crazy about babies

i dunno what is WITH me lately but i've had this strong urge to knit baby stuff. few weeks ago i had this dream that i had a baby girl...except i didn't give birth to her. in the dream i was in a rush to leave for work and i opened the front door and damn near tripped over this beautiful baby girl. i mean she was an infant...newborn! she was wrapped snugly in blankets and was lying in a basket of some sort...maybe longaberger? haha so needless to say i'm all like, "what the helllllll?" i called my boss and said i had a problem and that i wouldn't be coming to work. i took the baby (i called her lil bit) to my momma's house so we could figure out what to do. well later in the dream it became clear that the baby wasn't listed as missing, no one was looking for her, no one could find her mother, so the dept of children's services said i could adopt her...and i did. so just like that i became a mommy. weird.

ever since then i've been itchin' to knit baby stuff. these socks are for little jasmyne. my SIL is due to have a baby boy on sept. 15. my other SIL just had a baby boy in july. and i found out today that one of my friends is pregnant. so i guess i have all the reasons i need to knit baby stuff, huh? last night i dreamed that i made a blue and white baby sweater so let me go stash diving to see what i can find!

viva las vegas

i recently returned from a whirlwind trip to beautiful las vegas, nevada



i was there for work (a meeting of the Natural Resources Information Council), and managed to have fun as well! NRIC is a small group of librarians who work in the area of natural resources. some of us are academic librarians, some work for government agencies, and some others are with non-profit organizations. most of the 10 of us who attended the meeting are new to the group, and it's always nice to have small meetings where you can get to know your colleagues. i'm looking forward to helping to plan and organize next year's meeting, which will also be in las vegas, and hosted by UNLV.

aside from the obvious attraction of the las vegas strip, the las vegas area is full of beautiful natural areas. just a short drive from the strip you will find desert (of course), mountains, canyons, wilderness areas, etc. i'm looking forward to seeing some of these attractions next year.

my best friend drove up from long beach on monday and we had a late dinner at denny's, which was just a short walk from our hotel
. might not seem like a big deal to y'all but denny's is kind of sentimental for us. it was one of our hangout spots after college, when we were both still living in oberlin. and it was near a SuperKmart...both were open 24 hrs. anyway, there are plenty of 24 hr spots where i live but there are no denny's so i couldn't resist going there at least once while i was in vegas. okay twice.

i did a -little- gambling. got a "feeling" about a slot machine, but in $5 and won $15. that was pretty much it for me. that money was enough to pay for my dinner that night so i wasn't complaining. that's just about all the gambling i did. i am a sore loser, and i hate losing money so i was content not to keep feeding the slots. we did have a craps lesson, and now i underststand the game more than i did before. probably could have played for a while and come out ahead but i kept my money in my pocket. the better for shopping with, my dear.

i took some cotton yarn with me (to knit dishcloths) but didn't pick up my sticks very much at all. however, since i've been home i've whipped up 2-1/2 cloths...yay for me!

bye for now...

just call me 'the enabler'

so today, my coworker and i went to the french quarter to stroll around and see what we could see. unfortunately i don't have pictures yet but once i get 'em i'll be sure to put them here.


we went souvenir shopping at some little shop on decatur st. then we made our way to cafe du monde in the french market to eat some beignets. yum! if you're not familiar, these are square pieces of fried dough that are sprinkled (or more like dumped) with powdered sugar. soo freakin good. some places serve have them filled with fruit. they were hot and sweet and just delish! there's a painting in the restaurant that says "it seemed like an ordinary day until i had coffee with jesus at cafe du monde." hahaha i'm not a coffee drinker so in my mind i will substitute coffee for beignets.

after that we went to a cute little yarn shop called quarter stitch. i first heard about it a few years ago when i bought some yarn from a fellow blogger. i ended up buying a pair of cute knitting needes (the last thing in the world that i need...besides more yarn!). but the best part of it was that my coworker learned to knit!!!!!! we sat there for about 2 hours while she worked on her first project (a garter stitch scarf), and i wandered around petting yarn, ogling the pretty needles and chitchatting with fellow librarians who stopped in to shop. what fun!! she bought needles and some pretty green yarn (i think it's cotton twist), and as a matter of fact she's sitting here knitting now, and she's doing great! i feel like a proud mother hen :-)

that being said, i'm gonna go get my knitting while we watch "breakin" on dvd (y'all remember that movie? it's truly a blast from the past LOL).

next time i post, i'll be back home in good ol' columbus. i've enjoyed NOLA, but i'm really happy to be going home!

librarian gone loopy

guess where i am this week...THE BIG EASY!!

the flight here was just a mess. my plane out of columbus was delayed due to weather. my colleague and i got to the airport like 2 hours before our flight was due to leave. however, comma, right when it was time to board the plane, here comes a thunderstorm that prompted a delay due to lightning. apparently there is some FAA rule that states that the guys unloading and reloading cargo from the plane cannot be out there doing that while there's lightning. the rule is that there has to be 15 mins without lightning before the cargo process etc can continue. okay. so we finally got on the plane we were delayed again because the plane needed fuel, but there was more lightning. finally we were on our way to atlanta, where we had to run across the damn airport so that we could catch our connecting flight, only to find that it was delayed as well. sheesh.

so then we got to NOLA and it was hot hot hot. and humiiiiiiiid! air's so thick you can slice it with a knife. we got into a cab to head downtown, only to find out that the cab didn't take credit cards. so we had the cabbie take us back so that we could find a cab that took credit cards. FINALLY we got a cab and headed to our hotel. got caught up in some traffic but finally made it to canal street, where our hotel is.

my baby brother, who's stationed here in the US Navy, came and swooped us up and we all hung out for a few hours. he took us to this awesome little sno-cone stand that has the absolute BEST sno-cones i have ever had! yesterday i had one that tasted just like an orange creamsicle, and today i had one that tasted like strawberry shortcake. yummy! my bro says he goes there every day...i can see why!

today we went to world famous bourbon street! what an interesting place. first of all i'm still tripping about the liquor laws here. you can walk around with liquor, beer, etc, as long as it's not in bottles. it has to be in a plastic container. whaaaaaaaaa? you got it kids, mz had an opportunity to walk down bourbon street with a cup of beer in her hand. we stopped into a blues bar where this old guy was singing and playing the hell outta his guitar. he was funny, the way he was singing and flirting with my friend. i will certainly post pics later.

but anyway, to get to the knitting content of this message...finally!! i decided i wanted to try to do loop stitch. took a picture of it, wanna see it, here it go:




i can SO see myself making loopy stitch pillows for my living room, or bedroom! yay!

all moved in!!

yay!! my move went smoothly (thank goodness) and i'm all unpacked and settling in nicely. here's a pic of my kitchen:



very soon i'll be getting a new fridge ... notice how the doors open -away- from the kitchen instead of towards it? well, one of the maintenance guys came to switch it around but then it didn't seal correctly. PLUS it's not a frost-free fridge (what the...?) so i will be getting another one soon. for now it's fine...it opens the way i want it to and that makes life easier and more convenient.

once i get some of my pics hung up (thanks, anthony!), i'll post more pics of my lovely apartment!

bye for now...it's time for mz to eat lunch :-)