6 Degrees of Eliza

So today at lunch I checked my blog reader and Dooce.com had posted something she ordered from Loobylu off etsy . My friend Kayla sent me Loobylu's blog awhile ago. The content of these two blogs are unrelated. And while I know that everyone these days shops on Etsy.com, Loobylu only has 49 feedback responses so its not a HUGE store (a very good one though). And Dooce resides in the States and Loobylu in Australia. So it got me thinking "That.... that is weird." This seems to happen a lot, where paths crossover. Most of the time its interest related and due to small town encounters, but here are my 6 degrees of Eliza (if you don't have time to read it all, at least read #6, I saved the best for last):

1) I had P.E. with a girl named Angie in Jr. High. She was super nice and we used to be lazy together during class. We went to high school together too, but we didn't talk or hang out. My sophomore year of College I am hanging out with some friends and then Angie shows up. We became good friends again. At the time I was also dating a guy named Conan, and Conan and Angie knew each other too. THEN....Angie's friend, Ann, lives literally 2 houses down from my Dad.

2) I was a girl scout for 10 years (ages 8-18). I didn't make a lot of close friends in my troop. And those last 4 years or so (embarrassed to be a girl scout in high school) we didn't have troop meetings. But right before we all went off to college, the 4 girl scouts remaining, have dinner and go around the table to say where we are going to college and what we are going to study. I said "UTA and architecture" and so did Alicia. We had all of our classes together and we became best friends and roommates. Funny it took 10 years!

3) Went to college with a girl named Ginny. She was from Cleburne. And my half sister, that I did not grow up with, also lived in Cleburne so I thought I would check. Yep turns out Ginny is good friends with my half-sister's brother.

4) Met my current boyfriend, Justin, at my first job in Dallas. He also went to the same university as me but I didn't know it until we started working together. Found out he was friends with Marcus, who I had a sustainability class with. Moved to LA to live with Justin and Marcus, find out Marcus and I graduated at the same high school together.

5) The only 2 authors whose whole collection of work that I own are: David Sedaris and Jhumpa Lahiri. Their writing has nothing in common. I come across a commentary by David Sedaris stating that one of his favorite writers is Jhumpa Lahiri. The are both incredible and wildly famous, no suprise there, but # 6 is WILD...

6) During my first job in Dallas I enter a competition. I need help learning about Sao Paulo so I contact a professor, Jessie Marshall, because she is a knower of all things South American. She tells me to call Eurico Franscisco. I meet up with Eurico Franscisco at his very large office of RTKL architects. He is incredibly interesting, gives me a fabulous book and tells me he knows my boss Jorge Gonzales. Fine...dandy...this is all in the same city. THEN...I move out to LA, work for 2 years and tell my LA boss, David Reddy, that I am moving to Chicago. David's wife, Betty, works for Westfield and sets me up with an Interview in Chicago. I get to Chicago, have my interview with a guy named Mike. Mike says he worked for RTKL in Dallas. The ONLY person I know that worked at RTKL is Eurico Francisco, so I say "The only person I know from there is Eurico Franscisco and he gave me a great book." Mike in Chicago says to me "You mean that book that's right behind you?" I turn around and there is the book! THEN he tells me that Eurico is in Chicago on business that very day and that they are having dinner together that night. HOW WILD IS THAT? From school, to Dallas, to LA, to Chicago. Whew...

Anyway I doubt that anyone read all of this post. But I think from time to time I will use my blog space to record memories, even if it bores you all. I think its great, you can't lose your blog like a piece of paper, the ink never fades and you can access it from anywhere. If you have any six degrees of separation stories I would love to hear them. They are fun and hard to follow, kind of like word problems.

Fingerless Glove Pretties

Aren't these just fun? It only took me a few hours to do these. I bought the pattern here. I might even make some more. I really liked the yellow ones she has in her store, but I couldn't find any nice yellow yarns. But the turqoise/mint is really cute. I even got to wear them today, since it was in the 40's this morning.

To Frog...

Yep so I am officially frogging the ripple blanket. Starting over, going to try replacing the orange with an off-white. It will be more girly but I am ok with that. So the color palette will be more like this since I already have a ton of purple and red. I am super depressed about restarting, but hopefully I will be more in the mood to work on it once I switch the colors out. So question....Should I 1) restart and throw what I have away? 2) Unravel and wind and then restart? I know its wasteful to toss all that yarn in the garbage. But unraveling will take me at least a week! Feedback please.

