Book Review: My Life In France

Stats:
Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
# of pages: 303 + 3 page foreward by Alex Prud'homme
Original Publication Date: 2006
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
My Copy: First Edition Hardcover - from the library

FO and Yarn Along: Tallulah Cardigans

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

Finished at last! I spent my Thanksgiving weekend doing an awful lot of different things, but one of the things I made sure to do was to wash, dry, and sew on the buttons to Lila and Tali's Hanukkah sweaters!

 

Initially I planned on getting their opinion on what kind of buttons they wanted (flowers? kitties? triangles? space ships?) but I figured that was giving them a little too much power and setting myself up for failure. So instead, I made an executive decision and they both got white flower-shaped buttons which are just slightly different. 

I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, and I'm very excited to see them try them on next weekend for the 7th night of Hanukkah - a first for me since I don't usually get to be part of the candle-lighting part (it's usually dark before I arrive) - and hopefully they'll get to wear them more than once.

 
I've started working on Victoria's Christmas hat. I had to start over because I hated the yarn I picked out. I love Berroco yarns but the Vintage DK was so scratchy and my hands are already so dry to begin with... It was a yucky combination. So I frogged and cast on again with some Kraemer Perfection in Garnet. Karen loaned me some which I'll be replacing with a skein of it I have left in my stash. (We went to dinner and decided to do some knitting and she happened to have it in her stash for me to start - aren't knitting friends fun?) I'm getting through it at a decent clip, though it's hard to say whether or not it will be done in the next week and a half to ship up to Oregon.

Reading:
I finished My Life in France this past weekend. I wanted to finish it over Thanksgiving weekend but I decided to clean my house and decorate for Advent/Christmas instead. But I finished it while babysitting on Sunday night and it was really lovely. I'll try to get a review up soon because I have to return it to the library kind of immediately.

  
That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow

*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Week 11

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

 

Sooooooo close! I'm posting this late because last night I finished the last 2 rows of ribbing around the button bands/neck band that I had left to officially finish the knitting part of this sweater!!! I still have to weave in all the ends (I'm looking at you, lunch break) and then it has to go for a ride in the washing machine on delicate before I sew on the buttons. This time next week I'll have lovely pictures to show you of two finished Hanukkah sweaters before I wrap them up and tuck them away for the next three weeks. (Can you believe Hanukkah is only three weeks away!? Advent is only 2 weeks away and I'm so excited!!!) 

Reading:
I went to the LIBRARY! Well, I took my sister to the library but I was there, too, and spotted a book I've wanted to read for ages and now I have it (temporarily, of course). My Life in France by Julia Child, based on the letters she and her husband Paul wrote to their friends and siblings while they were in Paris and later in Marseilles. I've been fascinated by Julia Child since watching Julie & Julia way back when. While I didn't care for "Julie" at all, I loved Julia (at least as she was portrayed in the film). I'm liking it so far, despite not being very far into it just yet. I plan on making considerable headway during my two days off over Thanksgiving before I dive into the rest of my Christmas knitting (2 hats, 1 pair of mittens, and 1 pair of fingerless gloves to go! YIKES). 

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow

*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Week 10

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

I am so close! I simply forgot that sleeves always take longer than I think they will. And that I couldn't spend all of last weekend knitting - I had to do some cleaning as well. In any case, I finished sleeve #1 and I'm making really good headway on sleeve #2. Depending on how tonight goes I may even finish that sleeve by the time this posts! Then I'll stick in a little update. After this last sleeve then I need to pick up for the collar and button/buttonhole bands around the edges. Considering how long it takes me to pick up stitches, I may not be finished with this sweater this time next week... Oh well.

Reading:
I have been reading... fanfiction. Still. I'm stuck in this Harry Potter funk that I can't shake (okay - don't want to shake). I even picked up and started flipping through the first few pages of Sorcerer's Stone before I remembered that I'm not allowed to read my paperback anymore (Precious is falling apart!). It has admittedly been a while since I read any of the Potter books, and maybe it's the release of the new illustrated edition (CHRISTMAS LIST!) or just a random rush of nostalgia but I've been missing Hogwarts in a big bad way as of late. But I've also been knitting like mad trying to get this sweater finished so I haven't been reading much at all really. My hope is to spend some more time reading in the evenings before I go to bed. I used to be really good about that and I need to get back in the habit. I'm also babysitting every night this week so I really need the winding down effect of reading before bed to settle me since it feels like I've been going nonstop!

