Ah, Friday morning and I am... here at work. Drat. The good news yesterday was that two of my tv commercial ideas (including one I really like) got picked to be presented to the client Monday. And it's the big honcho client, not just the day-to-day contact. The bad news was that they wanted to make a few changes to the scripts, and wanted a script developed based on a concept from someone else who is now on vacation. So, I'm here and wishing I weren't.

At least my boss was nice about it and apologized and told me if things are slow later on, I could hopefully leave early, and he'd try and make up the day on another Friday, if possible. Glad he offered, though I'm not sure I can see it happening. Oh well, I'll try and get these all done by noon so the chance of getting out of here by 3ish is realistic.

Worked some more on the Moo blanket last night. I definitely have a spot or two where I have diverged from the chart, but I am so not worrying - they're cow print spots and no one will ever realize that one was supposed to be slightly over to the left a bit more. Last night's rows went a little faster because there was more white space between spots so I had fewer color changes.

OK, this is not the kind of wedding I am planning. Very strange! I found that link on GoingBridal, which was entertaining reading even before I was engaged.

I got the contract from the caterer in the mail yesterday. Yipes. I want to take a good read of it and ask any questions before signing it and giving them a deposit. Everything looks kosher, but there are a few questions I have. One being that they say they require approval on all outside vendor services, and I want to know what that entails. Same goes for any outside cakes brought in. And since Leanne, one of my best friends, happens to be a professional pastry chef and is going to make my cake, I want to make sure it won't be a problem. I'm sure the cake the caterer provides is lovely, but it can't taste anywhere near as good as what she makes.

Did a few more rows on the Moo blanket last night. I see a spot where I messed up and have 2 extra black stitches, but since it's such an abstract pattern, I think it's not a big deal. I suppose if it really bugs me when it's finished (I bet it will!) I can just duplicate stitch over them in the ivory. This blanket is really so adorable, and the yarn is so nice to work with, but boy is it slow.

On the up side, I knit a little swatch this morning - just a bunch of rows of white followed by a bunch of black, and I washed it in the sink to make sure the black wouldn't bleed. Looked OK while it was still wet, so I think it will be just fine when dry. Phew! I started worrying about this the other night, when I realized that no matter how careful I was to keep it clean, I was going to need to wash this before giving it to Jill for her baby to use. I managed to convince myself of impending disaster and black dye bleeding all over the ivory. Luckily, that's not the case!

Got one more little thing off my wedding to-do list last night - I asked Ryan's sister, Kristy, to be a bridesmaid. Several months ago, I wouldn't have thought I'd do that, but after spending that week together in France, I really got to know her better and realized how much I like her. We're the same age (Ryan is 3.5 years younger than I am) and so we have a lot of the same memories/cultural reference points. And she's very smart (I think to do brain surgery this is generally a requirement!) and has a great sense of humor. So, we had a really nice chat and she said she was very happy to be asked and that she would love to be part of the bridal party. Yay!

Tonight I'm having dinner with my friend Alex, who I haven't seen in quite a long time. We're going to McSorley's, the second-oldest bar in the city. I haven't been there in ages, but I remember they have yummy burgers and good ale. Should be fun.

I'm supposed to have a Summer Friday tomorrow, but I'm not sure what's up right now. If we are not doing well on TV spot ideas, I may have to come in and work on it some more. I think they're having a meeting in about 5 minutes to figure out where we stand, so I am crossing my fingers big time that I get my free day!

OK, first off, I have the coolest blog readers! Everyone has been leaving such nice, supportive comments. And you don't mind (and many even welcome) the wedding planning tangents. Yay! I especially appreciate people keeping an eye out for nice tank patterns - I welcome any and all suggestions!

Last night's Stitch-n-Bitch at Java-n-Jazz seemed to be a great success! Lots of people showed up, and between the sofa, rocking chair and tables, there was room for all. Good light, sandwiches and ice cream available, and a generally convenient location are also pluses. I think the consensus is we're going to stay there for a while, which makes me very happy.

