karina jean

OH HAI. Yesterday was my birthday. It was pretty super. Yes, I did go to work, and yes, I did poop out and not go to the concert I’d meant to attend. but I still had an awfully great day, including so many birthday shout-outs and phone calls and lovely emails. It culminated in dinner with michelle and jenn at a mexican place, where I think we were all surprised by a sombrero and birthday flan. What more could a girl ask for?

This birthday princess says: nothin’. that’s for sure.

Last night was the inaugural local NJ craft night. We’ve been talking about this for, oh, at least 2 years (and probably closer to 3 b/c that’s when I moved to NJ). and FINALLY we got together at my place for some makin’stuff.

I’m really excited! I cast on for the Scoop Neck Vest - you can see another photo here. I am not using the fuzzy yarn because this is something I’d like to wear in the spring, and alpaca is hecka warm. I’m using a cotton-model blend from knitpicks in a very classic KarinaJean color: TURQUOISE. of course, knitpicks calls it “reef.” That’s a much more modern name than TURQUOISE.

I also treated myself when I bought the yarn and purchased the knitpicks interchangeable needles. they are SO SUPER. They’re nickel-plated, and very very fast. I’d picked up some addi turbos recently and fell in love with them, but they are SO EXPENSIVE. these knitpicks needles were super affordable, and they are so great to knit on! and when I say I treated myself, I mean it: I also got a few sets of the nickel-plated double pointed needles too. I’m planning to get rid of a bunch of my old needles. I don’t really need all the odds and ends I’ve picked up over the years.
any bets on how long it will take me to finish this project? Hint: the corn baby? still not complete. (I AM THE WORST FRIEND EVER.) anyway, is anyone on ravelry.com? I’m on, as karinajean. obvs.

This weekend I went to Albany for Easter, and also, for a 4-mile run with Meredith. It went REALLY well - I finished in 42 min. which is 10:30 miles, and way better than I expected considering how i only ran 3x before this run. Man. think of what a great runner I’d be if I really practiced!

A couple of weeks ago a work buddy from Philly asked if I was still interested in the Broad St. Run. and I said “oh, of course I am!” without really considering that it’s going to be on MAY 4th which is a short FIVE WEEKS AWAY and oh also this is a TEN MILE RACE. I am a little more heartened today than I was yesterday, considering that I just ran 4 miles and finished in good form, but still, this is really soon. I hope it works out for me. of course it’s a really good start to the running season, and I really do want to do a bunch of 5 and 10Ks this year - so it will hopefully get me in form Fast and even more hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up.

Of course, if I continue at the same pace I have been (which I should, I think) this means I’ll be running for over 1 1/2 hours. HOLY COW. I will have to add more songs to my running mix. and also get better at drinking water as I run. so much to do before May 4th!

Big Ass Fans ™ at Ikea:

A delicious fish sandwich at a dump diner in Edison NJ

and some seriously risque fabric in the garment district:

Last week has been pretty darn good!

this weekend I had a Big Bunch of Travel. It was excellent.

Saturday went out for the express purpose of buying a Very Expensive Sewing Machine. I can’t wait until it arrives. and then I went to Queens, for a Tol celebration. viva la korean food! viva la friends from college!

then came the trains. are you ready?

• LIRR to Penn Station, Amtrack to Albany.
• first leg completed by my sweet brother picking me up at 12:20 AM.
• Then was the excitement of my hilarious nephew being shocked and thrilled to see me sleeping on the couch in the morning!
• And then came a lovely birthday breakfast for Meredith!
• and then came my first exposure to the Wii! According to Wii fitness, I am SEVENTY YEARS OLD. just sayin’.
• Then came more trains:

• Albany to NYPenn station, wherein we stopped 20 min. in to the trip in order to sit, dead on the tracks, while a mechanic was summoned because our brakes didn’t work. That’s right - OUR BRAKES. (the guy sitting behind me kept saying: how did we stop then?).
• oh, and right after we started moving again and I tried to get some tea in my mug [failure due to amtrak’s reluctance to use my reuseable mug], I had to listen to an awfully annoying conversation wherein gentlefolk were discussing how dirty mexico irrigates with sewage even though california was trying to help them out. Wow. I’d hate to see how california helps their RICH ENEMIES.
• Anyway. I was only 45 min. late to Penn Station.
• And then I took a subway that didn’t stop where I wanted it to and I had to walk through times square on a sunday afternoon.

Here is my bouffant. you know, it just does this all by itself. I was definately born in the wrong era.

Dear KarinaJean Dot Com,

I realize you might think that I don’t love you any more. it’s not true! I *have* been super busy with my other project. And I have been very busy at work, because one of my coworkers has been out on maternity leave for 3 months leaving me working at 150% instead of just 125 or 110% (luckily my other project work dropped off a little just after she went out). But these are just ugly excuses, and what you want is actual content.
So in the last two months there have been hijinks and 25 books read. I’ve shopped for sewing machines and I’ve avoided doing my dishes with embarassing and slightly gruesome results. I’ve tried to trick myself into being clean by having a cocktail party, but I’ve only just finished cleaning up after the cocktail party. I’ve avoided running very successfully. I’ve been to montreal on business, but not actually To Montreal, but to a suburb which is surprisingly like the French Seacaucus. I’ve bouffanted my hair while wearing a bridesmaid dress in a dive bar. I made a pineapple ring cake in the swashbuckling style of my ancestors the german bakers (not like that) and I’ve won best costume at a mardi gras party. I’ve had dim sum two times. I have eaten too many cheese and cracker dinners. It’s been a pretty good couple of months.

I’ll try to tell you all about it in backdated posts. Check back, friends, to see what might be below this one as you scroll.

Love,

Me.

When Fiona turned one she was like freddy kruger. all her skin melted off. Gruesome.

and also she was severely cake drunk.

I love this ultra surreal photo of Daniel eating

And Murphy is a Very Very Good Dog.

angelic, even.

With my boys. Daniel won 13th place. It was V. Exciting.

I had a brilliant idea to have a cocktail party after New Years. You know, after the rush and the crazyness. The ultimate goal was because I wanted to start the New Year with a clean apartment, and if people were coming over I would HAVE TO have a clean house.

And it was really wonderful. I love my friends so I mention this only as a point of humor: people show up whenever they want and leave whenever they want these days, and don’t follow cocktail party protocol. I’m glad they stayed so late. But it was funny that some people who DID show up at 7 and left at 9 felt like they were doing something wrong. You were right, friends! entirely right!
I served dark and stormy’s and there were unicorn tattoos for the taking:

The party concept of Clean House worked, to a point. I did a lot of heavy duty cleaning and tossing beforehand. I packed up a full car-load-worth of stuff to donate, and I invited my friends to pick up a box of books and other sundries to take what they would. And people did! Which was great. I also asked people to bring recyclables with them for me to dispose of properly, and while I didn’t get a lot of stuff, I did get some weird things that I am happy to take care of.

But after the party, the concept of Clean House didn’t work at all. It took a couple of weeks before I finished cleaning up all the dishes. It took longer than that to put up all the dishes that were on the dining room table. And I haven’t been able to maintain the swept floors of my dreams. At least there’s always room for improvement in my life, I guess?