 I swear, every picture I take of this sweater makes it look red. It's pink, I tell you!

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow

*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Week 9

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

 

I hope you all had a lovely Hallowtide (Halloween, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day)! I got a lot of knitting done and I'm now working on the button/button hole bands for Lila's Tallulah cardigan. It's really amazing what I can accomplish when I set my mind to it and have no real weekend plans. 

My hope is that by the end of the week I can get Lila's sweater washed and blocked and then sew the buttons onto both of the cardigans. Then I can get them wrapped and tuck them away until Hanukkah. If I get them done this weekend you'll get a FO post sometime early next week.

I'm not sure which project I want to start next - a hat and glove set for dear Beth, the hats I'm making for Victoria, or fingerless gloves/wrist warmers for my co-worker? I'm thinking the hats for Victoria because I actually have the patterns picked out and will have money for yarn soon. Realistically I plan to make just one hate initially and then get all my other Christmas knitting done before I try to make her more hats. We'll see. It's an excuse to go buy some new yarn!

Reading:

I've been at loose-ends reading-wise lately. I've actually been reading a lot of fanfiction because I couldn't decide which book to tackle next (is it bad that I'm 25 and still turn to Harry Potter fanfic when I'm bored? I've been in a really nostalgic mood lately...). Of course my roommate wisely suggested that I just pick something from my unfinished/TBR shelf and so I'm back into The Meaning of Night. I started reading it a couple years ago but never finished it for some reason. I'm back at it, though!

Also, I'm participating in the Books & Cupcakes November Book Photo Challenge via Instagram. Here's a collage of my first few entries and the link to my Insta is below. It's been pretty fun so far, even if it's only Day 3, hehe. (You can follow my Instagram HERE.)

 Day 1: Currently Reading; Day 2: Reading Playlist; Day 3: Favorite Novella(s)

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow

*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Weeks 7&8

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

So after finishing my pumpkins, I decided it was time to stop dithering and get back to work on sweet Lila's Hanukkah cardigan. Since Hanukkah begins the second week of December this year, I should probably get to finishing it! I finished all the increases and divided the sleeves over the weekend and started the 4.25 inches of stockinette I need before the ribbing at the bottom. Since mindless stockinette is one of my favorite things, I can catch up on TV shows or listen to audio books while I do it. 

The Red Notebook is a delightful French novella that I read on my way back from Portland a few weeks ago.  I'll post a book review of it in the next week or so. I know the cardigan comes off as a little bit red in this picture but I promise it's pretty and pink!

Unfortunately last night's Knit Night devolved into a night of drinking, and I didn't get quite as much done as I'd intended.  A few hours of giggling with Karen over Jameson to take my mind off my current concerns (send up a prayer for me for discernment if you're the praying type, eh?) was more than worth the knitting I didn't get done. I feel like sometimes I spend so much time ruminating and agonizing over decisions that I really need a friend who will stop me mid-complaint and say, "If we're going to have this conversation, we're not going to stay sober," before putting a glass of ice in front of me. 

Reading:
I finished The Secret History about 2 weeks ago and my brain is still a little broken. I've been dithering back and forth over what to read or listen to next. I'm thinking I might try Sense & Sensibility on Librivox since Elizabeth Klett does all things Austen and her voice is so perfect for it. On the other hand, I may indulge in a little Northanger Abbey due to the spooky sense of Halloween in the air.

Who knows, maybe I'll pick up or listen to something completely different. I have plenty of titles in my Audible collection I haven't listened to yet and oodles of books on my Kindle I should read. I may also go back to Scary Stories to Read In the Dark just because. 

Speaking of books I read, in case you missed it, I posted a book review on the last camino book I plan to read this year. It's a lovely memoir of the camino told by a Catholic priest. You can read my review HERE.


