A trip to Paris would improve my outlook on life

Andy's Wedding Quilt

2009-06-16T09:26:00.005-07:00

My mom and I made this really awesome quilt for my cousin Andy and his wife Tara who got married last Saturday. We each made half the blocks and we both love it.

My 100th post and first giveaway!

2009-05-08T18:11:00.002-07:00

100 posts! it only took me three years :)
Since I am greedy and want my darling friend Kate to make me something lovely, I am going to pass on the favor to y'all. Please read below for official contest rules.

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. You get what you get.
2. What I create will be just for you - if you have a blog I can mine for ideas, it might be based on what I think you'll like - or it may be random.
3. It'll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something digital. It may be weird or beautiful. It may be baked goods.
5. I reserve the right to do something strange, if inspired to do so.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own - or a blog post - and make something for the first 5 people to respond to your note.
7. Send me your mailing address if you don't live close to me!

IMPORTANT: You DO have to pay it forward.

If you want to participate, leave a comment with a link where I can find your post. Email with your address and I'll get around to it sometime in 2009.

Paying it forward from Kate's blog and my participation therein.

some smaller quilts

2009-04-16T09:46:00.002-07:00

First, a baby quilt I made out of leftovers from another quilt that looks pretty much exactly like this. I think it's so cute!

Next, the final result of one I posted a while ago; it ended up about 52" square, a perfect lap size. Tiff bought it for her mom for Mother's Day.

Finally, the last of the pink square-in-a-square bits I had left, made into a sweet baby girl quilt. I'll be posting this on Etsy soon. I can't believe I almost made a queen size of all 4" square-in-a-square blocks!!! I was insane.

bogus dreams 1

2009-03-22T12:23:00.003-07:00

(I have been having a lot of really really weird dreams recently.)

I dreamt I was sent on an emergency business trip to Scotland. I was to fly there Tuesday to arrive Wednesday and be refreshed for the meeting Thursday, and then fly back immediately Thursday afternoon. No problem, say I, except that THIS IS TUESDAY MORNING RIGHT NOW. So I get on the plane and realize I don't have any of the essentials - those being extra underwear, appropriate trousers for a meeting, iphone charger, and book to read on the long-ass flight. So the pilot somehow learns of my plight and drives the half-empty plane to my house, because he knew my dad. Except that he drove it to my PARENTS' house. (I moved out 5 years ago and everyone thinks I still live there. This is true and frustrating even in real life) I ask to borrow an iphone charger from my dad, ask him to get one from my house when he goes up to feed my cat, and then we spend what seems like hours taking care of five minutes' worth of stuff and I start worrying about holding up the entire plane. It is still in the driveway.

(then my phone rings and wakes me up)

jet setting

2009-02-11T06:59:00.002-08:00

I'm off to London today! I'm on vacation for two solid weeks, including a weekend in Scotland and another weekend in Morocco! SO COOL.
I'm leaving in two hours and haven't packed yet. :)

suzy homemaker weekend!

2009-01-25T20:33:00.003-08:00

Hi guys!
I have been hanging out at home this weekend, being super productive (in between wasting time on facebook and napping on the couch with kitty) so here are a few snaps of what I'm doing:

Some blocks from a pinwheel quilt I've been working on for some time - mostly very pale blues with a few very pale greens (upper right) and that one mostly white print with big pink flowers on it (bottom center). I've got 64 - 8" blocks finished, I was considering making it a queen size but lost steam when I realized that not only would I have to sew 36 more blocks, but also that a 64" square quilt is really quite a lovely size. I'll lay out the blocks once I get this one off the quilt wall:

this is an incredibly crappy snapshot, but you get the idea. The strips are 6" wide - they are the leftovers from the squares I cut for Mikey's Christmas quilt (below). I had a giant stack of strips left and decided to sew them together. The horizontal asphalt grey strips are 1" and the vertical ones are 1.5". It's 41"x44" right now, if I remember correctly, and I think I'll just sew 4" grey borders on and piece a multicoloured sashing from more of the Asian prints - though I may give in and put a double border on it (grey, print strips, grey) to make it more of a lap size. Your input is welcome!

Here is a sweet little vignette of my sewing table - I did some improvisational piecing from bits I had left over from a homespun quilt I made - that one did turn out to be queen sized - and I'm quite pleased with the results. It's 22"x25", a large doll quilt size. I made one about that size for my cat since I just had a few squares left from a quilt I made for Monica a few years ago, and I loved them together, so I just made a mini quilt. The cat thinks it is the best thing ever. She hides toys under it and then dives under to attack them, or just fights with it. It's cute.

This is the quilt we made Mikey for Christmas - I started it YEARS ago (we won't attempt to count) and Mom basically finished it for me (last bit of the sashing, borders, sandwiching, quilting, machine stitching the binding) so I could take it up to Whistler to give to Mike. It turned out HUGE - Anna is standing on a chair, on tiptoes, holding it up as tall as possible, on the left side of the photo there, and it's still puddling on the floor a tiny bit. HUGE.

Also I am knitting a hat, and made a pie (check it out at the hot buns bakery) and got a lot of sleep. Excellent weekend.

Love,
Abby

a lovely little story

2009-01-08T21:25:00.002-08:00

I had seen this a while ago but my brother found it on youtube and I want to share it, so please without further ado, spend the next 10 minutes watching this little gem of 1960s graphics and dry wit.

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T13:05:00.003-08:00

Hey guys!

I had a pretty fun new year - big roses & rosemary party (for which I provided baked goods and oceans of cheese) and then up to Whistler for the weekend with a couple of friends to visit my brother (did I tell you he's living there for the winter? bastard). I left my car at my parents' house for the weekend while I was up there and when I came back there had been a fire... inside the car. yep. This is the second time in 4 years that I have had a fire in my car. I have bad fire/car karma apparently.

My hopes for the new year are high but not unreasonable:
-do not buy lunch at work unless I have a lunch date and am going out. this involves cooking the night before or keeping pb&j in the fridge. this relates to:
-cook more. it's cheaper and healthier and funner. yes i said funner.
-travel more. this should be doable with all the money i'll save from cooking - and maybe even from not getting another car if i can hold out long enough.
-be more active. yeah, this includes going to the gym, but also bike more, hike more, play outside more. again, funner.
-finish more quilts. i'm hoping for 1 a month. also i'd like to blog about them, with pictures. and finish UFOs. and make lots of stash quilts because my stash is ooc.

so in summary, i want what i always want - be healthier and live my life to the fullest.

Here's hoping your new year brings you everything you wish for too-
love,
Abby

tasty treats

2008-12-08T12:11:00.003-08:00

Hi guys!
Jenn's mom's birthday was Saturday and she requested a German Chocolate cake:

I made extra frosting and it was damned good.

