Crochet Tintin Rocket – That’s really cool! I’m reading my first Tintin book ever now (after seeing the movie last week).

Goths up trees – Man, I love single-focus Tumblrs.

Trying to drive a stake through a conversational staple – latimes.com – I’ll admit I say “awesome” way too much, and it annoys me.

Free Cycling Confidence Courses – City of Sydney – Just booked myself and the Snook in for this free Cycling Confidence course in a couple weeks. I can ride a bike just fine, but my childhood pootling around in the country is a far cry from community in the Sydney CBD!

Happy blog-birthday to me!
Can you believe I nearly missed it? The ELEVENTH birthday of this blog actually took place on January 4th, two days ago, but I was having too much fun with our nephew Kurt to sit in front of the computer. That’s pretty much been the story of the year, I guess. If I’m not out (literally) running around, I’m usually on Facebook, Twitter, Ravelry, DailyMile, and Health Month. The poor blog has fallen way down the priority list. Still, as I said last year, I keep postin’ and you keep readin’. We’ll keep going as long as we can. As always, I’ve compiled some fun statistics to celebrate. (Previously: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003.)

• Number of posts: 707 (1% INCREASE on last year!)
• Number of comments: 814 (another big drop from last year – nobody comments on blogs anymore!)
• Comments to post ratio: 1.15 (still dropping)
• Posts mentioning the Snook: 162 (this is like some universal constant – it barely fluctuates from year to year!)
• Most commented posts: Oscar Contest 2011, Macleay River Marathon 2011 Race Report, 25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes!, Marathon training run, and 2011 Blog Birthday.
• Top 10 commenters excluding myself: Rachel (52), M-H (37), 1funkyknitwit (33), Kristen (27), Dr K (27), RoseRed (26), Miss Fee (19), The Snook (17 – seriously!), Jenny (17), JulieK (14).
• Oscar contest entries: 414, won by John M.
• Runkeeper total distance run: 1043.77km / 652mi – 4% increase on last year
• Races run: Mother’s Day Classic, Macleay River Marathon, City 2 Surf, Blackmore’s Half-Marathon.
• Finished knitting projects: eleven, including redyeing a previously knitted cardigan and my second major crocheted thing!
• Finished sewing projects: just two shirts that I haven’t even blogged yet, and a Wonder Woman skirt!
• Jamie Oliver meals cooked: 37! Our favourites were Grilled Sardines, Oozy Mushroom Risotto, Tasty Crusted Cod, Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, Beef Hash.
• Memorable restaurant feeds: Bentley Bar and Restaurant, Porteño, Momofuku Seiobo
• Frocktober: dresses or skirts worn on 22 days of the month!
• Movember: $220 raised by the Snook!
• Concerts and outings: Amanda Palmer concert, One Man Lord of the Rings, “Paul” screening with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, talk by Terry Pratchett, Star Wars Burlesque,
• Trips: Wollongong Knitting Camp 2011, Mid-North Coast (for the marathon), Trip to Melbourne and Mornington Peninsula, Sewjourn knitters’ retreat in Victoria.

Looking back on my goals for 2011, I didn’t actually accomplish that many of them. I did manage to hand off the Knitters Guild webmaster position to someone else, but I promptly volunteered for another role. (D’OH!) I joined the IIBA and went on a training course. We have made some progress on our kitchen and garden plans. And hey, I RAN A MARATHON. But the second half of the year was difficult, and I dealt with illness and injury that wrecked my other running goals. I lost a few pounds, but not as many as I’d hoped. Work was challenging as I dealt with changing responsibilities. I’m really looking forward to turning things around in 2012.

Goals for 2012: Renovate the kitchen. Run 1100km in the calendar year and get my 10K time to under 60 minutes. Lose 15kg. Sew a dress for myself and continue with transition to “dressing like a grown-up.” Sort out my US tax situation. And as always, win a goddamn blue ribbon at the Easter Show!

Homemade Mexican Feast with FlavourCrusader
Yesterday my friend Sharon came over to cook some food together. She had recently bought a tortilla press and she wanted to try it out. Sounds like a good excuse to me! We made pork tacos complete with homemade tortillas and guacamole. (Well, Sharon did most of it! I mainly took photographs.) Sharon has posted the tortilla recipe along with some photos of the process over at her FlavourCrusader blog. It was a fun and tasty project. Thanks Sharon!

Awesome, just discovered that Sydney parkrun is now open for registration! This is a weekly timed 5K at Sydney Park in St. Peters. It’s free to join and run. I met the organisers last year and they’re pretty cool. I’m looking forward to participating!

Confession: one of my goals for 2012 is to get featured on Sydney Cycle Chic. I know; I’m tragic.

Tusken Raider Star Wars Crochet Hat – Bookmarking for future Easter Show entry. 🙂