Reunited... and uh, it feels mostly good

Yes, it is true, Mac is Back...
I got the call yesterday afternoon... my heart raced, my head was dizzy with excitement... Mac was coming home today. But my hair was a mess, and my eyebrows are long overdue for a wax... and OH MY, my desk is so cluttered! I so wanted everything to be perfect when he finally came home... when we would once again be together. Together listening to music, together watching a movie, together sending emails to our dear friends together. Yes it all sounds so idyllic.
But...
I knew that there would be issues. I knew that we would have our problems. All relationships have their problems.
So the lowdown is that all 3,000 and something of my photos were backed up. They are visible and i can open them up one by one as jpegs... but when I attempt to import them into iphoto it kicks em back and says they are unreadable files. I installed ilife 08, new iphoto.... it imports them... spends 10 minutes importing... then it shows me a bunch of empty boxes which are supposed to be my photos. Did I back something up incorrectly? Am I stuck having to view 3,000 and something photos one by one? EEEK!!!

And then there is the issue of ical. I synced all of that stuff to .mac before I turned mac over to the genius. My address book, bookmarks, mail accounts, keychain thingy, AND my ical. Mac came home and i synced again... everything showed that it had last been synced on the day i handed over mac... and when i synced... it was all there, all correct... except my calendar was of a very old version from like two years ago!!! All of my birthdays, my meeting notes, everything is gone. AHA! It's NOT gone. It's all on my ipod. But here's the rub... I cannot sync from my ipod to the computer. I have an app that allows me to transfer my music from ipod to itunes. (that is another issue for another time). But I could not find an app that does same for photos or calendars.
UGH!
I really thought that I backed everything up properly. But it turns out that I did not. There is some stuff missing here and there, I didn't back up or save Office, so now I have no way to view or use all of my Word files. I should have had my genius back it all up with me. Live and learn baby. Live AND learn!

Broken Mac = Lame Photo Post

My Hard-drive took the big dirt nap folks. The nice "genius" at the apple store said that other than a dead hard-drive, my laptop has lots o' life left in it. In fact he was SHOCKED that it was able to reboot at all considering the state of the hard-drive. He actually gasped, and put one hand to his mouth when he read the "failing" status after running some test program thingy. It's a MacBook Pro- G4... in case that means something to any of you. It's a little over three years old. And with a new hard drive in him... he will be good to go. PLUS.... any day now... well between the first and the thirty first of October I will have Leopard for my newly repaired G4 friend. btw... this is the extent of my ability to geek talk. I really don't know much about this stuff... just the basics to get me by. Really... be nice to your local "genius" at the apple store, they rawk! Mine is named Daryn, and he is truly my hero. Maybe I should knit him a "genius" beanie or something. hmmmm... thinking.

New Vans

Since I don't have my computer... I cannot download photos... So I took some photos with my crappy cell phone cause I just had to share my new Vans with y'all! Aren't they swell? Old Skool OTW (Off The Wall) logo. HAWT I know!!!

And just to throw some knitting related stuff into this post... just one of the MANY things I am knitting... a pair of mismatched, yet matching, fingerless mitts, two-at-once, ala magic loop. The yarn is Lamb's Pride Worsetd, Rosado Rose & Seafoam. The pattern is PuNk rAwK pUrL's & will be available soon. Also.... I was deathly ill over the weekend and knit a to-be-felted hat in one day. It's mustard yellow and plum. The yarn is CascadePastaza, I will get back to you with the actual color #'s. It is gorgeous. I will also get back to you with a better photo of it when my baby is back home.

Just look at those knuckles! Way Cool! haha

P.S. I also do not have my calendar... yep, it's on the mac... so if i have forgotten a birthday, anniversary, or anything important... I apologize in advance!

Tough Knit!

Allow me to start by saying that i am 110% IN LOVE with my new tattoos! I love the font, the placement, and everything about them. They aren't too big for my lady like hands. The font is unique & fun, yet classic and simple.

Although a few of my friends were skeptical about the idea of me getting ANY more tattoos, MUCH LESS on my hands... I said TOUGH KNIT & I did it anyway. After all I am an adult. I am PunK rAwK. I am headstrong. And I am a designer, and therefore know most certainly what i like and don't like when it comes to aesthetics. I was indeed going to be picky-choosy about what i put on my hands. I assured everyone that having knuckle tattoos would not increase my chances of winding up in prison. I wouldn't be committed to getting into bar fights. Nor would I have to take up smoking.

I was trying my best to look bad ass

I thought long and hard about getting my hands tattooed. I have wanted my knuckles tattooed for some 10 years or so now.... I just never knew what in the hell I wanted to announce to the whole wide world upon my dainty knuckles. Then after my two year knit-aversary, last spring, I realized how much knitting has affected me...

they look a bit blurry & crusty still... this photo was hours afterwards.

Knitting changed my life. In the most rewarding and positive way. It provided me with something crafty, creative, inspirational, and practical to do. It was something that by gosh... I just plain had a natural talent for. And most dear to my heart... knitting introduced me to some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Everyday I am constantly thankful for the people in my life. **Note (All of my friends, non knitters included are amazing people!! Truly amazing people.)
So it naturally made sense to me to label my hands with the words that have served me so well over the last few years. And while I was at it...