I also made biscotti last week. It was pretty plain but I flavored it with orange zest, vanilla, and almond extract and it was AWESOME. I will make more for Christmas goodies.

I have also volunteered to provide food & decor for the Roses and Rosemary New Years Eve party (www.rosesandrosemary.org/NewYears) so I spent the weekend pricing cheese and testing appetizers - I wanted to make fancy nuts for nibbles and loosely based my recipe on the absurdly fantastic spanish peanuts they have at El Camino (please go there immediately).

Abby's Awesome Spiced Peanuts (or mixed nuts, do whatever you want)

3 cups peanuts (i used roasted + lightly salted and they worked fine)

1t cumin

1t cayenne

1/2 t savory seasoning blend (optional - i used the no-salt garlicky one in a grinder from costco)

1T honey

1/2 lime

2t sea salt

Put cumin and cayenne in a dry pan and toast for a minute, then add a tablespoon or two of water, get all the spices wet, and add the nuts and toss to coat. Cook the nuts, tossing frequently, for a couple of minutes. Stir in the honey and make sure that's mixed well, then spread on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, then let cool. Squeeze in some lime juice and sea salt, toss again, put the rest of the lime in some Coronas, and try not to eat them all in one go.

Love,

Abby

happy thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T21:30:00.002-08:00

what's up, y'all?

It's been two months and I have been busy, but I just wanted to tell you hello and I'm still around and doing great and having fun, but don't feel interesting enough to blog when I have time, and don't have time when I feel interesting.

That being said, today was an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving with a delicious mishmash of friends and family, and I'm thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. And food. Good lord, I'm thankful for the food. And for you, reading this.

And now it's time for Christmas, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever.
Love,
Abby

game on.

2008-09-18T12:06:00.004-07:00

So Monica and Kate and I signed up for a holiday craft fair up in the islands. Having two months to make enough quilts to justify a booth really makes life interesting - we're aiming for a dozen actual quilts (all lap size) + various and sundry holiday craft items, mostly potholders & table runner style stuff. I have three baby quilts ready to go but they're a bit summery, I'll bring them along anyway and see what happens. I've had lots of ideas recently about stuff I'd like to make but the deadline helps get my ass in gear. Also the fact that we're making lap size quilts makes it way less daunting than making bed sized ones.

I am trying to do a lot of this out of my stash, which is obscene, but have found myself at the fabric store a couple of times on accident. WHOOPS! This beige one was all stash, I can't really remember why I bought a bunch of beige solids but I am LOVING it. I have wanted to make a bento box for a long time, and there was an article in a Martha mag with a yellow and white bento box folded up on the back of a chair and it was so comfortable that I just wanted it right away. This one is going to be awesome.

Monica's boyfriend's mom let me borrow her quilting frame but I don't have a suitable machine - here's hoping the birthday bunny comes through with a Juki mid-arm. I am secretly hoping (and not-so-secretly hinting) that my friends might make donations to the birthday juki fund? It's a little expensive, especially since I am trying to go to Australia in the spring, but think of how quickly I could whip out quilts! I have a dozen tops ready to go, it's just such a hassle wrestling them through my wee (and thoroughly beloved) Pfaff.

other current (new) projects/ideas:

-a floral irish chain I bought way too much fabric for when I worked at the quilt shop and now have no idea why I loved it so much, I guess my style has changed!

-an amish roman stripe on charcoal, bordered in silver and then plum, SO EXCITED

-something like the Happy Hour pattern in non-christmasy reds and greens

-trying to find a pattern to use all the horrid pinks I collected during my pink phase and now make me sort of sick to my stomach, without making it so... pink. I think maybe bordering it with A LOT of white, but then it's not much of a stashbuster, is it?

-playing around with text on a quilt, making one with my name on it or maybe just a giant monogram to test it out

-a blue and white snowball/churn dash that goes over the edges of the quilt - will bind it in bright green or bright red

-seeing what happens when I take a traditional pattern and make it "float" by chopping off the edges in a non-traditional place

-an irish chain or nine-patch in 30s prints with an apple green background

whew! some of these I've started, some I haven't, and I'm sure I'll get lots more ideas in the next couple of months. Look for more posts soon I hope!

Love, Abby

two baby quilts up on etsy

2008-07-31T11:18:00.002-07:00

more quilts.

2008-07-31T10:40:00.003-07:00

A wedding quilt (them're lady cowboys - scantily clad I might add) for an undisclosed recipient... please excuse my trashy see through wifebeater. It was hot! Note my prized roll of quilt batting in the background (and assorted quilt tops too!). I'm such a quilt nerd.

A baby quilt to be sold on Etsy - I collected dozens of pink and white prints back in my pink phase in my early twenties, cut out an entire queen sized quilt's worth of 4" finished square-in-a-square blocks, and promptly put them away in a bin and ignored them. that's a heckuva lot of triangles. I sewed some of them together and alternated the blocks with a solid pale pink. I'm going to quilt it on the diagonal, I think it is going to be really cute. My mom offered to sew the rest of the blocks together if I wanted to make it bigger, but I am so over the idea of having an all pink quilt on MY bed, and did I mention that's a crapload of triangles? I'll save the blocks for future baby quilts instead.

This is the quilt I made based on Thomas' pictures from Cinque Terre, which I blogged about ages ago. It's finally all together, and I went to my parents' house last night to sandwich it and my dad FLIPPED OUT and immediately started calling it his and bought it on the spot - he even made me do the binding HIS way "to preserve the artistic integrity". Whatever, Dad. It's pretty awesome though. I really love the way it turned out. Plus it's pretty cool because even though my dad always likes to see the quilts I make, he seems kind of bored by them because they have been pretty traditional and he's such an expansive artist he wants to see more art quilts. So here ya go, Dad.

This is a wholecloth quilt that I was going to make for my mom for Mother's Day because I have this red quilt on my couch that she keeps hinting about and I'm afraid she's going to steal it one day. I saw these fabrics in the spring and really liked them together - I had a couple of other fabrics picked out but kept coming back to these, even though they're really weird colors. The inner border (and the future binding too) is a really cool purple stripe, and the outer border is butterscotch flowers on a tan background with purple leaves. I picked up a butterscotch solid for the backing when I didn't have this with me and it turned out to be perfect when I brought it home. I was going to keep it a secret from my mom but she got all excited about it when I laid it out so I had to tell her. Also I am bad at keeping minor secrets. Anyway, I meant to have it done for her for Mother's day but there was the Roses & Rosemary auction and a bunch of other stuff, so I didn't get it done. She knows I love her anyway.

sewing blitz

2008-07-28T13:47:00.010-07:00

So this weekend I cancelled all my engagements and holed up and sewed my little heart out. Here's some of what I did.

hey y'all

2008-07-08T10:10:00.003-07:00

July! What? How did that happen?