I did a few rows on the boatneck, but got sick of it quickly for some reason, so I moved on to the Moo blanket, which has been neglected for a while. My cousin (the recipient) is getting bigger and bigger, but her baby's blanket hasn't been! Once I finish off the boatneck, I think I will try to focus on Moo for a while, so I will have room for other projects later without stressing about this one. Baby's due in October, which seems a ways off, but it's a long blanket, and each row (113 stitches) takes a while because of the many color changes (white, black, white, black, white, black...).

Right now I am completely comatose after a 9:30-11:30am meeting about market research. It was actually very interesting and informative, and answered many questions, but it was two hours in one conference room! Ack! I have to spend the rest of the day thinking of brilliant TV commercial concepts, so the art director I am working with (Sonia) and I are going to go get some brilliant lunch to fuel our creativity.

Well, I think it's official enough to announce - I am going to be a June bride! The big day will be June 15th, 2003 at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (BBG). Ryan and I are so excited to be having our wedding there, as it is a special place for us. It's close to home (we'll be living in Brooklyn once we sell his place and find one to rent together), incredibly beautiful, and we have spent many a happy day there. I think it's going to be a really lovely place to have a wedding. The ceremony will be in the meadow, and the reception in the Palm House.

When I started looking around at places, I was really surprised that the BBG wasn't more expensive. It turned out to be on par with other nice places we looked into, but with far more beauty and meaning. If you live in the NY area and haven't been there, I really suggest you had down there sometime this summer. It's just this lovely, peaceful sanctuary in the middle of Brooklyn.

There was really only one other place I seriously wanted to do this at, which was Oheka Castle on Long Island. This also had a sentimental value for me, as I had attended a summer day camp on the grounds when I was very small. It's a beautiful mansion, which would be absolutely lovely for a wedding. Unfortunately, the price range was $250-350 a head, which was way more than twice as much as I could/would want to spend. I can't believe they get that kind of money! I mean, even Ryan's birthday dinner at Montrachet didn't come to that much per person.

Anyway, Oheka was beautiful but couldn't touch the sentimental value of the BBG. And that's what a wedding is all about, so why not make this memory in a place where we already have some lovely memories?

OK, now that I've told you that much, I want to promise this won't become a totally wedding-centric blog. I definitely plan on knitting and writing about that, despite the past week's activities. Actually, I am planning on knitting for my wedding! No, not the gown. But for my bridesmaids (three + maid of honor) I want to knit some dressy tanks that they can wear with a long skirt instead of a traditional bridesmaid gown. I have seen this look in the wedding magazines, but with purchased knits, and I would like to make something myself for each of them. That way they can (a) save money on buying some ridiculous (even if it's pretty) gown they will never wear again, (b) have a gift that comes directly from my heart, and (c) wear the tank again after the wedding is over - for real!

If anyone has yarn/pattern suggestions, I am open to them. I am thinking something fairly simple in shape, but made in lovely yarn. Not too strappy, as most of the girls have enough up top to prefer wearing a bra. I haven't picked out a color yet, and now I am wondering do I pick the yarn first or the skirt first? Hmm. I would ideally like to have different shades of the same color (because I am not insane enough to think I could find exact matches) probably with the top a bit lighter than the bottom. I know I have 11 months to do this, but since I have to make four of these, I don't want to put it off to the last minute.

Boy will I be sick of that pattern by the time I am done!

I can't believe I have gotten so lame about posting. Mostly because I suddenly got busy here at work on Thursday and Friday, and I am certainly grateful about that. It's still day-to-day with what I am working on, but at least I have been finding work to do and clients to bill my time to.

I have done zero knitting since Tuesday's Stitch-n-Bitch. Not so happy about that! But there have been a lot of "extracurricular" events, and that doesn't seem to be stopping. My brother Larry is in town until Thursday, so that always puts lots of stuff on hold. Last night we all (parents, Larry, Ryan, myself) went to Tavern on the Green for a bit of a celebratory dinner. I wouldn't usually pick such a touristy spot, but Mom wanted to go - she has developed an extreme fondness for it. The food is nothing special really, but in the nice weather, it's fantastic to sit outside there. It was nice to get there at 7:30, because we got to be there during daylight and darkness, with all the pretty lights in the trees.