That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Book Review: To the Field of Stars

Stats:
Author: Fr. Kevin A. Codd
# of pages: 271 + about 12 pages of introduction and a map
Original Publication Date: 2008
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
My Copy: Paperback

Yarn Along and FO: Pumpkin Army

So, do y'all remember when I was working on an army of pumpkins? Well, behold! My army is complete! There are 15 of them in total. It felt like there were lots more but I guess not. I've been working on them for almost a month and I think my favorite thing about them (aside from how cute, easy and addictive they are to make!) is that they cross over beautifully from Halloween/October to Thanksgiving/November. That's two whole months of use! I mean, arguably I could put them out in September next year when I put up my fall leaf garlands but it's always too hot in September to really put autumn decorations up.

 My completed, 15-pumpkin strong army

Funny story! I finished the last one on Sunday night - stitching the little stem to the top of the last few - and as is the case with most Sunday nights, my roommate and I were chatting. She was standing in the doorway of my bedroom as usual and when I finally finished the last one I threw it to her. Miraculously she caught it, but after I threw another one to her she dropped it and that got Gatsby's attention. He came running up the stairs so I started throwing all of them through my bedroom door and they were bouncing off the bookcase at the top of the stairs, over the banister, down the stairs, and poor little kitten man was going crazy like it was Christmas.

Of course I picked all of them up and set them on the bookcase in the hall so I'd remember to take a few to the office with me on Monday morning. When I got up on Monday, though, there were only a couple on the shelves. 

There were plenty on the floor, on the staircase, at the bottom of the stairs, on the couch, in Gatsby's carrier, under the dining table, in the kitchen... Basically the kitten man spent a rollicking evening batting the pumpkins around the house. Luckily only a couple of them are any worse for wear.

 

Gatsby really loves to play with holiday decorations - especially leaf garlands.

I'm excited to start making a couple of snowman ones out of white yarn, but I think I'll wait until the first week of December to do that. I've got lots of Christmas knitting I want to finish (and a few yet to start!) in the coming weeks and some other crafting projects I want to get done before Thanksgiving so I can really enjoy the Advent and Christmas seasons this year instead of stressing over making stuff. 

Linking up with Ginny for this week's Yarn Along - go on over and see what everyone else is working on! For more of what I'm working on, check out my Ravelry. 

P.S. I finally finished The Secret History over the weekend and all I can say is WOW! I'll try to get a review up soon but I may actually need to re-read it just to wrap my head around what an incredible ride that book is. 


Love,
Willow

Yarn Along - Pont Neuf Weeks 4 & 5

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

Well, I successfully met the deadline last night! I finished all of my increases and separated the back from the sleeves. Now it's just straight stockinette for about a million miles (~4.5 inches) and doing some waist-shaping. I'm so madly in love with the color I chose, still, and this yarn is truly delicious. Still. 

I'm also still working on my pumpkins! Seriously, y'all, these little things are so fun and easy and addictive to make! I loves them. And they're squishy and cute. I'm building an army of cute to take over mantles and fall table-scapes everywhere.

Reading:
I'm plowing right through The Secret History after buzzing through 3 hours of it over the weekend. I even listened to it in the car on my way to work in L.A. on Saturday. It was quite engrossing, actually, and it was interesting to do something different from my usual solo concerts in the car.

Of course, I also started reading a book I ordered online and received last Wednesday, True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen, a Victorian etiquette guide edited by a modern day woman. It's really interesting and I'm consistently amused by how useful and timeless so many of these suggestions and admonitions are.  It's odd that a girl in her mid-20s living in the 21st century would read a Victorian book of etiquette, but I find it quite charming all the same.


That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Pumpkins? Pumpkins!!!

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

I know I should really be working on my Pont Neuf sweater because I said I would be done with the increases by the end of this past weekend. I promise I'll spend almost all of this coming weekend on it (I have to - my "deadline" is on Tuesday. Yikes!) 

Instead of working on my Pont Neuf, I made... PUMPKINS! Yes, I have been making a small army of adorable little crochet pumpkins for the last week and they are so much fun to make! I'm making them in a variety of colors and I've been playing with sizes by changing hook size and the number of pattern repeats. I have discovered, though, that using too large a hook means the fabric isn't dense enough and some of the poly-fill stuffing shows in the larger ones. I plan to try making a couple of really big ones with more stitches and by changing the pattern a bit. Basically I'm going to be gifting these away to just about everyone. 

 Not all of them have stems yet. Some of them don't even have stuffing...

Also, the bones of the pattern (which I've been toying with a great deal in the last week) offer up a lot of possibilities. For instance... Imagine stacking 3 of these on top of each other, and working them up in white. Do you see snowmen? Cuz I see snowmen!