We had a sweet-ass barbecue at my parents' house again for the 4th. This year was the best yet I think - lots of people I like and pretty much no people I don't like. Plus pie. Only bummer was, all the fellas I invited brought girlfriends. Pfft.

Here's a quilt I'm working on:

I llooooooovvvve it. It's a color study for a quilt I'm making that was inspired by Orla Kiely's stem print (and Joanie), and it's a perfect cheery summery baby quilt. I'm hand quilting it in Xs across the white (well, slightly creamy) squares. It's awesome. It's 40" square and I think I'll list it for $175. Reasonable, yes? The only bummer - which I didn't notice until I had started quilting it and you can't even really tell in this photo - is that all six of the tangerine colored squares are squished over on the right side. So much for random placement.

ANYway. Hope you all are well. Enjoy the summer, it's finally nice!

Love, mcnabbs.

the red quilt finished

2008-05-30T11:18:00.003-07:00

Ta-daaa! It raised $120 for the orphans!

(back detail)

"how are you so prolific?"

2008-05-13T11:42:00.002-07:00

So I decided to put borders on the red quilt, and I'm glad I did. I was hanging out with my mom on Mother's Day, pinning quilts on her hardwood floor (yep, still have the shitty carpet - but I'm pretty sure I convinced my dad to let me lay marmoleum tile! SCORE), and she paused and said "how are you so PROLIFIC with your quilts? I mean, how do you make so MANY?"

...uh. total blank stare. See, I always think to myself "man, I wish I had time to start THIS one or THAT one, I like THAT, wouldn't THAT one be fun?" and here is my mom, the woman who made 15 quilts one year (yeah she had 9 months off, but she spent a whole heck of a lot of time in the garden too), kind of in awe at the fact that I'm at her house for the second time in 2008 pinning three quilts at once.

awesome.

feeling quilty

2008-05-10T13:27:00.006-07:00

so today's biggest project is a charity quilt for the roses and rosemary spring cocktail event auction! i am taking a wee break to consider whether to put borders on it or just leave it at a nice cuddly 50"x60" throw size (totally big enough and less sewing - but it just seems kind of unfinished right now). i think i need some borders to hold the whole thing together. lord knows i have enough extra fabric. what posessed me to get eight plus yards of assorted prints for a throw size? sheesh. at least i have plenty for the back :)

pinwheels!

2008-05-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

I finished the pinwheel quilt! FINALLY! It only took me like six, seven years. And before I even put the last stitch in it, it was sold. Thanks Tiff, enjoy!

sigh

2008-04-27T12:48:00.003-07:00

confession: i am bad at the internet.

ok, i'm good at finding things on the internet. i'm good at ordering things from the internet. i'm great at wasting time on the internet. but i am really, really bad at updating things on the internet. i know the last thing this world needs is one more blogger/crafter/baker/joker posting their wares, and not like anyone reads this anyway, but i am still doing a lot of projects, and when people ask me what i'm up to i have to say 'here's my blog but there isn't much new stuff on it'. what's up with that? i have a digital camera, i have a flickr page, i have an etsy site, facebook, everything, but i can't update it to save my life. i am currently internally whining about the prospect of revamping my flickr page. 4000 pictures on there and i think i'm going to have to just delete them all and start over again. le sigh.

in other news: i made a key lime cheesecake with mango topping for my friend's birthday. it's glorious.

so i'll allow myself a mini-rant about quilting: i'm so annoyed with how deified denyse schmidt is. yeah, she's great, she does cool things, but why does every beginning quilter have to make their first quilt out of either denyse schmidt quilts or the modern quilt workshop? also, why does so much ADORABLE and/or GORGEOUS stuff come out of Japan? it seems everything is perfectly pieced, perfectly coordinated, perfectly sized, and freakin' awesome. plus it's all hand-pieced and hand-quilted! where do all these ladies get the TIME? anyway, kudos to japanese crafters, because you guys make me jealous in a good way.

ok, i am off to the quilt shop for a solid red (only) to use as the background for a charity quilt for the roses and rosemary auction. i got a bunch of different red prints and actually have been dreaming (literally) about a red-prints-on-red-background quilt for a few months now so i'm excited to have an excuse to make it :)

april already?

2008-04-14T16:08:00.002-07:00

And the middle of April, at that!
Saturday was absolutely GORGEOUS and I went to Monica and Andrew's for a barbecue on the lake. I also got some quilting done and only have the hand sewing left to do on my pinwheels, but the cat has been sleeping on that one so I haven't been able to work on it, because she's so dang cute! Yes, I will be a crazy old quilty cat lady. Sigh.
love,
mcnabbs

laughed till i cried

2008-03-11T17:57:00.002-07:00

ok. shitty two weeks. like SHITTTTTTT-AY! shitty.
but this, thank god, just made me laugh till i cried.

http://littera-abactor.livejournal.com/7748.html

holy crap i finished something!

2008-03-07T10:30:00.008-08:00

only took me five years! here it is on my bed, before I washed it...

and here it is with the lucky recipients!

love, mcnabbs

long weekend

2008-02-19T15:05:00.002-08:00

Hey guys! I had a super awesome weekend. Friday night the Bedards and Ani came into town for GT's 60th birthday party (which was awesome) and then we all went to Murphy's for a pint o Guinness. Saturday was Jenn and Will's wedding (gorgeous, personal, memorable, and fun!) then to R place with Allison and 4 adorable gay men. Sunday I pinned three quilts and quilted one, then came down with the cold/flu that's been going around my office for weeks. Monday was gorgeous AND a paid holiday, so it was a total waste of a sick day, but at least I watched all my netflix that had been hanging around for three weeks, got about 10% of my hand quilting project done, and even some laundry besides, so it wasn't a total loss.

culinary adventures

2008-02-13T11:38:00.003-08:00

so last weekend was a feast-fest. I ate well and drank a lot.

thursday: meatloaf and mashed potatoes, berry crumble, and something red with chris and jade.

friday: wine night at monica's: fettucine with salmon and lemon zest, apple pie, many something reds (mostly from washington)

saturday: squash-themed dinner party at dave and lisa's: savory sage-infused soup with pancetta, some kind of bread-pudding-like baked dish without the bread, chorizo-stuffed butternut halves, and creme brulee. also, something red.

sunday: pie party chez my parents for their birthdays. two each pecan, lemon meringue, apple, marionberry, rhubarb, and banana cream. also the best guacamole i've ever made. THEN paella at justyn's with sausage, chicken, shrimp, mussels, and clams. yum. more red wine.

so i had a pretty tasty weekend but gained three pounds. hmmm.

tonight i'm making delicious valentine treats, tomorrow my new red shoes AND jenn and will's wedding present AND my 40 yards of quilt batting are all supposed to be delivered to my office (o happy day!), and then friday michela and brian come to town for terry steig's 60th birthday party. saturday jenn and will get married, then i have the rest of the weekend to sew, sew, sew!

mission: one or two dresses and maybe new shoes for under a hundred bucks. i already checked out shoes at the rack (and impulsively bought lime green slingback wedges for only $15) but didn't get to their dress section, although the girl in front of me in line had two formals for $30 each so i think i have to go back there today. macy's had two gorgeous options for over $100 each but the presidents' day sale starts today so maybe i'll get lucky there. banana republic had one fun and flirty but less flattering dress, also over $100. sheesh.

heart,
at

token january entry

2008-01-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.

sooooooo even though I'm uber-bad at blogging, I can't have a whole month not show up at all on the little dealie on the side there so here ya go.

