It's hard to feel gloomy on a day like today...

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, baby geese are everywhere and so are all the wildflowers. I never knew that lilacs came in so many beautiful shades of pinks and purples. They looked so beautiful growing on the bay trail, mixed in with the licorice plants, mustard, golden poppies, thistle, and tall wheat-colored grass. So inspirational.

I miss running. It's hard being so largely pregnant at the height of running season. I'm walking a sad 16min mile listening to my running music. On the inside, I don't feel pregnant. Its only when I try to do something outside of my current range of ability that the pregnancy makes itself felt. If I try to jog even for a 1/4 mile, my hips remind me that is a bad idea for a couple of days. I'd love to get a jog in, but between cooking, cleaning, shopping, packing up our condo and trying to get some basic cardio in, I just don't seem to have the energy.

The non-pregnant spiritual me on the inside is running ahead of me on those walks. She remembers the freedom of running light (without the extra 30+ lbs I've gained so far) and the feel of the wind on her face. She remembers the runner's high at the midway point of a marathon and how good she felt after a nice fast 5k.

Today I'm going shopping for a hat and some do-dahs to decorate the hat for my baby shower. It's an Alice in Wonderland themed baby shower. I need to get some ribbons in "Alice-Blue" for my hubby's hat and I need to pick up a nice red topper I saw at Hats of Berkeley yesterday. Then its off to Berkeley Bowl West for some light shopping and back home to work on my baby book.

At some point I hope to get some knitting done between all of this and making dinner.

Aya! So much to do! Pictures will be coming soon. I have so many things I am working on right now!

So much has happened...where to begin?

Hi there faithful blog readers.

Some of you may have been wondering, where have I gone off to. Well...I've been busier with life than you'd expect.

I didn't make my marathon goal--I completed it, but only 24 seconds faster.

That's okay though, I had a good reason--I was 4 wks pregnant at the time.

I'm now 21 wks along, and I realize it's time to update this. I'm still running, so of course I have plenty of running adventures to share. I'm also still pulling out the hooks and needles, so I'll have tons of lovely projects to share.

I hope to have a much more adequate post soon.

Till then~

Running...a retrospective

For those of you keeping up with me and my life so far, you know that for the last year, running has been my obsession. All in preparation for next week...when I finally complete the Nike Women's Marathon on October 18th. My goal...to beat the PR set this past July during the SF Marathon of 4hrs 38min marathon. I think I could break 4 hours (average 9:00 min/mile). At the very least, I think I can get a 9:30min/mi average (4 hour 9 min marathon). Crazy talk you say? Well, I'm starting to believe...

Why do the Japanese have to make things that are so darn cute?!

Why do the Japanese make everything so insanely cute?! Not to mention well designed and wonderful? I don't even have children, and I want to make this baby dress! This dress was just posted on Ravelry in the Japanese Knitting and Crochet group. Go check it out here: http://atelier.woman.excite.co.jp/creation/5422.html

In other news, recently (april, so almost two months ago...sigh) I participated in the Discarded to Divine show with St. Vincent De Paul Society. Here is a picture of me published on the 944.com website. I look pretty sexy in that vintage 70's little black dress :)

Sadly, I was unable to attend the actual fashion show for this event this month. I injured my foot training for my marathon. I was in the wrong shoes. Apparently, I have neutral feet with low arches--the people at the sports store I visited recommended shoes for people who overpronate...DONT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! Go to a reputable store that specializes in running to have your gait properly analyzed. I ended up going to Transport in Berkeley (on Solano) and I highly recommend them. Not only did they measure my foot (I had been wearing the wrong size too, and the wrong width) the also analyzed my gait then put me on a treadmill and observed how I run in the two recommended shoes they had in the store. I ended up buying a lovely pair of Brooks shoes that cost HALF AS MUCH as the shoes recommended to me by a sports store that shall remain nameless here. I spent 2 weeks unable to run, almost unable to walk because I bruised my cuboid and "rolled" my ankle straining one of my larger tendons--all because someone was trying to make a bigger sale. :( I am currently going through rehab on my ankle, but thankfully I'm back up to running again :)

In the meantime I will focus on getting myself up and running at full speed. I also need to focus on fundraising...I'm $25 away from my goal. When I reach my goal my entrance fee for the marathon will be refunded (bonus!) in addition to having the $250 I raised go straight to the kids.

I am thinking of giving away a skein of handspun (on a drop spindle) fingerweight yarn (made by me) as a prize for anyone who donates at least $5 through my donation page. I'll post more info on that soon including pictures of the yarn you can receive. I may also give away some fiber and sock yarn to sweeten the deal. :)

It's been a while since I've blogged....

..I am pretty sure I'm the world's worst blogger.

SO much new stuff is going on with me. I've been spinning and knitting and crocheting like a fiend. I also began training for a half marathon (with a marathon in the works later).

I am thinking I will do a raffling off of some of my lovely knitting and crocheting stash as a fundraiser to pay for my running training... More to come soon! With pictures, I promise...

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Here are a couple of pictures of some freshly carved pumpkins, carved my be and my hubby last night! Enjoy~ and have a happy and safe Halloween.

Fall is here!

One of many things occupying my time lately has been the traveling scarf group. See my scarf travel across the country. Currently it is visiting the east coast and some lovely pumpkins!


Projects underway:

I have put some of my crocheting and knitting on hold to finish some important and some less important projects. It's hard being a textile fanatic. So many things to distract one... :D

This year I will be participating in Discarded to Divine, a charity auction benefiting the St. Vincent De Paul Society. Local fashion designers/design students create unique, one-of-a-kind couture pieces created from recycled discarded clothing. This year I'm planning something spectacular. the only hint I will give to you right now is that I will be using only the items you see on the left here and at least two if not three of my textile related skills. I promise it will be worth the wait. More pics and info to come soon. I want to keep an online diary of my progress by way of this blog.

Another thing that will be occupying my time in the coming weeks is preparations of submissions of three special projects to a magazine which at this time will remain undisclosed as to not jinx myself. If I get in, I will post the good news. :D

I will also begin focusing on the next Crochet Liberation Front books. I have a couple of awesome pattern ideas in mind. If you don't have this book already, I highly recommend buying it :D. Well worth the money :D. And I'm not just saying that because I'm in it ;).

In other news, as if I weren't enough of a textile fanatic already, I've taken up a new hobby...spinning my own yarn. Spinning has it's own zen qualities that lends itself well to daily meditation. I just started in July after taking a brief class at Lambtown USA. I am now spinning lovely singles...


..which are then becoming beautiful yarns.

On October 18th, I will be attending Color: A Fiber Festival where I will be taking all sorts of lovely classes to enhance my textile manipulation skills. Muahahaahahahah! If you are in the greater Berkeley area, I highly recommend you stop on by. There will be many awesome classes and vendors for the fiber junkie in you. And you get a chance to meet all sorts of nice people like myself :D