Tonight we are having a different kind of family affair. Ryan, Larry and I are meeting my friend Rich, his brother Didier and his brother's wife Michelle for dinner. We have been discussing this for ages, but it finally materialized. There's a restaurant down on Avenue B, called either 3B or B3, which has all you can eat blue crabs on Monday nights. I am so excited - I haven't had those in ages! Hard to find in NYC. Ryan doesn't eat them, so he'll scarf down his burger or something and then wait patiently for the rest of us.

On the wedding-planning front, we are very close to a place and date. I don't want to jinx it by saying anything until it's actually a done deal, but it should work out just fine. And it's a really beautiful place that will make us (and hopefully our guests) very happy, so I am pretty excited about it. I'll report again as soon as we have a true thumbs-up.

Anybody want a rosè slushie?



I had a craving for a glass of rosè, which I enjoyed a lot of in France. So I picked up a bottle at Union Square Wines on my way home. I wanted to chill it fast but didn't feel like putting it in the sink with ice cubes and water because it's so messy and uses up all the ice. So, since I had the freezer bowl of my ice cream maker already in the freezer, I stuck the wine bottle in there and put it back in the freezer. Well, that was at 6pm and I just remembered it now. As you can see from the photo, it's frozen solid! The amazing thing is that the bottle didn't burst. It's melting pretty quickly, and I can't really tell if the freezing hurt the wine too much, since I haven't had this particular bottle before. Tastes a little flat, but who knows.

Definitely a night of odd experiences (see my google reference below!) I think I'll go to bed before it gets any weirder.

OK, this is super-freaky. Right at this very moment, if you do a google search on the word "knits" and nothing else, guess what comes up as the very first result? My blog! How in the world did that happen?!

It was so fun to go to Stitch-n-Bitch last night and see all the girls! And it worked in my favor that Cafe Des Moines decided to close at 9pm, since I was fading fast, but it was also pretty annoying. We've been discussing looking for another place to meet, since the Des Moines staff is unfriendly, they have somewhat erratic hours, and there's a serious lack of decent food there (important when a lot of us come straight from work and stay for hours.)

Jackie sent an email to the S-n-B list soliciting opinions on a place I had mentioned called Java N Jazz. It's a nice place, has decent food, and stays open later than Des Moines. It's also right off Union Square and thus close to a whole bunch of train lines. Of course, right now it's also about a 7-minute walk from my apartment, but once Ryan and I move into Brooklyn together, it will still be convenient because of the subway proximity. I am crossing my fingers that others will like the idea!

Got up to the armholes on my melon boatneck last night. I mentioned to Liz that I thought the neck might be too straight, and she told me that Bonne Marie had updated the pattern because of just this problem. Hmm. I think I am using the updated one, but now I'm wondering if I am, or if I did something funky. I had to adjust the pattern a bit because I had a different number of stitches (I made the top a bit smaller than she did) but that really shouldn't have mattered. Well, I know if I run into huge trouble I can always beg Ms. Chicknits herself for assistance!

So the boy and I are throwing ourselves gently into wedding planning mode. We both made our guest list picks last night, and I threw it over to Mom and Dad for anyone they want to add. So far, so good. We're trying to keep it on the reasonable side and not break the bank. Hope we succeed.

I'm still not feeling so great about work, maybe even more so today. Truth be told, in a bustling economy, I would not have taken this job. Pharmaceutical advertising is not exactly known for its creative opportunities. But the offer was really good, and oh yeah, it was the only solid offer I had. So I took it. Then shortly after I started, a major client (whose project was the impetus for hiring me) had to postpone their launch. Then another, and another, and now this last client who didn't even get their FDA approval.

So, the work has dwindled, and I don't have any of my own projects to work on. I'm basically getting tossed around from project to project when someone needs help, and I'm backing up one of the other writers on his client. And he's a good guy, but it's very frustrating at my level to be working basically as a junior writer, even if the title on my biz card says "Senior." Not having anything I can take ownership is really frustrating, and on top of that I'm concerned that since there is so little work right now, my head will be first on the block.

The up side of the job is I work with really nice people, I have my own office (a rarity, in my experience), the hours are reasonable, the pay is good, and my boss is really really nice. But I am bored bored bored most of the time. Either by lack of work, or lack of interesting work. And the work process here is very slow and old-fashioned. There are a lot of people who have been here for 10+ years, and some even for their entire careers. Not a lot of new thinking going on. Certainly not compared to my days working on web projects.