This month has been alright so far; our team only lost the month-long trivia tournament by five points (and several of us were out for two weeks in a row, plus the other team may or may not haev cheated), I got to go skiing, and go on another fantastic weekend to Seabrook. And today I found a bolt in my tea. Serious. Check it out.

love,

mcnabbs

new year, new start

2007-12-31T08:24:00.000-08:00

So I've been busy crafting and baking over the holidays, but for some reason I have this huge problem transferring pictures from my camera so you can see them. So you'll get pictures soon of the over-one-thousand-cookies I baked for friends and coworkers near and far. But until then, since it is the last day of 2007, I shall write a list of new year's resolutions, since I have a jillion this year. Apparently my free-and-easy three b.s. resolutions last year didn't cut it for me, so I've got to be more serious about this.

1) don't overdraft. my bank must love me since i spent an absurd amount of money on overdraft fees last year. yes, i actually went through my bank records and added it up. no, i'm not going to share it. it's frightening and obscene. i'm going to avoid that this year and have extra money for:

2) weekend trips to at least LA and NY. i've been promising tatum for years that i'm going to come out to NY but so far have failed miserably. it's been a while since i've been there, and it's a good excuse to get in an H&M trip before we get one here in Seattle. also, i had so much fun hanging out with michela and brian and their beautiful friends last summer that i miss them terribly. i'd also like to spend more time in SF because i have beautiful friends there too.

3) i'd like to fit comfortably into a size 8, and like the way i look. i fit a smidgen snugly into an 8 these days and don't like the way it looks, so it's just a little extra effort at the gym i already signed up for to stay fit and trim. plus monica and i are going to do all the fun runs in the city, so if i have a goal like running to keep me motivated that will be great. i'd like to run one 5k all the way through without stopping.

4) last year one of my resolutions was to buy a new art/architecture book every paycheck but unfortunately i was too broke. i hope to resurrect this idea this year, especially since i got new bookshelves and actually have the real estate to house fancy books.

5) i'd like to pay off my debts - a small one to my visa, and a slightly larger one to my parents, which i've been adding to since i was seventeen or so. it's only a few thousand dollars but i know i'll feel better when i pay it off. also once i actually have little or no debt i'll feel better about planning much needed vacations.

6) get to work earlier. especially in the last few months i've been getting in later and later - usually between 9 and 930. i feel really bad getting in that late, and i don't like staying late to make it up, so if i spent less time hitting the snooze button and slacking off in the mornings i can get to work earlier and leave earlier and have more productive time in my day. i started putting my alarm clock across the room so i actually have to get UP to turn it off. good start. it worked today because i got in at 8.08. too bad no one is here to notice...

7) finish quilting projects so i feel good about starting new ones. this is a continuing problem. ]

8) actually get a cookbook together. this is a project i've been thinking about for a few months but didn't have enough time to actually do it this christmas, but hopefully having a year to do it will be enough.

a lot of these resolutions flow together - going to the gym will help me sleep better so i can get up earlier; also if i am a little sleeker i'll feel better in my clothes and not have to change outfits twelve times before i rush out the door, so i get to work at a reasonable hour. not overdrafting gives me extra money for paying off debts, going on trips, and buying books. getting to work earlier means i can leave earlier and have more time for finishing projects and make my cookbook - and makes me look like i work even harder than i already do, giving me more leverage for a raise in october which will help pay off debts! these are more lifestyle decisions - where i can redirect energy from timewasters and things that aren't important to things that ARE important, making my life more fun and successful. good stuff.

plus i want a red ipod nano, a black/silver tivoli model two, and a new car stereo. and an engine flush and full tune-up for my poor car. sigh. and a new smart car. as long as i'm dreaming...

love,
mcnabbs

coasters.

2007-12-12T00:10:00.000-08:00

so I was up until 1 am last night baking a red velvet cake for my project architect. umm. just realized I got zero pictures. good job, abby. at least it was delicious and I have the precious memories.

ANYWAY. I got up at 6.30 to frost it and get to work at a quasi-reasonable hour (still didn't make it until 915), and was sleepy all afternoon so I didn't get much done, but Monica and Kate and I did work out a quilt block exchange which I'm SUPER excited about. and we talked about sewing and stuff, but I ended up not calling Monica because I worked late to make up for all the work I didn't do at what should have been naptime, and then by the time I finished dinner it was 9 pm and of course that's too late. but I was amped up about sewing so I couldn't go to bed until I made something, so I whipped out some wee quilted coasters in teal mini Hawaiian prints. it's a pretty cute set of 4, I think it would be a good Christmas gift for someone lucky, so I think I'll put it up on etsy for kicks. sets of 4 run about $10 which sounds good to me. it's funny how you can look stuff up on there, and some things are all almost exactly the same price, except a few grandmas who are totally underselling themselves and some egotistical thirtysomethings who have way overpriced their "art". hello, a quilted coaster is a craft, like a third grader might do, or a grandma, only classier. don't try to sell it as an art piece, Dali. yeah, you have amy butler fabrics. so does everyone else. notice how SHE is the one making the big bucks because SHE is the one with actual creative vision.

...ahem. I digress.

the point of this story is to tell you that I'm such an idiot that I'm up past midnight again, just because I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad to make something. I have serious sleep issues. ugh.

anyway, here's a crappy phone-camera picture of the coasters because they're kinda cute but I can't be bothered to go dig out the camera and the cable and blah blah blah. Here. I'm going to bed.

good night.

love, mcnabbs

p.s. mine are better than everyone else's because I at least made a little effort to make the corners square. most everyone else left their corners all lumpy. losers.

grrrr

2007-11-20T23:58:00.001-08:00

it's midnight on a tuesday and i've been doing nothing since 9 pm (when i told myself to go to bed for the first time) but knitting and drinking tea. nothing i need to be awake for. this is like the 1000th night in a row, why can't i just go to bed?

midnight. rrrrgh.

fuh-riiiiii-day!