Reading:
I spent most of my weekend cat sitting for dear Karen, which meant sitting on her couch with a cat on either side of me, crocheting pumpkins and listening to The Secret History. And oh my, how the plot has thickened!!! Murder, intrigue, ancient Greek rituals and secret plans of escape and that's not even the half of it! There were a few moments when I woke up Snow and Popeye (the cats) because I actually yelled a few "OH MY GOSH"'s at certain parts involving extreme revelation. I'm glad to be getting back into it, too, because it's a nice way to occupy my mind while I'm making pumpkins. Did I mention I'm making an army of pumpkins? 


That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Pont Neuf, Wk.3

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

This week has totally thrown me off. I completely forgot yesterday was Wednesday so here we are on Thursday yet again with the Yarn Along-ing. Oh well. My Pont Neuf sweater is coming along beautifully and I'm almost done with the yoke increases. About 8 more rows to go and then I get to divide the body and sleeves. My goal is to get there by the end of the weekend so I can work more on Lila's Tallulah and get to work on a few other crafty projects I have going on right now...(more on that later - maybe next week if you're lucky ;) )

 Crappy picture is crappy. Sorry not sorry. ;)

Reading:
I'm about 30% through Donna Tart's engrossing novel, The Secret History, but I've hit a bit of a wall. I seem to have start-itis with the books lately! It's incredibly frustrating especially since I want to knit all the things so I have to stick to the audio books. Well... I don't have to, since I'm self-limiting, but still. Frustration. I may have to return to trusty Elizabeth Klett reading Jane Austen while I knit since that's pleasant background noise for stories I already know really well. We'll see what the weekend brings.


That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Pont Neuf, Wk 1&2 and Lila's Tallulah, Wks 4,5, 6

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

Y'all, I've lost track of how long I've been working on Lila's Tallulah cardi. But I'm still trucking! I seriously struggle with pattern fatigue and I always always forget that. Make two hats in the same pattern for my sisters for Christmas! Omg is it over yet I hate this pattern so much now. Make fingerless gloves! Omg do I really have to make two of them??? I'm slowly beginning to feel that with the Tallulah cardigan. I adore the pattern because it's simple, logical, and lovely. But it's a bit boring after a while. Miles of stockinette it feels like. Yeesh. I need to plug back into my audiobooks...

 The color isn't very true in this picture - it's really quite pink.

We started our Pont Neuf sweaters last week at Jaimie's house. We initially picked a different pullover-type sweater but since none of us were wild about it we decided to find one that we all actually really liked. I'd never done a provisional cast-on before and I wound up ripping mine out and starting over because my initial crochet chain cast on was waaay too tight. I'm almost 40 rows in and just over halfway through the initial yoke increases. I really like the pattern so far - it's interesting without being impossibly difficult, which I think is an important balance. Also, I just love this color. It's not a color I usually wear so I think it'll be really really pretty when it's done. 

  Reading: I had to put Sense & Sensibility down. I just wasn't enjoying it and life's too short! I know I'll come back to it someday but until then... I downloaded the Audible version of The Secret History read by the author herself, Donna Tart! I'd heard amazing things about it on the internet from people whose tastes I resonate with and oh, they were right! It's one of those stories where you know what happens from the beginning, but the how it all happens is the really interesting bit. Also, the prose is blisteringly beautiful. A little self-indulgent perhaps, but I love it anyway. I also really like that I can't tell what year it's set in. I'm thinking the late-70s or 80s because no one has a computer or a cell phone but there are references to things that happened in the late-60s and college financial aid is a thing. It's set a bit outside of time, which is kind of nice. I'm not quite halfway through (the audiobook is 22 hours long!!!) but it's really great to listen to while I'm doing all these increase rows since the increases are easy to memorize and otherwise it's straight stockinette.

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Weeks 1, 2, 3

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

 

I started working on the second Tallulah about a week after I finished the first one. Then I let it sit on row 2 for a week and a half. Now I've picked it up in earnest and I'm chipping away at it. I'm not marathon-knitting but my goal is to be done with it before Halloween. Shouldn't be overly strenuous. I still adore working with this yarn and the pattern is still very friendly and interesting without being too hard. I like having a small project to work on when it's this hot.