What to do, what to do? As I already said yesterday, I think I would be incredibly stupid not to at least be considering looking elsewhere. Of course, being here for only four months just doesn't look good on a resume, and goodness knows there aren't a hell of a lot of jobs out there. But if this one disappears (or just grinds to a slow, painful halt) I want to be prepared.

Wow, I wish I weren't thinking about this right now. I would like to be carefree and just humming along here at work, but it just seems like that's not going to happen. I hope I don't end up doing a job search and wedding planning at the same time. Of course, if I got canned, I'd have lots of time for that wedding plan. Hahaha. Talk about your unwanted silver linings. With Ryan not working, I am definitely going to need to be working for the foreseeable future.

Sorry to be a downer today. I guess reality is just catching up with me this morning, and it isn't as lovely as it could be. I recognize things could be far worse, but that's why I am trying to prepare ahead of time - so they don't get there!

I can't believe this is my first post of the day. Work was pretty busy, and kind of weird. I got to give everyone the happy news, and got lots of happy congratulations and even got taken to lunch by one friend. But I also found out that the big client I was supposed to be working on didn't get their FDA approval, so the whole thing is dead in the water. Kind of makes me edgy, but I had a good talk with my boss and he said he would let me know if there was any reason to worry about my job security. I think I would be an idiot if I didn't update my resume and put out feelers, just in case, but I hate the whole thought of it. I don't love love love what I am doing, but it is a good job and the money is very good.

In other news, my kitty came home tonight! She stayed at my parents' house while we were gone, and they brought her home tonight. I missed the little brat! Ryan's not here tonight so I will be happy to have my little Serena to cuddle with.

I am completely comatose now at 9:30 and cannot wait to go to sleep. In two weeks, we really adjusted to the time over in Europe, and coming back is tougher than I expected. I started crashing around 6 today and haven't come out of it. That does not bode too well for Stitch-n-Bitch tomorrow. I am definitely going to go, but I think I won't have the longevity I usually do. But it will be fun to see all the chicas there! It's so nice to have a group of cool women to hang out with every week. Cool women who will be understanding of my jet lag and not make too much fun when I fall asleep in my tea at 8:30!

Hmm, I feel like I am getting less coherent. Not a good sign. Time to wash up and hit the sack.

I almost forgot to talk about knitting-related stuff from my trip! Bad Betsy! Truth be told, it was not much of a knitting bonanza. I did some work on the melon boatneck, and am almost up to the armhole on the back. But most days I didn't even look at it. Since we were with other people almost all the time in France, I didn't get a lot of yarn shopping done. I saw a few balls of Bouton d'Or angora in a little store (not a yarn store, just a store that happened to have some yarn) one morning, but by the time I decided I kind of wanted to go back, we had already had to leave the town to be somewhere else. No gigantic loss, but it would've been nice to have the freedom to return on my own schedule.

I did get about 15 minutes in a Phildar store when we drove down to Marseilles with Chris and Andrea one day. They were having a big sale (the whole darn country is on sale right now - my favorite French word? "Soldes!") and I got 10 balls of Paper Phil in a lovely clear blue color. Now that I look at it again, it's a lot like the color of the water on the Cote d'Azure, so that's sort of a nice memory.

The big disappointment was going all the way to the address for the Filatura di Crosa store in Rome and finding it closed. Recently closed, it appears, as the window display next to the door still had the Filatura di Crosa poster, but the place was totally empty. Very sad. I looked at the list I had printed from Woolworks, but none of the places had phone numbers and the addresses just didn't jive with anything on our map.

On our last morning in Anacapri, I came across a little yarn store that I hadn't noticed before, but they didn't have anything special. I was looking for some soft merino, and all she had was baby yarn in pastels. I thought about getting some for future baby projects, but decided not to bother. So, Europe wasn't a yarn bonanza, but I did get something purdy that I wouldn't be able to find at home, so I am satisfied. Now I just have to find a pattern that will suit the Paper Phil...

Wow - 23 comments must be a record! Thanks to everyone for your good wishes on my engagement - after 14 hours of travel yesterday, it was nice to come home and read such nice notes!

