy.

Over the weekend, Mike was in Chicago and I got most of the sewing done that I had planned. He came home late Sunday night. Yesterday we went to a cook-out at the home of one of the agents and his wife. It was a great time. Mike won at poker. I got to meet some more new people.

But, we are very tired today.

01 September 2006


Mike and I have been invited to a wedding in October, and it's a 1930s Hollywood themed wedding. It's the weekend before Halloween, and the rehearsal dinner is a costume party and the wedding itself is 1930s glamourous dress requested. For the costume party, I decided that Mike and I will be Howard Hughes and Katherine Hepburn. Thanks to the gals at Stitchers Guild, I found this pattern, which will be perfect for my Kate slacks. I'm not sure what kind of top I want to wear. I think I should carry a golf club over my shoulder. For Mike as Howard Hughes, I want it to be costume-y and obvious, so I'm thinking leather pilot's jacket and one of those little white scarves. Then, for the actual wedding, he'll wear a nice suit and I'll wear a gown. (My mom is sending me 2 to choose from.)

Mike's gone this weekend, and I'm going to finally sew something with all my alone time. My sewing room space isn't quite finished, but it's good enough. I'm itching to do something. Yesterday I started on some sheer curtain panels for the canopy bed. One down, four to go. So far it looks good. I've been buying too much fabric lately. Time to start sewing it up.

Mike also just got approved for some special training this fall. For about 6 weeks in November and December he'll be back in D.C.

A couple nights ago we were watching a Simpsons rerun in which one of the subplots is Lisa notices that Snowball II has gained weight. We were laughing as the cat pinned Lisa to the ground as she struggled to get up. Ha, ha, that's what Grendel has done to me before! Grendel must have been paying attention because that night when I went to bed he promptly whomped himself down across my chest. He hasn't done that in months. Fortunately he didn't stay too long; I guess he was just trying to make a statement.