just maryse

Week Two

week two of my photo project had me staying close to home. yes. i waited until the last possible minute. dusk. but hey, at least i did it.

there's nothing particularly exciting about my neighborhood. it's your basic middle class northeastern state neighborhood, not terribly different from one of the towns i grew up in as a kid.  the houses were built in the 60's -- ranches, split levels, colonials -- and are surrounded by mature oaks and pines. the tree guy who just cut down one of our trees (it was dying) told me that one of our oaks must be 250 years old. even he was impressed.

people are friendly enough. i mean this is new england after all so i don't expect my neighbors to be waiting for me at the end of the day to gossip.  heh. and since we don't have kids, we are kind of excluded from the social fabric of the town. i guess i could make more of an effort. i mean there's got to be knitters somewhere in town! but right now it's not a priority. i'm happy enough to just wave and smile.

but overall it's a perfectly fine place to live. last year, living in the city again, made me appreciate the quiet, OMG THE SPACE, and the easier pace.

i sometimes wish we lived closer to the center of town, in one of the older houses, so i could walk more, but you know it is what it is. an older house has it's own set of problems that given the state of our house (heh) we aren't in any position to tackle. 

so that's about it. like i said, not particularly exciting.

my health resolutions are going ok. i missed logging in one meal this week and although i did not exercise everyday, i did make it out 4 times.

rome was not built in a day.

Plans for 2012

it was just a matter of time before i wrote a "resolution" blog post. it's the new year. it's what we do.

i've been reading a bunch of stuff on how to make resolutions and keep them. and i've thought a lot about what i wanted to change in my life this year but i've been having a hard time getting everything down on paper (or the computer). hell, if i'm being honest, i've had a hard time organizing everything in my head! 

so i'll just bring stuff up as it comes to me.  so here are the top three.

1. i like to have a photography project going on. something to push me to improve or try new stuff. so i've started two main ones.  one is the One Word Project with the Shutter Sisters.  the other is a weekly one where i go for photo walk. i hope it'll force me to explore other areas around my home or work and to maybe start talking and photographing strangers. who knows what will happen?

2. then there are my health resolutions. omg how many times have i been here. lose blah blah pounds. eat more vegetables. exercise more  blah blah blah.  blah blah. vomit. blah.  i've been here almost as many times as years i've been alive. and i'm sick of it.  so this year, i'm putting a little spin on it. i rejoined weightwatchers online of course and i've been counting points. but this time the daily goal is to just log everything in. it won't matter if i've gone over or if i've eaten a pound of cheese.  I WILL LOG IT IN!  so far i've missed logging in one meal. have i stayed under my daily allowance of points every day? nope. but i'm hoping that by logging in all of my food every day that maybe that will come with time. i know i'm already doing better. and this is a resolution that i'm pretty sure i can keep.

3. of course there's also the exercise. there again, my goal is every day. even if it's only for 5 minutes. i have the runkeeper app on my phone that let's me know how i'm doing during my walks. and i'm kind of excited by the idea of knowing how many miles at the end of the year i will have covered.   right now my right ass cheek is on fire after 6 minutes of walking but i'm pushing through. i know i know. i've got to do the weights and the stretching and everything else and that will come with time. but for now, walking is all i can physically do right now.

that's about it for now. so that i stay honest, i'll log in my progress here at the end of every month. how's that?

oh by the way, my One Word Project word for january is "FOCUS." i definitely could use some of that.

 

What I Made in 2011

a tradition here in blog land is to do a rundown of what we made the previous year.  an inventory, if you will.

so i spent a few hours on new years eve going through my flickr stream and making a little photo mosaic of what i made.  and here is the result.

i did a shit ton of spinning! well for me anyway. and i knit 6 pairs of socks! which surprised me. i really didn't feel as if i'd made that many, considering that the last pair took forever. there are some other things i made that aren't here that are sekret.  that i can't show you. and the end of the year was spent doing some swatching. i worked on a couple of blankets that also aren't here because they aren't finished. but i did finish one crocheted blanket. it's still sitting in a box in my hall. i haven't given it to the recipients yet.

i was very excited to see joan and gale's book Craft Activism come out (i planned on doing a review months ago and time has gotten away from me. but i will in 2012).  it is fantastic (it has the accolades to prove it -- Library Journal and Amazon chose Craft Activism for their Best Books of 2011 lists). and i was very proud to see my name come up in the acknowledgements.  that doesn't happen too often in my day job - i'm just kind of expected to be awesome all of the time (ha!)- so it was kind of exciting for me. i'd like them to start another one so i can help them again. (oh i'm not kidding).

for 2012, i don't make crafty resolutions. i've got a couple of other sekret projects in the planning stages and i'd like to self publish some things that are roaming around in my head. i'd like to finish the blankets that i've started (not that we need them as it's 50 DEGREES TODAY WITH NO SNOW ON THE GROUND IN JANUARY IN NEW ENGLAND!!!) and i'd like to learn how to weave. i bought a loom over a year ago and i've yet to try it. gah! and i plan on writing more crafty book reviews. i love books. they are so pretty.

so that's it!  happy new year everyone!

 

So Long 2011

another year come and gone.

 

2011 for me ended up being a year of changes.  don't worry, i'm not going to rehash stuff i've already talked about here.  but let's just say, that i'm a very different person now than i was just a year ago. i think i'm better.  and that's good for me but also for people around me. not everything was perfect of course. there's no such thing. i still have my moments. but when i do, i'm able to snap out of them. remembering to breathe helps a lot.

i hope 2011 was good to you. and if it wasn't, let's look forward to 2012. i know i am.

here's a little video retrospective to get us there. heh. i know, i'm such a dork.

