Emily's Best Baby Sweater

I just had to post because I'm so happy I finally finished the "Best Baby Sweater" from the Fall'90 issue of Vogue Knitting. I made this on #5 needles with 2-1/2 skeins of Knitpicks Shine (Green Apple). If it fits her, it's for cute fat baby Emily, who is 9 months old. Don't you admire it's pulchritude?

Also, I highly recommend that you subscribe to Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day feature. I'm trying to build my vocabulary, and I hope you will, too.

My Kind of Town

We went to Chicago for Courtney's wedding this weekend. She's a college friend of mine and also former roommate of Dave (and Ryan too, for that matter). But before the wedding, we had a little Howard Girl Shower for our friend Emily, who will be the next to wed in November. Becca prepared an amazing brunch for us at her house, complete with carmelized french toast, fritatta, fruit salad, Ess-a-bagels from NYC and mimosas.

After the shower, we went to the wedding and then to Millenium Park Grill on Michigan Ave. for some pre-reception drinks. The reception was right across the street at the Chicago Athletic Club, which had an amazing view of Lake Michigan. Lots of our college friends and their special friends were on hand to celebrate, including Bill & Jelly, Becca & Ryan, Renny & Schmiedler, Red & Greg, Fogie & Scott, Gillaby & Joel, Em & Brian, and more! The alcohol was certainly flowing, but no one got sloppy. Or at least, if anyone was especially obnoxious with her camera and comments, everyone else was "too drunk to notice," in the words of one of my friends. I hate fancy shoes! I walked home from the reception barefoot, through the streets of Chicago, and I wasn't the only one...don't worry, it wasn't too far to the hotel. It was really good to see everyon together again, but I also realized that we're all getting older. For one thing, once the wedding was over, everyone headed up to bed (before midnight!) For another, a lot of people were talking about their homes and their kids -- two things Dave & I don't have and probably won't for at least a litle while more. Becca & Ryan, who live in Chicago, have the cutest and most calm baby ever -- Eoin. I picked him up out of his stroller this morning, and he immediately hugged me and snuggled into my shoulder like a little Koala Bear.

And speaking of babies, one of my best friends from high school just had a 7 lb, 4 oz baby girl name Rebecca Nicole. Congratulations Andrea & Paul -- I can't wait to meet your daughter (and to give her beer)...

Mammals large and small

After rocking out all night with Neil Diamond at Madison Square Garden, my parents met Dave & I back at our apartment and we headed to CT for the weekend. We drove up to Plymouth, MA on Saturday morning to go on a whale watch with Captain John. The weather was beautiful -- perfect for a boat ride! We left Plymouth around 2pm and motored out to Stellwagen Bank, just off the tip of Cape Cod and Provincetown. On the way out we saw fin whales, which are the 2nd largest whale and can grow to be 60 tons! We only saw these from a distance. When the boat went a little further, we saw plenty of humpback whales, some coming up right next to us. It was so amazing to see these beautiful animals up close, and the pictures don't properly represent the beauty of the humpbacks -- I was more interested in looking at the them and hearing them breathe than in taking their pictures. Plus, they come up so fast that you don't have time to pull out the camera and focus before they're heading back down with their trademark tail flip. The last time we went on a whale watch, we saw the amazing site of two humpbacks breaching -- jumping completely out of the water and falling back in. We learned that the humpbacks consume 1 million calories a day -- that's a lot of chocolate ice cream! On our way back into shore we saw one more type of whale called a minke whale.

Sunday in CT required ablissful visit to my brother and sis-in-law, who are the proud parents of my niece Samantha. She's just so cute I babble about her for lack of the right words. Yay, babies!

Speaking of babies, my friend Andrea is due in about 1 week. Good luck my high school giggling friend, because everything is about to change...