2007-11-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

gosh, i'm excited. another weekend where i'm broke and have a zillion projects but no plans and i can just kick it around the house and then get mad at myself on monday.

haha, wait. ok. so that's probably what's going to happen, but i'm not going to be mad about it. i'm having a good life.

this morning i was upstairs getting coffee in the breakroom and my dad walked in so i said hello - and he was with the CUTEST older Indian gentleman ever. my pops introduces me and says this is Kumar, and Kumar, five feet nothin, coke bottle glasses, grabs my hand with both of his and says "You are as beautiful as your father!" with a warm smile. it's that sort of thing that really makes life great. wonnnnnderful people.

i've found a couple of new websites recently:
http://www.roseandradish.com/
http://www.outblush.com/ and its brother site http://www.uncrate.com/
http://www.branchhome.com/
http://www.dwr.com/

check em out. do it.

i am crushing hardcore on felted stuff this season. check out etsy soon to see if i got my shit together and put felted stuff on there. like felted bowls! i made this one for myself and it's glorious, and it's home to my safety pins for quilting. there are a ton of them on etsy for $20 or so, but on roseandradish.com they have some for like $95. i think i can find the happy medium.

speaking of etsy, i sold a bag today! yaaaayyyy!

current wishes:
-red ipod nano now $50 less AND with video
-flor carpet tiles instead of that shit i have now
-stickers for my bakery boxes (gotta design those)
-brown shoes. any kind of brown shoes, period. really.

so today i get to have lunch with my SAM peeps AND go out to the jobsite for a tour AND go to a cocktail party. GOOD DAY.

love,
mcnabbs

Things I Love

2007-11-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.

Time is going REALLY fast this year. OH NO I AM GETTING OLD. Whatever. Anyway, sorry it's been a month since I blogged. Not that anyone reads this.

I've been thinking of stuff I love:

-My red KitchenAid mixer. It's just plain awesome. I only wish I had better dishwashing skillz or a thousand bowls and paddle attachments so I don't have to wash it every day.

-Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract. Makes everything better.

-Nutmeg also makes everything better. It's my secret ingredient. Shh.

-Scrabulous via facebook. I'm addicted.

-Christmas. You already know I love it but I'm getting SO EXCITED.

-the pink bakery boxes I just got. You know the kind I'm talking about, like Remo Borrachini's has, or every other awesome bakery, you just know you're going to get something good when you open it.

-a clean house, not that this ever happens. I wish I wasn't such a slob.

-Finishing projects. Again, this doesn't happen, I'm not a finisher - but when I do, it's awesome.

-Monica's new wardrobe. We shopped for a solid six hours yesterday and she got a glorious assortment of fantastic basics - mostly sweaters and pants, and a dress and a skirt. She's going to look so hot all winter (not that she didn't before, but this is all class).

Things I don't love:

-my adult intermittent-acne problem. NOT AWESOME. I was going to wear something nice today but I got up and had a huge red zit on my forehead and was all bloated and my cheek is puffy from some undetermined-but-likely-expensive dental problem, so I'm in jeans and sneakers. greeeat.

-the free internet I was stealing from someone nearby with an unsecured wireless connection suddenly pooped out yesterday. I tried rebooting to no avail - and the network still says it's unsecured and has five bars, and the device says it's working properly. Clearly there is some miscommunication because it actually ISN'T working properly.

-traffic in this town. I could say so much about it, but I take public transportation when I can, and when I do have to drive BECAUSE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION WON'T GET ME WHERE I WANT TO GO the roads are packed. Don't think I don't vote for this shit, because I sure do. I'm happy to pay extra taxes to save time in the car. I'm just pissed at everyone else in this goddamned town.

-having spent all weekend slumming when I could have been productive. Boooo.

-how blogger says "remember me on this computer" and then it doesn't remember me. Am I the only one this happens to?

So other than that, I'm doing fine. Still trying to finish up some quilting projects before Christmas, and maybe get my house cleaned once or twice... work is fine, money is tight, love life is nonexistent. The usz.

love,

mcnabbs

pot, kettle.

2007-10-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

so i've been a little bored at work today - i've got what seems like thousands of rfis to log and it's soooooo tedious. i was checking a couple of friends' blogs and started getting annoyed that they haven't updated them... but see, i haven't either, so i can't talk.

when blogger switched over to "new blogger" and linked to google, i added a different gmail address than the one i use now - which i basically have open all day to talk to friends and get instant gratification when i actually get emails (not often). but in order to log in to blogspot, i have to log in with the old email address and it logs me out of my new one - big pain in the ass, so i don't blog as much as i might because of the hassle factor. so i just surfed a thousand blogspot "help" blogs (not helpful) and finally found one that said i could add another person as a contributor and delete the old one. i haven't gotten around to deleting the old one yet (more logouts and logins and logouts and logins) but this works for now.

i'm having a great day. tonight is the monthly wine night chez monica, which is guaranteed to be a good time. yesterday i was over on the microsoft campus doing punchlists for new offices, and had lunch with my brother and my coworker. i kind of knew already but it hadn't really hit me in person - microsoft is total nerd central. i mean, god bless nerds, but dang. i had never seen that many all at once before. but then again, i've never been to a halo convention or anything either.

hope y'all are fantastic. in exactly one week i will be in the middle of wedding blitz. i'm stoked.
love,
abby

crafty.

2007-09-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

So my friend Folpmer's birthday is on Monday, and I didn't have any cards around, so I thought I'd make one. I originally thought I would stitch a little fabric birthday cake on the front of a piece of paper, write a jolly message inside, and be on my merry way. While looking for appropriate birthday cake style fabrics, however, I happened upon a piece with cowgirls on it (the border for my bedroom curtains. So festive) and thought that maybe a cowgirl could wish him a pleasant day. I thought Ginny was the most fetching, and then there were some other cute fabrics that went with her coloring, and then I got carried away - so he gets a birthday quilt-card. I'm thinking about making some of these for etsy - it only took me a little over an hour to complete and it's so freakin' cute!

Enjoy.
Love,
A

never gonna give you up

2007-08-23T15:15:00.001-07:00

A very dear friend of mine just sent a really neat website link containing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video on loop. It took me a long time to try and figure out his last name, I knew it was Rick somebody. I had to look it up. Thanks, internet!

(update 6.3.08: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/cht/654534964.html)

Now I've got Snoop on to try and wash the 80s out of my brain. He's got a living room full of fine dime brizzles. Are they "dimes" because they are a ten on a scale of one to ten? I want to know.

KF is coming to town tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited! She and Monica and I are going to have a super quilty weekend, and it's going to be so much fun!

I have a large bruise on the back of my right calf. It's pretty ugly and I have no idea where it came from (though drunken camping might have had something to do with it...)

I have nothing but vignettes today. enjoy!
Love,
McNabbs

hey hey hey!