The rest of our vacation was really just wonderful. Careful, but not overzealous planning really paid off in this instance, as all the travel between places went smoothly and our hotels turned out to be absolutely lovely. The only "lowlight" of the trip would probably be the overnight train from Nice to Rome, basically because we couldn't get a first-class sleeper and had to ride in a couchette with four other people. Also because the train was ancient, with no air conditioning and no bar car. I think the hours-old engagement "high" was the only reason I survived that leg of the trip!

I don't think I am going to do the whole travelogue right now, because I have about a billion things to do here. Laundry, supermarket, etc. And I'd like to get that stuff done in time to enjoy a little bit of the weekend left before going back to work tomorrow. Just a few highlights: we ate like kings in France, thanks to Ryan's father. And I now have a new favorite cheese - St. Felicien. It's a soft, runny cheese that comes in a little crock and is completely yummy. We also had several fantastic meals at Michelin-star restaurants. Yummmmmm!

As for Italy, we didn't really love Naples, so it was good that we didn't spend much time there. But the Amalfi Coast was gorgeous, and we were really pleased with the place we stayed - the Hotel Onda Verde. We were really pleased to have stayed there, in tiny Marina di Praia, rather than in "bustling" Positano or Amalfi. It was quiet and beautiful, and we had an absolutely delicious meal at a little restaurant just a few steps away from the beach. And Capri was just heavenly, and the Caesar Augustus
was even more beautiful than it's website photos. Again, we were glad to have stayed there in Anacapri, rather than down in Capri Town, which is a bit too busy for a relaxing vacation - great to visit town, but nice to escape to the quiet hotel afterwards.

Some oddities we noted: Even at a really expensive full-service hotel, we couldn't find an iron anywhere. Laundry service, yes. Iron your own clean but wrinkled clothes? No way! Kind of annoying. Also, they seem to have a caulking problem in Italy. Even in the priciest place, the shower/tub leaked enough to get the floor wet. Outside the hotels, it was frustrating to have the cabs try (often successfully) to rip us off by charging more than the meter or agreed-upon price. We also got to learn the term "coperto," which refers to the charge (around 2 bucks where we were) per person for the tablecloth, cutlery and bread at a restaurant. That is on top of the 10-15% service charge. Not sure why they break it out like that - we just found it irritating but probably wouldn't have if it had been all lumped together.

Anyway, those were very small prices to pay for a really beautiful vacation. We have hundreds (nearly 700!) digital photos go go through, and once we do, I think we'll be making a little vacation website somewhere. I'll save the detailed descriptions until then, and leave you with one photo from my camera (most of the rest of them are on Ryan's). This was the sunset from our private terrace our last night on Capri. Hmm, maybe I can make it really really big and put it up on my wall!

OK, who's going to make this for me?



Yes, I am sitting here in an internet cafe in Rome and that is my cutesy way of telling you all that Ryan asked me to marry him yesterday. After a long and fun week with his family, we left yesterday morning for Italy. Our rail trip involved about a 6-hour layover in Nice, and we spent the day just wandering around, sitting on benches overlooking the incredibly blue water. Towards the end of the day, we were just sitting there watching the water, when Ryan spontaneously told me that he was planning to do this when we got to Capri, but he didn't want to wait anymore and that the day we had spent was so "us" that he wanted to ask me right then and there to marry him.

He then proceeded to pull out from his bag a small velvet pouch, and inside was the most beautiful diamond ring I think I have ever seen! It is far beyond my wildest imaginings of what my engagement ring might look like. This boy outdid himself beyond belief! I still can hardly believe that ring is on my finger!

More than the ring, though, is the way in which it happened. I always wanted to get engaged on a beautiful beach, and I never quite imagined it this way. I always thought I would want the big speech about how wonderful I am, and how he can't bear to think of life without me, and on bended knee he'd ask me to be his forever. But what was more appropriate and more touching was his spontaneous (I still count it as spontaneous, since he had planned to do it completely differently) desire to propose right then and there. And the Cote d'Azure is pretty darn romantic in my book.

OK, I am going on and on, but I feel so lucky to have found the man I love and have him love me so much back. And to become engaged to him in such a beautiful place and have a week left of vacation to celebrate our engagement just feels so wonderful I had to share it!

