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Believe it or not, I actually did know that Chippendale boasts some bondage parlours. We actually got invited to a party at one of them by SOMEBODY. Apparently once you get past the fact that it’s a dungeon, it’s supposed to be a really fun time. We’re just not sure it’s our scene. (Link courtesy of Life in Chippendale.)

SNOW?! You’re freaking kidding me. And I missed it.

Visiting the babies
Last night I caught a flight from Los Angeles to Oakland to visit the Carbos for the weekend. The kids were all asleep by the time I got here… but this morning we’re all getting to know each other. My sister had the excellent suggestion to bribe Penn with some new toys and he seems to be warming up to me. Indie is just the sweetest, happiest baby I’ve ever seen. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures…

Compatto Yarn Salon
Last night I left work and walked a few blocks over to Compatto Yarn Salon. That’s the knitting shop I found on my first day, and I knew they were having a sock knitting night. I’d brought my long-neglected Rhiannons along. There were five ladies sitting on the sofas in the back, happily stitching away. I introduced myself and a couple of them recognized me from a question I asked on the Ravelry LA forums. Everybody was really friendly and I had a great time. (My favorite bit: One of the girls who works there was like, “Maybe while you’re here we can teach you to knit continental!” I chuckled and explained that I’m perfectly able to do continental and use it whenever I do two-handed fairisle, but in general I just prefer my silly old inefficient method of throwing. I think that threw her for a loop, so to speak.) I was surprised and fascinated to learn that one of the other knitters works on political campaigns, and she happily whipped out a photo of herself with Barack Obama. Cool! We debated the merits of the Australian electoral system as opposed to the U.S. Of course, sitting in such proximity to such gorgeous wool made Stash Acquisition inevitable. I managed to escape with only a ball of hot pink variegated Cascade Fixation (for making a hat for my niece) and a gorgeous golden skein of Pagewood St. Elias, a scrumptiously soft sock yarn made with Blue Faced Leicester wool. I’m going to try to make it back for next week’s group too.

Ooh, something I forgot to add about my Grocery Store Experience the other night: They had special free sanitizing wipes at the front door for you to wipe down the handle of your shopping cart so you didn’t pick up germs from other people. Is this an LA thing, or is this now de rigeur at all American grocery stores? I’d never seen such a thing in my life before. (Heh. The carts we normally use at Broadway are probably FILTHY. Everyone in, like, a ten block radius feels entitled to push their stuff all the way home in the cart. Then a little man in a truck drives around the neighborhood every day, collecting the carts and driving them back to the store. I doubt they get wiped down in the slightest. So not only have other people touched them, they’ve probably been sitting out all night in the elements too! Horrors.)

Kitchen Block with Bowl. Neat! Filing this one away for future kitchen renovation reference…

Lunch at the Water Garden
There’s an amazing office complex between the apartment and work called The Water Garden. I’ve walked and ridden past it on the bus a few times now so today I decided to explore. It was so pretty! There are several interconnected fountains and plazas with meandering pathways between them. The sun was shining with a nice breeze. I got some lunch – chicken quesadilla with spanish rice and guacamole – and sat myself down on a bench.

   

Yeah, that first one is me on the bench by the tree. What, you thought I wasn’t the type of person who’d balance her camera on a trash can, hit the timer, and sprint 30 feet to the nearest bench? You were wrong. I have no shame.

Mmmm, Decadent American Grocery Stores
So I’ve moved out of the swanky hotel downtown and into the staff apartment a few blocks from work. It’s pretty nice! Somehow it just feels a lot more relaxing to come back to a place with a kitchen and a couch. There’s a grocery store nearby so I headed over last night to get some supplies. Man, I forgot how amazing American grocery stores are. You guys just have no idea. I was walking around in a daze, like some Eastern European immigrant getting my first taste of capitalism. I’m pretty sure my jaw was open the whole time. And this wasn’t even, like, a Super Walmart or anything. It was just a normal grocery store. I was freaking out. Too. Many. Choices. Everything so cheap. It is both the pinnacle of American achievement and a symbol of its decadance. I love it.

So there I was, wandering around like a slack-jawed yokel, trying to concentrate on the few things I knew I needed: something for breakfast, toilet paper, laundry detergent. And as I walked the aisles, I had a sudden epiphany: Snookums is my dietary Jiminy Cricket. Without him to keep me in check, my impulse was to load up on junk. It took all the willpower I had to buy some actual decent food (I got ingredients to make spaghetti carbonara for dinner tonight)… and even so, I still walked out with Golden Grahams, Pop-Tarts, and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. *sigh* At least I managed to get in a good run on the treadmill and start to work off some of the inevitable calories.

Coolness! My little brother Joey went to the Elkhart County Fair this week with his Day Camp group and they ended up on the evening news! My Mom put it up on Youtube. He’s the one in the blue Cubs hat waving and pulling faces behind the camp leader.