2007-08-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

i'm hand quilting a pillow! yay. look for it on etsy soon.

i heart flickr

2007-07-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

ok you guys, i am obsessed with flickr and its partners.

i signed up for a flickr account last december so i could upload all my holiday pictures for those near and far to see. it was like $25 for an entire year and unlimited space. awesome.

they have all these partners who will produce basically anything you want with your photo(s). everything from your standard prints to mugs, tshirts, postcards, to professionally bound books and even bona fide US mail postage stamps. can you imagine? technology is so glorious.

if you're not a flickr member, and you take lots of digital pictures, and you like stuff with pictures, i think you should just sign up already. do it. go.

pinwheels

2007-07-25T15:30:00.001-07:00

i mentioned this quilt back in january but here's a little visual:

i realized i've been doing so much quilting lately i might as well show you all my projects (i know katie loves them!) - and maybe that will help me stay motivated to actually finish all this crap!

love,

mcnabbs

yet another old project

2007-07-25T15:22:00.001-07:00

...another one i finally got around to finishing! now this one isn't quite done yet (they're in 4x4 blocks, not all sewn together here) but there are only 30 blocks so i'm very nearly done. this one i started in early 2003. yeah. long time ago. the cool thing is, i like it just as much now as i did then, which does NOT happen very often in projects i've put off (or lost) for a while. this one is a present for friends who got married in march '03. whoops, i'm a little late. they love me anyway though, so no harm done. but yeah, it's pretty great.

Heart Walk!

2007-07-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

So I'm participating in the Heart Walk this year (observe neato gadget to your left). If you click the link you can donate and help me out! How awesome would that be?

(answer: so awesome.)
love,
mcnabbs

goodness.

2007-07-13T08:35:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm officially insane, as my girlfriends love to tell me.
This week I overextended myself. Yesterday, after getting off the hook for two tiramisus I had promised for friends' birthdays, I decided to relax for a bit after work - which only resulted in pushing back my schedule a couple of hours, and I finally went to bed around 2.30 this morning. good times.
I got Emily's quilt very almost finished - I sandwiched it at my mom's house (hardwood floors, I would kill for you) and took it home to quilt while I did laundry and watched Jesus Camp - absolutely terrifying film. Very good though. For some reason, my camera does not like to represent the actual colors of this quilt so you'll have to deal with this snap, I guess. This is pre-quilting; by the time I got the binding on I couldn't even think of where the camera might have run off to, so I just went to bed. I'll take one more when I finish sewing the binding tonight (in LA at Michela's house!!)

I also thought I'd take a picture of the "designated picnic blanket" I finished last week. I know it seems like I've been sewing a lot lately - and I have - but lots of the stuff I've been working on has been in the works for ages. For instance, I got all the fabric for this one when I was working at the quilt shop in 2001 or so. I got less and less excited about it as the years went on, but somehow I kept plugging away at it and put the last stitch in last Friday at poker night. The back is obnoxious green, which will hide any grass stains, and the plaid front is sure to hide any food spills, plus I was so excited to just get it DONE that I didn't care about the quilting, resulting in many puckers on the back. But nobody cares. I quilted it in straight lines across in several different colors of thread, matching the different colors in the quilt. The bottom threads are all shades of green. It's pretty cool.

That's about it. I'm heading down to LA in about four hours to kick it with Michelie, and Brian, and Mosco, and Scotty (yay!), and drive to San Diego for my cousin's wedding. Good times.

Love,

mcnabbs

more quilt stuff!

2007-06-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

So I was in Sun Valley with my parents last weekend, watching HGTV and kind of wishing I was at home working on projects instead. My cousin Emily is getting married in a few weeks and I need to make her a quilt. I was talking with my mom about it and we decided on a beachy sort of blue white and yellow palette. We looked at fabrics online since there was only one quilt shop in the area and it was rather lacking - but didn't find much that we liked.

Back in Seattle, I went to Pacific Fabrics yesterday and couldn't find anything that grabbed me there either, so I headed to the solids section (like you do) and found my favorite sky blue and several pale yellows. I thought a Denyse Schmidt style bars pattern would work nicely, but the blue and yellow only was pretty bland and boring. But, AHA, I found a few jewel tones to mix in for unexpected surprises! It took me all of 20 minutes to cut out the entire thing, and here's how far I got sewing in two hours last night:

That's a navy, a chocolate brown, a pinkish (but still masculine) red, and a grass green. The colors came out a little strange but trust me, it's pretty great. Reminds me of beach balls and those changing tents and sunshine and summer skies all at once. I know it's not what my mom expects but hey, it's awesome. And definitely different from what I started out doing, which I kind of love. The strips are all the same length but I cut them at random angles and widths so it's kind of hard to make sure they end up in a relatively straight line. But I love a challenge! I'll keep you posted on this one.

Love, mcnabbs.

quilt!

2007-06-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

Soooo... rockin' Kate Franco puts all her quilt stuff up on her blog. Why don't I do that? Clearly, because I'm nowhere near as awesome as she is. But I finished a quilt top last night and I was so excited about it that I took pictures, so you get to see it!

The inspiration is kind of a long story. I have been really into solid fabrics recently - I used to think they were boring but now I'm all over them. Plus they're wayyyy cheaper, so that helps. I have been just going to the fabric store, heading straight for the solids section, and pulling out one or two I love and just rolling with it. You may recall my earlier post about the one I'm hand quilting (I did post that, right?). It kind of rolled into the idea of making quilts about places once I saw Thomas' pictures from Cinque Terre and knew I had to make one about those colors. I bought the fabric to make a quilt inspired by this town and I'm SUPER excited about it:

The one I made was inspired by weddings actually. Two (three?) of my cousins and my dearest, longest friend are all getting married this summer. I'm a bridesmaid for my friend's wedding and we were all looking at dresses and flowers and decor for months, and she was asking what we'd do if we were getting married. So I started wondering about it... I've never thought about it and a couple of years ago I even made fun of girls who had their entire weddings planned out before they even found a fella, but now I kind of understand. After looking through all the wedding magazines and websites, I have an idea of the kind of things I'd love to have if I was getting married in the very near future which is not going to happen. But if I was getting married next year, I'd have chocolate brown and berry with cream and green accents, letterpress invitations with a berry-colored peony design in the background and chocolate lettering, flowers would be peonies and star jasmine, and my one bridesmaid (Monica, of course) would be wearing a chocolate brown dress. Now I've loved this berry color for a while now, it looks really good on me and it's just sort of warm and comforting, and goes with lots of other stuff. So no surprise when I was at the fabric store and it hopped off the shelf and into my hands - along with a chocolate brown and cream, and a green for accent. like you do. I wanted something with minimal effort so I planned 24" blocks with minimal piecing to show off the colors as much as possible. I ended up with a lot more of the coral pink than I expected, but it definitely works. Also I noticed last night as my cat the quilt whore was gleefully rolling around and depositing cat hair all over my masterpiece that she is the same colors as my quilt too (save for the berry color). She's a brown tabby with white belly and paws, green eyes, and a pink nose. awww.