We are here in Rome for the rest of today and tonight, then we leave for Naples in the morning. After that it's the Amalfi coast for 2 days, Capri for 2 days, one last night in Naples, and I will be back home on Saturday the 13th. Can't wait to see/read/email everyone!

Can we spell "dork"? I think it starts with Betsy. I packed up all my "7 things" packages and mailed them at the post office this morning, but I forgot to pick up the registered letter that I have had sitting there for a week. (I know what it is and it's not too time sensitive. Argh! It's only 5 blocks away, but it's not like I have all day to run errands. I guess I'll go back a bit later, after I pick up my dry cleaning, pack, and have something to eat.

Our flight is at 6:05 from Newark, so we decided to take NJ Transit to the AirTrain rather than sit in traffic in a cab or car service. It's apparently only 20 minutes from Penn Station to the airport, and then a few more on the monorail inside the airport, and friends of friends have given it good reviews. Even though it means cabbing up to Penn with my luggage around 2:30, anything is better than getting stuck in weekend Jersey Shore-bound traffic and worrying about missing our flight.

I am mostly prepared, though not packed. I just bought a whole bunch of travel sized stuff, plus earplugs and travel wristbands (I don't get motion sick all the time, but I figured it can't hurt). Actually I got the wristbands because one of you knitters mentioned they really worked on your blog - thanks, whoever it was! Small problem - I don't seem to have a size 6 bamboo circ to replace the Addis that my boat neck is currently on. Hmmm. We'll tackle that issue later.

Not sure if I will get to post again before I go, so I will say goodbye now, and wish everyone a very happy two weeks! Do stop in once in a while - I'll probably have a chance to add some updates from the road, and you wouldn't want to miss those, would you?!

Very busy and tense this morning. I sort of screwed something up yesterday - missed an internal deadline, and my boss and the lead writer on this project weren't really thrilled about it. No big deal, as it was a totally artificial deadline that had zero to do with the project going to the client, but it wasn't fun, either. I sort of misunderstood what was expected as far as the timing, and sort of spaced - maybe 50-50 on each. Anyway, I stuck around an extra hour and a half to finish it up and had it ready for 9 a.m. today. And everyone's acting fine, so I don't think I did any real damage.

Except to my sleep, since I tak these things really hard. I don't think I've ever missed a deadline before, so I was totally mortified and felt like a big jerk. And I couldn't articulate very well what had happened, so I felt like I either looked (a) lazy or (b) disorganized or (c) incompetent. Now, I'm sure no one else took it as seriously as all that, but I did. Had to get a back rub from Ryan AND take a bath with Gloomaway (another great birthday gift from that sweet boy!) in order to shake it even halfway off. Yes, I'm a bit high-strung. Particularly right before vacation.

Tonight, Mom and Dad are coming to get the kitty, who I will miss terribly. But I'll be much happier knowing she is frolicking at their house than I would be if she were at my place all alone for so much of the time. After that, I need to get packing. I'm going to do my absolute best to bring as few clothes as possible, and only stuff that can be worn in various combinations (except for a few lightweight silk dresses that take up almost no room). Even if I have to leave something cute at home, I am going to be a good packer!

Didn't get any work done on the melon boatneck since yesterday. Still debating the knitting-in-air thing, but I think I have it down to this: I will bring a larger-than-usual purse, one that can hold my reading material, as well as the green carry-on overnighter that came with my luggage. So if they won't allow the knitting, I can check it through in the overnighter, but still put my reading and other in-flight essentials in the purse. If worse comes to worse, at least maybe I can knit at the airport while we wait.

Made a happy discovery this morning at work - the fridge here has an ice maker. So what? Well, I've recently become addicted to this jasmine green tea that they sell in bottles at the grocery downstairs. It's unsweetened and delicious, and it's also imported from Japan and costs something like 2 bucks a bottle. This morning I realized I have jasmine tea bags here, so if there were ice in the freezer, I could make my own. Yay me! It's tough being one of the few people in the world who don't drink coffee.

I came close to finishing the first side of my boat neck tank at Stitch-n-Bitch last night. Actually, I am a few rows ahead of this pic now, since I did the neck shaping for the first side and am at the point of re-attaching the yarn for the other side now. I was conveniently located a few inches from the end of the ball I was using just as I had to cast off. Love when that happens. As you can see, because of my orange yarn deficiency, I decided to do the top in solid green, and actually I really like the way it looks.