Realizations

Since I have been absent I figured I throw some realizations in here (I'll start bitter and end optimistic):

1) Why is it that only American women are pickpocketed? In Europe the only people you ever hear screaming after their bag are American women. Come on ladies!!! Protect those bags!

2)Wanna know what makes a city a great? Pedestrian only streets. There is an art festival outside my apartment this weekend. They have shut the street down and I wonder why it can't be like this everyday?

3) Earlier this week something died in our elevator and was really smelly. Today it smelled like a hair perm!

4) Why is it that America loves to watch people dancing, but they don't like to dance themselves? Come on and shake your booty on the dance floor!

5) I thank the people who don't follow the rules of fall clothing colors, I saw a woman the other day wearing a magenta coat and carrying a bright green umbrella. She stood out from all the blah neutrals like myself and made everything seem so beautiful and surreal.

6) I am a season ticket holder of the Joffrey Ballet this season!!!!

7) I owe my desire to learn to crochet to Amanda Hutt and possibly a random girl crocheting on a bus in Turkey.

8) Yoga really works for stress.

9) The easiest 3 miles you will ever run is when there is a show choir performing on the sidelines.

10) My dog has super cute toes! See photo!

Desert Sand Scarf

My latest and greatest. This was a much needed selfish project! I'm keeping this one for myself. It was so nice to have something new to wear today. And what a perfect rainy, chilly, fall day. This one worked up quite fast. I found the pattern here.

It was easy schmeasy. Doesn't it remind you of that desert that you have never been to but only only seen photos of?

As you can see I'm up to my old antics of self modeling and self photographing. Neither of which I am good at. Yep, its a me day!

*desert image brought to you by the great wondrous interweb and sponsored by a google image search (I didn't write down that site address)

In the bucket

So since I haven't blogged in awhile, I thought I would give you a sneak peak of some the little things I have started. Some really haven't been started at all, the fabric is still in the "idea" phase. I realized the other day, I am really attracted to Orange and Green things right now. My whole apartment is decorated with Orange and Green. The recent architecture competition I entered has an Orange and Green scheme to it. And all the fabric and yarn I am buying is Orange and Green. Hmm?

I'm having a crafta-thon today since its raining, we will have to see what all these things become.

Sleep Deprevation Hurts!

I haven't slept in a week. I am only posting because I am rendering and I need something to keep me busy and the internet is just about the only thing my computer can handle right now. I think my sleep deprevation caused that last sentence to be a run-on. I can't promise to post craft stuff within the week because Tuesday-Thursday I will be sleeping and I intend to enjoy the next weekend by being outside... weather permitting. There are still lots of beginnings of new projects. Fall is coming soon, I better get knitty.

New Yarn

New Yarn, new projects. I have lots of new projects starting up. I purchased this yarn from Kangaroodyer to make something for a friend. I should have photographed it when it was still a hank, but I forgot. My thumb is sore from winding it last night while watching Weekend at Bernies. I miss those silly 80's films where nothing had to make sense.

I will post more when the yarn becomes something.

Chicago Tourists

My dad was in town this past week, hence the slow blog. It was fun being a tourist for a change. We saw a lot of the city in one week...Cubs game, Sears tower, architecture boat tour, Millenium park, magnificent mile, chicago pizza and hot dogs, latin festival, Buckingham fountain and The Greenmill. And since I forgot to photograph the scarf I made my dad, I have decided to share photos from his visit.

This is the famous glass ledge of the Sears Tower....excuse me...Willis Tower: That's Dad on the left!

This photo was taken at the Greenmill Jazz Club:

And this photo is of the new Zaha Hadid designed pavillion in Millenium Park. Side note: This is the second time I have been to the pavillion. And both times are reminders of why I love Architecture. On the first visit, 2 kids ran towards this screaming "OH COOL!!!" At this last visit, one kid asked his mom "Can we go see that one again?" And its not just kids either, everyone is drawn to this. I know its more of an installation rather than architecture, but any great building really, even the Sears Tower, people flock from around the world to see BUILDINGS. I love that! Have you ever seen anyone running towards a strip mall saying "Oh cool?" Not me. Down with the Strip Malls!

More crafts to come....I promise. I am just trying to enjoy the last days of summer while I still have them!