Reading:

I finally finished reading To the Field of Stars by Fr. Kevin Codd last week. Basically I just sat on the couch one evening while my roommate was out and just finished the last 1/3 of it. It was lovely and I'm almost done with my review of it. Hopefully I'll have that up either this weekend or early next week.

I began reading Sense & Sensibility by the inimitable Jane Austen last week while on "vacation" (it was not what one hopes or imagines a vacation might be like, believe me) and while I like it, at this point I almost prefer the movie. I feel like most of this is because in the first dozen pages of this particular novel there's a great deal of talk about money and inheritance and it's all a lot of waffle. If I can't get to enjoying it in the next 20 pages or so (I'm on page 84) I may put it away and try it again in December. Jane Austen is so well suited to long, dark nights - not so much endless summer afternoons.

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Answer Me This, Vol. 22 - My Tongue Is Red, Shut Up & Dance!

Summer is here and Kendra over at Catholic All Year has done the entire internet a huge favor by bringing back probably my favorite link-up in the history of ever: Answer Me This! This is the last time for the foreseeable future we will answer 6 questions as asked by Kendra and link-up to share our answers. It's the internet's favorite cocktail party and I'm so happy it's back and so so sad that it's leaving.

1. What's your favorite grocery store splurge?
Hmmm... I don't really "splurge" at the grocery store but my most common impulse buys are donuts or ice cream - two things I'm generally not allowed to eat anymore because I have zero self-control. Seriously, Little Debbie's donettes are like kryptonite.


2. How's your penmanship?  

 

Superb, thankyouverymuch. I spent 2 years of high school Spanish perfecting my cursive because I hated my printing and admired my mom's handwriting. Since my Spanish teacher never actually "read" our homework - just checked to see that there was something written down - I filled my notebook with stories and artfully spaced my sentences to look like I was answering homework questions. My cursive has adapted a bit since then but I think it's very pretty to look at. The downside is that so many people can't read cursive anymore. 

Blurry picture is blurry. Sorry.

3. Do you have a "Summer Bucket List?"  
Meh, not really. I thought I would do a bunch of stuff this summer, like go to the beach and read 10 books and go on more dates but instead this summer has been a lot of late nights and crying and having no money and dealing with vehicular drama and daydreaming about Spain and not getting to go on vacation. The short version is: I started out in June with plans which were wrecked by the start of July. July has been rather unkind to me since.

4. What's the best thing on the radio right now?  
The "off" button. I hate the radio. Too much talking, too many commercials, too much playing the same 5 songs over and over again. I'd much rather listen to a CD.

If I must choose, it's this: Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance With Me." It's a song I actually get excited to hear and it is so fun! I love how 80s it is and if you watch the video it's clear they had a ton of fun making it. I love it.
 

Also, "House Party" by Sam Hunt. He's had a bunch of hits on country radio and this is the latest. I think it's really sweet of a guy to throw a party for 2 in your living room when you want to have fun but don't want to go out. That's how I feel anyway. The music video isn't great but I dig the song.

5. Ice cream or frozen yogurt?  
 They are very, very different and cannot possibly be compared. I like ice cream when I want something really sweet and reliable and in a cone. I like froyo when I want something a little tart and in a bowl with tons of toppings and in exotic flavors. If I had to choose right this second, I'd say give me a Hawaiian shaved ice.

A Hawaiian shave ice place opened up the street from my house and oh sweet Saint James is it gooooood. You can have it the traditional Hawaiian way, with sweetened condensed milk and ice cream (YUCK!) or heathen-American style: ice and sugar syrup -  YUM. My fave flavors (so far) are definitely the watermelon, strawberry, Passion Orange Guava (POG) trio.

Photo credit: Jeff Barnhouse

 
My friend Karen has a husband named Jeff. We like Jeff. Jeff likes Hawaiian shaved ice. A lot. 

Jeff got mango, melon, and passion fruit but couldn't figure out which was which until, "I can feel the passion of the passion fruit." He may have said something after that but Karen and I were too busy laughing hysterically and trying to breathe to hear it. If you don't think it's quite that funny, clearly you weren't there.