Also, Karol and Asuka and I went to IKEA the other day. Clearly we did not have fun.

condos

2007-06-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

i have a thing for vintage homes. aaaaand i'm fantasizing about upgrading to a condo closer to the city (not that i could ever be able to afford it, but a girl can dream, can't she?). here's my current obsession:

http://www.livehistoric.com/

damn you katie!

2007-06-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

Seven Things On My Mind Right Now
by abby taylor

I was tagged by the always adorable kate.

Rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Fact #1: I get really depressed if I don't have plane tickets.
Really, I have to have a trip planned or I go nutty and get all bummed out. But once I buy tickets to anywhere, even if it's months and months away, I instantly feel better.

Fact #2: I really don't mind working on weekends.
Of course this is dependent on if I have anything better to do. You get so much more done since no one is there to bug you. And I'm on an hourly wage so hey, time and a half never hurts, right?

Fact #3: No one has ever kissed me under the mistletoe.
And I really wish they would.

Fact #4: I crave baked goods.
They're pretty much my favorite food group. I could never be on a low-carb diet. I could never be a vegan either, cheese is too delicious.

Fact #5: I have the shortest attention span ever.
It's pretty terrible. In order to get anything done, I need a definite plan of action, a definite task, and a definite deadline. Don't ever give me a task to do "sometime" and expect me to get it done - unless it's really exciting and I have time right now. I will lose interest.

Fact #6: I want a weekend house more than almost anything else in the world.
It can be a shack, or whatever. All I want is a roof, a toilet, a bed, a kitchen, and a porch - and it has to be within 3 hours of home. I want to jump in the car Friday after work and be off the radar till Sunday afternoon. I can't think of anything more appealing to me at this point in my life.

Fact #7: Sometimes, despite my happy-go-lucky exterior, even I get a little lonely.
I know it's hard to believe, but hey, it happens. And really, when it does, all I want is a big hug and a little understanding. But then again, don't we all?

I tagged the following suckers on myspace, since zack is the only other person I know with a blog. And yeah, it's less than seven. deal:
folpmer
monica
zack
kateekins

fun in the sun

2007-05-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hi kids.

There's no method to the madness as far as what pictures I choose to put up here. Just a random smattering of good stuff (you can go to flickr and see them all anyway). Here's me and Monica at Redfin:

and me looking very sultry at a charity event:

and a rather attractive fellow who I quite enjoyed staring at all weekend out at the houseboats. this picture is not indicative of his dashing good looks, but I didn't get a single decent photo all weekend so you're stuck with this:

I've been working hard and deserved a weekend away, so I was really pleased when I was invited out on Parker's houseboat trip. This was the most fun group of people I've spent a weekend with in quite a while, and we just had a straight up good time.

Next on my agenda is a weekend in Idaho at the end of this month, then the Fourth of July and a bachelorette weekend in SoCal at the end of July. Lots to look forward to, and in between several quilting projects to finish - many weddings and babies this year.

Hope you're all doing well.

love,

DAMNIT

2007-05-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

ok the picture upload feature is effed up on this. i just wrote a really nice post and it deleted itself when i tried to stick in a picture. bastards.
summary:
-my friend is running away with the circus. true story.
-i've been with my current firm for one year now and i still like it. wow.
-my goal is to get LEED certified before my next review, to add leverage to my hope for a large raise and/or bonus.
there was more stuff but i forgot already. guess it wasn't important.
i did, however, make the most glorious dinner for my mom last night. i'll give you the recipe.

3-4 chicken breasts, diced
2t lemon zest, minced
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
3T lemon juice
1T fresh rosemary, minced
1c white wine
1/4c chopped onion
3T butter

cooked fettucine, broken in half
grated or shaved parmesan

Mix lemon zest, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, and 1/2 cup white wine together. Pour over chicken pieces in a bowl with plastic wrap or ziploc bag, and squeeze out all the air so the marinade is touching all surfaces of the chicken. Marinate for an hour or two.

Cook onion pieces in 2T butter in large skillet over medium heat until translucent. Turn heat up to medium-high. Pull chicken out of marinade with a slotted spoon and brown, then turn heat down to medium, add reserved marinade and remaining 1/2 c white wine, cover and simmer until reduced. Add 1T more butter. Once it is melted, put in the drained fettucine and turn to coat. Serve with parmesan on top.

I added 3 zucchini sauteed in olive oil with a dash each of cumin and nutmeg, and a little sea salt, but you could easily substitute broccoli or snap peas, or have them as a side dish, or serve with a salad.

Enjoy!
Love,
mcnabbs

monday madness

2007-04-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
I'm making ENCHILADA CASSEROLE for dinner tonight! YUM!

Monica and I are also hosting a happy hour for seattle-area design professionals and the people who love them. Network away, kids! It's going to be next Tuesday so if you know me, hit me up and I'll pass on the flyer. It's pretty rockin, I made it myself.

I had a super fantastic weekend, I kicked it with some rockin' girls on Friday and randomly met up with a zillion other peeps at Nectar. Saturday was low key, Asuka and I washed our cars and then my dad took us and Jenni out to dinner and a movie! and ice cream! how cute is that? Sunday I spent all day shopping and sewing with Monica - it was absolutely perfect. I need more great weekends like that.

Tomorrow I'm wearing some new brown pants I shouldn't have purchased at Target. BUT they make my ass look soooooo good and they were only 25 bones. yee-HAW!

love,
McNabbs

p.s. boys are dumb.

busy!

2007-04-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

Life is good. I'm still broke, but still awesome. There's not much to report - working on the usual million craft projects and staying busy at work.

This is Administrative Professionals Appreciation Week! Take some time to thank your local administrative professional. They probably work just as hard as you do.

So I went to the zoo with my mom this weekend so she could feed the birds. She loooooooves birds. She actually squealed with delight when I told her they had that interactive exhibit at the zoo. Pretty adorable.

I'm hungry. What's the deal?

love, mcnabbs

wow

2007-04-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
Sorry it's been so long. I've been busy. I'd like to announce that I got TWO sets of drawings off to the printer yesterday that were ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. This has happened only once before on this project, and we send out a heck of a lot of sets. This is the first one that I've owned and I am so awesome that it was 100% correct. DANG!

Here is a very nice picture of me, hammered:

And here is a very nice picture of Karol, also hammered, peeing in a very public bush. Note sombrero and cigarette. All class, all the time.

I'm working on some quilt projects that I'm pretty excited about. I'll post pics of those once I actually make some stuff, but it's going to be good. So there.