 

 

Hope You Had a Merry Little Christmas

well it's over. and i'm relieved. and the best part? since i didn't decorate, NO CLEAN UP!  i wasn't all scroogy, i just didn't have a big decorating extravaganza in me and since J doesn't care, i didn't bother.

thank you for all of the birthday greetings. yes, i celebrated another one. i'm getting to a point now that my birthday is meaningless.  the inlaws make a fuss. i have a niece with a birthday 2 days before mine so there's always cake. this years was chocolate and it was very good. and there were a few presents.

christmas was delightful. i was a little excited. i had mentioned wanting an ipad way back this summer but i wasn't sure that j had picked up on it. but he had. and so ever since i've had my ass planted on the couch playing with it.

j seemed pleased with what i got him. i tend to get him practical things because he hates getting them for himself. but i also surprised him with a DVD set of every West Wing episode. and angry bird pajamas (which confused him).

christmas eve was spent with friends and later family. and christmas day was with family. there were presents and crafts and food and general good cheer. j's family is wonderful for christmas celebrating. there's usually lots of laughs and very little family drama.  i'm sure they have their own family dysfunction but since it doesn't have anything to do with me, i'm kind of immune.  good times!

 

the only thing missing this year was snow. this lack of snow is getting worrisome. so i made my own.

 

 

Hexagon Swatches

thinking about some new projects.

 

swatching a bunch of hexagons.

 

 

in eye searingly bright happy colors.

 

WIP Wednesday without WIP

after 2 months, i finally finished my soctoberfest socks. in previous years, i've participated in kirsten's mystery sock knit thing, but this year she had real life things to handle.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? and totally dropped the ball on designing a mystery sock for us.  thanks kirsten. sheesh.

so i made just another one of my 2x2 ribbed socks.  this time i chose a very neutral palette. i've been in a gray neutral, black color mood lately, so the colorway fit with what i was interested in working with.

the yarn is noro kureyon sock (the details have been raveled here). i really love this yarn. the bands of color, even when only browns, grays, rust and cream, really make me happy.

and maybe because i've been obsessed with gray lately, i've taken to wearing makeup and giving myself manicures again. (the flickr makeup frenzy may have something to do with that too). or maybe it's just because i'm a week away from another birthday and i'm clinging with all of my strength to some vestige of my youth. heh.

 

before i was collected yarn and fiber, i collected makeup and nail polish.  heh.

 

Another FO

looking back on some posts, it appears that i'm averaging AT MOST one FO a month.  yeah i know, that's pathetic.  this problem has been kind of getting me down just a little. i've been very unfocused and it's the first time in a long time when i've had several projects in the works.

but if i'm writing today it's to tell you that I FINISHED SOMETHING!

last saturday, a friend of stacie's brought over an old cashmere sweater for chopping up.  the friend wanted a pair of mittens.  i cut off the bottom of the sleeves.

this is a breakthrough for me by the way. i am nothing if not deliberate and taking scissors to this old sweater, even if it was not my sweater went totally against my normal instincts.  just so you know.

and then i took these two pieces of sleeve, decided right away they would make awesome arm warmers and then thought about how i was going to finish them for 4 days.

 

yesterday i finally finished them by using a blanket stitch to turn down the unfinished edge and crocheting 3 rows in single crochet.  the actually time required to do this?  an hour maybe.  the time to think about it. 4 DAYS! but you know that's still a record. i do a lot of thinking.

and yes, the blanket stitching is a little frankensteinish and far from perfect, but i kind of like it.

so that's it! i've raved raved them here.

Adventures in Parking

it took 8 days for me to sufficiently recover from my month long blogging adventure. not much has been going on since then. mostly just thinking about projects. i've got a few things up my sleeve with imminent deadlines, which means of course that i'm avoiding them.  and i've got a couple of long term projects which of course means that i can't stop thinking about them.  heh.

but that's not what i'm going to blog about today. today it's about last sunday's bazaar bizarre. it's become a yearly event. i get an early bird ticket and with a friend or two in tow (this year it was stacie) we head off to check out the crafty shopping. and like other years, it did not disappoint. i rarely buy a lot of stuff. my gift giving list does not include people who would get the whole handmade craft thing. but no matter, i still love looking at everything. 

but enough about the bazaar.  the big news is that WE GOT TO PARK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET!

the south end, one of my favorite neighborhoods of boston, is notoriously horrible for parking (like pretty much every neighborhood in boston). when i lived in town i would come down and do some shopping/hanging out on sundays and noticed that on certain blocks, cars would be parked along the median line. i figured it was for churchgoing folks. there are several churches in the area. but i was unsure what the actual rules were. and since i wasn't driving then, i didn't give it too much thought.

until last sunday. stacie and i drove down warren ave and stopped a woman who was parking in the middle of the street and asked her, what's the deal?  well apparently, on sunday, you can park in the middle of certain streets. it started out for church goers but you don't need to go to church, nor do you have to have a resident sticker. you won't get towed. you won't get a ticket.  YAY!

it's the little things.

 

NaBloPoMo Day 30

and i'm done!  30 days of november, 30 days of blogging. a couple of days i posted late, but i posted 30 times in 30 days. so i win!

heh.

thanks for stopping by!

oh, guess what tomorrow is. 

 

THE FIRST DAY OF MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!!