Sweaty Nights and hot summer fun

Saturday night was our first Garden Party, which we co-hosted with Cathryn, our cool neighbor. Lots of people came, and we all had good drinks and great snacks (especially Claire's artichoke dip), despite the sweltering heat. We kept cool by putting ice cubes down our backs. And speaking of ice cubes, there is really nothing in the world on a hot summer night like a cold beer that's been marinating in a bucket of ice and water. And there was no drama all night! Except for the one crazy neighbor who yelled "KNOCK IT OFF!" just after 9:30...come on buddy, this is NYC and it was so early...and the music wasn't even loud! We turned off the radio anyway, but still...

The only respite from the sweltering night air, besides an ice cube rub-down, was to hang out in front of the AC in the living room, which some of my friends did.
Next time, we'll try to pick a nice fall evening to celebrate.

Naked men, cookies and baby sweaters...oh my!

Katie, Ange, Dave and I had a nice trip to Fire Island on Sunday. There are no roads running through Fire Island -- to get anywhere from the ends of the island you either have to walk (the island is 32 miles long), or take water taxis. We took a ferry from Sayville over to Sunken Forest. It was a perfect beach day, but I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures. But you should be glad, because as we strolled down the beach towards the little rainbow town of Cherry Grove, we passed countless nudists frolicking in the surf, many of them well over the age of 50. More power to them but I didn't need any photographic memories of it. I wanted to join them until I saw one man go out into the ocean on a boogie board. We all cringed -- come on, that's gotta hurt when a big wave crashes you down into the sandy, shelly bottom and your precious jewels are just scraped along...owww! It hurts just thinking about it, and I don't even have the equipment!

Dave and I also went to see Eminem (aka Slim Shady aka Marshall Mathers aka Rainman but he can't be your Superman) at the Garden on Tuesday night. It was a good show but I couldn't figure out who everybody was, since he and his posse have about 4 names each and they kept jumping in and out of the show in a seemingly random fashion. And there were at least 12 of them, plus the dancing girls. The crowd was going wild though, and we really enjoyed it. Maybe I should study up on the the D12 and G Unit next time...

Our party is this weekend, and we're really looking forward to hanging out with our friends. Don't these cookies look yummy? And there are more in the oven now...

Oh, and I finished a sweater for my nephew, Nebechednezzer. Isn't it cute? I'm becoming quite a baby sweater machine -- but it's only because of my guru, Red, and the fact that baby clothes are a lot smaller (and therefore faster) than adult stuff. I still have an unfinished tank top for myself on the needles in my closet, and I started that one about 4 months ago.

Send me an E-mail!

Busy weekend!

Dave & I had ourselves a pretty busy weekend, so I'm glad to be home relatively early tonight to just relax. Thursday night, we drove down to Atlantic City to meet my parents, who were on their way back from vacation in Cape Hatteras, NC. They got us a free room at the Claridge, which turned out to be quite a nice suite. Here's a pic of Dave & my mom in the in-room hot tub (which we didn't use, but it was nice to look at). We got back late Friday night (NO we didn't win any money, but at the last minute I saved us from having a total loss by putting $10 in the penny machine (yes, I said the penny slots) and somehow winning 15,000 pennies.

Early Saturday morning, Dave, Katie & I headed out to Randall's Island for the Dave Matthews Band concert featuring the Barenaked Ladies. Although there are much worse things than being outside for 10 hours, the venue was really dusty and we got there way too early -- the gates opened at noon, we arrived around 1:30, and BNL didn't start until 6:30. They and DMB played an awesome show, but we didn't get home until well after midnight. I wish we knew ahead of time when they were going to start! But at least I got some sun -- and the shower when we got home, after laying in the dust all day, was so rewarding! And no matter that we couldn't actually see them from our far away seats on the lawn, I love the Barenaked Ladies and will check them out every chance I get. Even Dave, who characteristically falls asleep at concerts, never says no to the Ladies.

Sunday morning, Katie & I were off to our good friend Andrea's baby shower. She is so very very pregnant, and still has 1 month to go!

And speaking of babies, my 8 week old niece Sam is my favorite part of going to Connecticut for any reason. She's cute even when she's crying. My new favorite person -- I love her!