Not sure if I'll get the second side done before we leave Friday, though now that I won't have to frog it, go up to the yarn store, knit and frog again, maybe it will go a bit faster. Not that a week is a terribly long time (I started this at S-n-B last Tuesday night) but the frustration made it seem longer to me.

I am still debating what to do about the plane and knitting. So many people have said they got on no problem, and the yarn store owner told me she flies all the time with metal circs and no problems. I don't know if it's going to make a difference that I am flying out of Newark, since they may have tighter security these days. I wish there some definitive information to rely on here, because I don't want to cause any problems for myself OR others. If someone could give me a yes or no, it'd make this all much easier. I'm willing to read and do crosswords and sleep if I can't knit, but if I can knit, that would be way more satisfying.

Since I'm on the subject, here's the overview of our itinerary:

• Friday, July 28 - Fly to Paris, land Saturday the 29th, meet Kristy and Tom (Ryan's sister and her boyfriend, flying from LA), hop on a TGV (high speed train) to Avignon, where Ryan's parents will pick us up and take us to the house we're staying in, in the town of Goult.
  
• Friday, July 5th - Another TGV from Avignon to Nice, spend the day in Nice and then take an overnight train to Rome, where we'll arrive early in the morning and spend the night. Our hotel appears to be near a Filatura di Crosa store, so I'm hoping to sneak in there for a bit.
  
• Sunday, July 7th - Eurostar Italia to Naples, where we're planning to see (among other things) the Capodimonte Museum. We'll spend the night here, too.
  
• Monday, July 8th - Down to Praiano, on the Amalfi coast, where we'll spend 2 nights, including visits to Pompeii/Vesuvius and Positano.
  
• Wednesday, July 10th - Bus up the Amalfi Drive to Sorrento and get the ferry over to Capri, where we're staying 2 nights at our fancy-schmancy pick of the trip. Definitely heading to the Blue Grotto and the Natural Arch.
  
• Friday, July 12th - Ferry back to Naples, back to the hotel we started the week at. See whatever we can that we've missed, try not to cry thinking about tomorrow's 7:05 a.m. flight home!
  
• Saturday July 13th - Take aforementioned early flight, change in Rome, arrive at Newark just before 2 p.m. and haul ourselves back to the city before we collapse!
  

Well, that's probably more than anyone really truly wanted to know, but it saves me having to email that info to my parents, etc.

Now, it's 9:33 a.m. when I am writing this monster of a post, and of course my office's network is down so I can't post it. Curious to see when it actually makes it online!

Oh I am having SUCH a frustrating day I could just SCREAM! Actually I compensated by closing the door and throwing my moisturizer bottle at it. I am so violent.

The account manager on the account that I am supposed to be the lead writer on is a nut. This is the same lady I went to Philadelphia with. Long story short, I discussed some of the issues with my boss a few weeks ago, because she was so unexpectedly rude to me that I felt I couldn't talk to her. He told me many people have had issues with her, and that he had already discussed it with her boss, but would do so again. (Now, this woman actually badmouthed said boss at the end of our Friday meeting, in front of several other colleagues, including people who've worked with him for years, as opposed to the 5 months or so that she has been here. She followed that up with "we know that all of that stays in this room" - can we spell stupid?!).

Anyway, somehow, she has the impression that I am at fault now, because I didn't go directly to her (after she sent me rude emails, spoke to me rudely and hung up the phone on me and never apologized for any of it). I think she has gotten the idea that I am the weakest antelope in the herd, so she can take her anger and frustration out on me and it'll be OK. Ugh. In some ways she's right - I hate to "fight" and generally try and avoid the confrontation.

Anyway, this has given me a big headache today. And of course we have a meeting with her in an hour to go over some project stuff. Fine, whatever - if she wants to be the nasty one and make it out like it's actually me, I just refuse to participate in the game. Going to go about my business, get my work done, and save every nasty email or comment in case I need them later. Oh how fun it isn't.

Hmm, how many working hours left before vacation? Let's see, about 20, total. How bad can 20 hours be, right?