That's it for this round of Answer Me This!  If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because the whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you!



love,
Willow




*Note: The Answer Me This logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at Catholic All Year and is used as part of a link-up only. All other images in this post are property of Whitney Miller.* 
 

Yarn Along - Tali's Tallulah, Week 9

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

So, so close to finished! I have to finish weaving in all these pesky ends and then decide on buttons. I think I might also hand stitch around the buttonholes to reinforce them a bit for little fingers. Does anybody out there have any suggestions on that? Also, I tried the sweater on Talia on Saturday and it fit her perfectly. Just enough room for her to grow into it which is exactly what I intended. She was very excited which gives me hope that she'll insist on wearing it a lot.

Terrible picture is terrible. Sorry.

I've been really, really edgy this week so I haven't done a lot of reading or sitting still of any kind. Thankfully I've been doing a lot of walking even though hiking this past weekend didn't work out. Southern California does not get freak summer rain and thunderstorms! Yet we did. It was crazy. In any case I'm no further in my book and these pesky ends are not high up on my list of things I want to work on. 

I've been working on gauge squares for our next big project (link is to the pattern on Ravelry) which is a good thing. I'll either have a finished Tallulah to show you or more details on that project next week. We'll see how the weekend goes. 


That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Answer Me This, Vol. 21 - Books, Babies, and New Cars

Summer is here and Kendra over at Catholic All Year has done the entire internet a huge favor by bringing back probably my favorite link-up in the history of ever: Answer Me This! Every Sunday from now until August we will answer 6 questions as asked by Kendra and link-up to share our answers. It's the internet's favorite cocktail party and I'm so happy it's back.

1. What's currently on your To Do list?
All the things!
- get the AC in my new car fixed
- go shopping for new yoga pants/capris
- figure out Quickbooks at work
- deep clean the kitchen and bathroom this weekend while the Roommate is gone
- order new vacuum bags (???)
- get old textbooks listed online for sale or donate to library
- make a decision regarding the young man in Philadelphia (I hate making decisions)

Gratuitous picture of my "new" car... Internets, please meet Fiona, the 2009 Focus:

Poor darling Stefano finally met his end and will be reincarnated as somebody's race car. He will be missed. However, I must admit that Fiona gets much better mileage and is generally much more reliable. She's definitely got some cute factor going for her, as well.

2. Better type of superhero: magic/radioactive powers? Or trauma/gadgets/hard work?
Trauma that leads to cool powers, like Daredevil or even Captain America. I like Tony Stark/Ironman a lot, but I despise Batman (I know, it's strange) but I feel like Ironman is a lot more interesting and entertaining whereas Batman seems incapable of having a good time - so serious. I'm not too wild about heroes like Superman or even Thor with their magic/otherworldly powers because that feels a bit like they have cheat codes, but I don't like Spiderman either because he's whiny and a radioactive spider bite? Really? Laaaaaaame. (Can you tell I have weird, double-standard-riddled taste in superheroes? Can we talk about villains next time? There I have opinions!)

3. Finding out if baby is a boy or a girl before birth: Good idea? Bad idea?
I'm a planner, so I feel like I would want to know but at the same time... I know for my first babe I don't want to know - full on surprise there. For the subsequent ones I may want to know and keep it a secret from everyone else just for fun (and to make my mother crazy). Truthfully I feel like this is one of those "to each their own" situations, but I think it's way more interesting to not know. (Also, for the record: I'm betting Kendra's having another girl!)

4. Have you ever appeared on a stadium jumbotron?
Nope! I actually got really lucky that I was on an awkward date at a college volleyball game and got up to go get a bottle of water when they turned on the Kiss Cam. At a volleyball game! Who does that???

5. Are you more book smart or more street smart?
I am definitely book smart. I can quote Herodotus and Thucydides and tell you all about the Neoclassical painting and sculpture that swept through France in the 1800s; I can carry on a brilliant conversation about just about any literature pre-1900 and I'm well-versed in Catholic Catechism and apologetics, but none of that would help me much if I wound up stranded in Queens, NY.

See my most pretentious books (not all of them by far, just the most "intellectual" ones that are currently shelved): 

 Can you tell I studied the Classics?

If "street smart" means "good with streets" then I'm good, because as we've discussed before, I'm pretty good with directions.

That's it for this round of Answer Me This!  If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because the whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you!



love,
Willow




*Note: The Answer Me This logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at Catholic All Year and is used as part of a link-up only. All other images in this post are property of Whitney Miller.*