I thought it was a hoot to get these. And before the peanut gallery chimes in... YES, I did think about which arm to put which phrase on. I wanted the right slanting decrease on my right arm... the left slant on the left. The way that i imagined it is that it mimics the shape of my body \ / on the top. And if I decide to I could get the opposite / \ on my hips. HAHA

I did receive an email from one of the dearest of dear friends this morning before I left for my appointment. She was one of the naysayers. She emailed me with this...
"ok so i just wanted to make sure you knew that even though i am not sure how i feel about the knuckle tattoo thing- although i love the message! i would totally go with you and be supportive becuz i know you know what you are doing- anyway i wish i could go and be part of the process... i know it is going to be hot as shit- i am just working on my own assumptions of people with knuckle tattoos and the stigma in my head about it- but i'm really excited to see how it looks!!!! "

It meant the world to me.



I chose this post for i made it so's Fabulous Friday Feature Archive Dive:

Mitts with Moxie!!!

Hurry! While there is still time left you should rush over to the knit one one site and sign up for my Mitts with Moxie class. It is two class sessions beginning this Thursday evening. We will make all kinds of Fingerless Mitts... long, short, stripey, solid, even cabled if you like. These mitts are so popular. When you wear them your friends will go nuts. They are a fairly quick knit... making them great for gifts... and the holidays are coming.
Why do I love wearing fingerless mitts?

• Obviously... They look wayyy COOL!
• They keep my hands warm, while looking wayyy COOL!
• While keeping my hands warm and looking wayyy COOL... I can still
  

1. type
   
2. scratch the cats behind the ears
3. open a package of cookies
   
4. turn pages in a magazine
   
5. poke people in the nose
   
6. put on my make-up
   
7. KNIT (cannot believe that wasn't #1)
   
8. drive safely
   
9. eat a bagel
   
10. paint my fingernails
    
11. put in my contact lenses
    
12. pick my nose (if I wanted to)
    
13. dial an old school rotary telephone
    
14. floss my teeth
    
15. get finger printed
    
16. smoke (ewww gross! I DO NOT smoke! but I COULD while wearing fingerless mitts.)
    

The best part is that we will make them using the Magic Loop technique. Now let me start by saying that I do like double points. I have no struggles with them,no fear of them, no beef with the multi sticks whatsoever... BUT, and yes, I do have a big but here... Magic Loop is such a time saver. I find that it is much quicker, the whole ladder issue is avoided altogether, it is easier to try things on while you are knitting them. Use Magic Loop to knit socks, gloves, baby hats, cool cuffs, toys, etc.

See you in class!

More Shopping.... with my Top Off

Round two of girly shopping spree...
Knit Ya Ya, aka Carrie, and myself slathered on some sun block, took the roof off the del sol, pumped up the tunes on my new car stereo, and drove south for some cheap shopping fun. We were off to Daiso, a Japanese super store that is totally CRAP-tastic! It is bursting forth with plastic, paper, bad engrish, cutsey goodness. They boast that they produce and stock over 90,000 different products. And what's even better... it's all priced at only a $1.50 a piece. (some items, very few, are at slightly higher price points)

For $21 I got:

• Two Packs of ADORABLE stationery (and please remember that "Many cars are produced by the every year")
• Three of my very fave plastic folder thingys with a way cool clamping device inside (trust me they are way cooler than my description)
• The worlds most adorable pouch, it replicates packaging for tortilla chips, with the ingredients on the back. (My friend Zoe had this bag first, I admit copying her. But I HAD to have it!)
• Two containers of binder clips. (which i actually NEEDED)
• A very cool plastic "brief case" type of thingy.
• A cool green and ivory colored bandanna with a repeated arrow print.
• Two packages of neon colored hair elastics. (now Carrie and I thought that we were buying headbands. i had opened a package in the car, intending to wear one of my rockin new headbands to tame my hair while riding in the convertible, and to my major disappointment it was "broken". Alas... when we got to Elaine's and reported on our booty, the broken elastic came up. She giggled at us and explained that they come that way so that you can make your own ties. you cut them and tie them to whatever size you want. So it turns out that i could get one head band, and four ties out of one elastic band... two bands to a package... for $1.50... What a bargain!!)
• A much needed lingerie bag for laundry. It's shaped like a beach ball with flowers all over it of course.

We had some lunch, then mosied through the mall. We came upon a store called For Love 21. It is an accessories store, much like a Claire's Boutique, yet a bit classier. It is a branch of the Forever 21 clothing stores. We went a little nutty amongst the beads and baubles. So many wonderful color palettes and pretty shiny thingys. I found a bag that I just had to have, the shape and color was just was I had been looking for. And at $25 bucks.... who am I to say no to such a fabulous deal?! (it was impossible to photograph the bag and have it not look like a big blob of mustard. You will have to trust me that it is cooler than depicted here)


We headed back to the east bay, to attend a bbq at the ever so delightful Kim Chi Crafts new home, which is conveniently located on the very same island where miSs PuNk rAwK pUrL lives. We knit, munched, & gabbed, while Carrie and I cooled off in the shade after a long day of shopping with my top off... it was indeed fantastic.