Yet another morning when I woke up before the alarm. 6:55 today. Of course, heaven forbids that I should use that extra time wisely and productively. I thought about coming into work early, but that didn't happen. I think the problem is that since I am not all happy and rested when I wake up early, I just don't have any motivation to do anything but laze around. Maybe my vacation will fix this. Then again, when I return, I will be so temporally challenged that anything could happen.

Totally blew my knitting plans last night. After getting a pedicure (with little flowers on my big toes!) and some other girlie stuff done at Bliss, I wandered through a few stores and arrived home around 8:30. Then my friend Paul started IMing me and talked me into going out for ice cream with him. We sat and chatted in the park by my house for about an hour, because it was such a nice night to be outside, and when I got home I didn't do much other than wash up, talk to Ryan, and go to sleep.

I am still debating the whole stripes thing on this tank and what to do with the top. After measuring some other tanks I like, I decided to shorten the length to the armhole to around 13", rather then the 15 in the pattern. And now I am looking at the amount of orange yarn I have left and wondering whether I might actually be able to go all stripey or still have to do the solid top or some other variation. You'd think this was brain surgery. I decided to just throw all the orange I have into my bag and see what others think at Stitch-n-Bitch tonight. Lucky for me, this is a very sturdy yarn that hasn't a care in the world about being frogged multiple times!

Yesterdays Mets game was lots of fun! Didn't spark Ryan's interest in baseball per se, but he enjoyed himself and seemed willing to go back someday, as long as it's not a regular thing. Fine by me! Free tix make it more fun, of course. It was super hot and sweaty, but I only got a little sunburnt, and considering I had only managed to put sunscreen on my arms and shoulders, forgetting my legs, I feel lucky. I don't want to be too redundant, so check out ryanimator for a pic of us at the game.

I did make it up to the Yarn Co. on Saturday and picked up two more balls of the Topas in green (they were all out of the orange). I think what I am going to do is keep the bottom striped and just work the top in solid green. Should be OK, and I think that is probably the color that looks better next to my face anyway. Now there's just the doubt over whether this is too wide. I made the pattern smaller by an inch, but it is still a good bit wider than the last tank I made. Then again, this yarn might be nicer a bit looser. Or it might not. Well, the worst that happens is I frog, frog again. Hopefully by tomorrow's Stitch-n-Bitch I'll have figured out exactly where I want to start the green. Jordana, at the Yarn Co., said start it around the armholes, but I'm not sure. Might be nicer to start it a bit lower, kind of where an Empire waist would be. Decisions, decisions!

Just 3 more days of work until vacation. We leave Friday evening. I can't believe after all these months of planning, it's almost upon us!

There is definitely something wrong with waking up earlier on the weekend than I do during the week. But there I was at 6:30, wide awake. Well, too awake to go back to sleep, but too tired to feel great about it. What is up?! I have very little trouble falling asleep, I just can't stay asleep!

Anyway, at least I used my time pretty wisely. Got to the greenmarket early, since one of the things I wanted to do today was make some preserves. I got strawberries and rhubarb - guess what kind of jam I made? Just finished that up and it's cooling on the counter. Yes, it is possible to make jam in a 4' x 4' kitchen. It's not pretty, but it's possible.

What is pretty are the flowers I bought. Couldn't resist the "last of the season!" sign next to the peonies, so I got a bunch of those and also a bunch of yarrow. I think they look purdy together, what do you think?



I also stopped at my always-favorite, Ronnybrook Farms, and picked up a good combination - a quart of nonfat maple-vanilla yogurt and a pint of butter pecan ice cream. That's twice as much nonfat yogurt as ice cream, so I'll probably lose weight, right?

The bad news is I called The Yarn Company and they don't have any more orange Topas. They put aside a few balls of green, though, and now I have to go up there a little later. I guess something's getting partially frogged, and probably the top will be wider stripes of green than orange. Argh. I am having the sneaking suspicion that this tank is going to be a bit bigger than I want it to be, too, which may be why I am so short of yarn. Grr. What to do, what to do. Probably what to do would have been to be more careful and think more before I started. Oh well, it wouldn't be such a pain if the store wasn't in one of the least convenient places in the city to get to from my apartment.

Speaking of my apartment, before I can go up to the yarn store I have to finish cleaning up the kitchen and stuff. Hasta la vista!