Love,

McNabbs.

blah

2007-03-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm broke and stressed out again. Great.

Enjoy this, courtesy of Justyn: www.myspace.com/imperatorofpop I'll admit, I'm rocking out to it.

There is a very European sounding siren down on the street. Interesting. I'm on the 24th floor at work but we can still hear everything that happens on the street. I like being connected like that.

I am no longer loving the project I'm working on. They changed the staffing and the fellows I'm working with now are both ignoring and impeding my attempts to keep this totally effed up project marginally organized. I don't know what I'm going to do. I hope I get a sweet raise... in six months. Fudge.

This is me, 95% sober, on St. Patty's. hot.

i've got nothing here

2007-03-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

this weekend was pretty good, monica and i got up really early both mornings to run and did really well on the st. patty's day dash! i ran almost the entire way! i was really proud of myself. woo!

yep

2007-03-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

just pluggin' along, guys. don't want to leave you hanging or anything but it's not really an exciting week. i'm training for the st. patty's day dash on sunday, trying to keep my endurance above half an hour (it's super hard when you're a lazy bum like me!). working overtime to help out my team, had an encouraging conversation with my boss about my career development and opportunities (while he told me i might be asked to take on a FOURTH project - but hey, i'm still hourly and i need the bucks). a very dear friend of mine asked me to be his sponsor for confirmation, and i'm flattered. still losing weight (in a good way - and don't worry, i'll stop soon) and feeling fit. skied all day friday, did awesome.

buy some bags on etsy. the link is over there <---- you have no excuse now.

love,
mcnabbs

uuughhh

2007-02-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

so i get to have a root canal tomorrow. yippee. i went in to have the dentist fix a broken tooth and they ignored it and zeroed in on one on the other side, poked and prodded and decided i need major work done. awesome.

yesterday was french club, which was really fun. made me miss folpmer. folps, if you're reading this, call me and speak french to me, then let's run away and get married. yes?

hey, as long as i'm dreaming, i might as well dream big, right?

then monica and i went for a bit of retail therapy - i got a black hoodie at old navy which i proceeded to stamp with this cool floral curlicue thingy i have and now i've got an awesome lazing-around non-university-affiliated comfy hoodie. what what!

i'm trying to not be totally incapacitated by the fear of the dentist... and get five days' worth of work done in two. at least now i can use up my sick time. le sigh.

i totally rock

2007-02-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!
This morning I woke up 45 minutes BEFORE my alarm (weird dream) and decided that I would feel better if I went to the pool instead of going back to sleep. So I did. I swam my usual 30 minutes, got home, baked cherry-pecan scones, and made it to work before 9 am with good hair AND warm scones. I totally rock the house today. boo-yakasha!

mmmm.

love, mcnabbs

friday deadline

2007-02-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.
I'm writing this on my lunch break - it's been go, go, go all morning. We have a package due on Friday and so we're rushing to get everything coordinated from half a dozen different consultants and us, and the hard part is making sure everything matches and is correct. Good times!

This weekend was pretty good, I got some quilting done. Here's the one I'm hand quilting right now, I'm a little more than 20% done. The colors are a tiny bit off but not too bad. The orange is not qute as bright in person, I think. It takes a long time to hand quilt these puppies! I don't know how people have the patience - and I'm just doing straight lines about 4" apart. It's going to be really beautiful when I'm done though. I'll put it up for sale but if no one buys it I will be happy to keep it!

Saturday morning I went on a hike with Chris up at Rattlesnake Ledge. The weather was perfect - about 60 degrees and a slight breeze, and sunny - and while it was a relatively easy hike, I'm pretty out of shape. The view from the top was worth limping around all day Sunday.

Saturday night we surprised Andrew with tickets to the Presidents of the USA at the Showbox. There were two openers and PUSA didn't get on till 1130 or so, which was pretty late, especially since I was tired from the hike, but it was awesome to see them. I love those guys.

Someone was handing out large sheets of foil to everyone on the floor...

that was pretty fun.

Sunday I spent all day limping around my house, and Monday I finished some projects and watched movies and stuff. I got to talk to Folpmer for a bit on the phone, so that was nice too.

Good weekend. Three days makes it better.

Love,

Mcnabbs

what what!

2007-02-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hey kids!

Yesterday was awesome. I left work a bit early and went for a run with Monica. It was short but felt so good, and I'm getting really excited about this fitness thing. After the run I was going to go home and shower and go out with Chris and the boys, but Monica's parents invited me to stay for dinner and I couldn't resist - flank steak, baked potatoes, and a glorious salad - so I went straight from their house to meet the boys in a sports bra and running shoes. So hot. But that's the cool thing about boys, they were just glad I showed up. Chris' brother just got engaged yesterday, so he and his new fiancee were there and there was a bit of a celebration going on. Congratulations Adam and Nicole!

Today I'm going to go for a run with Monica again, and tomorrow I'm going on a hike with Chris out past North Bend - it sounds like a really nice hike and the weather is supposed to be good too. It's been a long time since I've been on a hike and it will be great to be outdoors. This winter seems to have been pretty mild, with a few weeks of crazy snowstorms thrown in for kicks, but I still can't wait for spring (mostly for the al fresco boozin'). I feel like I'm going to spend a LOT of time outside this summer.

The rest of this weekend, which is three days thanks to some dead presidents, will be devoted to quilting and watching cable at my brother's house. I'm pretty excited about that.

I hope you all have a great weekend too - catch you on the flip side!
Love,
mcnabbs

glad that's over.

2007-02-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.
So the past couple of days I have been bumming hardcore - I have never hated valentine's day more than this one. But today is a new day, and I even got up early and went swimming before work for the SECOND time this week! Plus I found several pairs of pants in my closet that I didn't fit into for a while, but I tried them on and I do now! WOOHOO!

So here's all the news that's fit to print from the last couple of weeks:

Andrew's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and he had a party with the theme "CEOs and Office Hos" - which do you think we are?

The CEOs of course. You're right.

Then last Friday was Monica's last day at LB&S, so we had a bottle of wine and a steak to celebrate. We also decided it was going to be Team Shirt day.

Sunday was our Third Annual Snowball Fight And Pancake House Extravaganza. It's so awesome to drive an hour, get to 32 degrees and snow falling, sink to your knees in new snow and get pelted with snowballs in the face for a couple of hours, then eat cheap greasy food and bad coffee at the pancake house, drive another hour, and get back to 50+ degrees and hike around the lake. Awesome.

I had to photoshop Noah out of the background of this picture because he looked like a serial killer.

Today I get to go to lunch with Asuka and Mamiya because Mamiya is the luckiest guy in the world. So that will be fun.

Bachelorette party plans are solidifying for this summer - the last weekend in July all us girls get to whisk Michela away to a secret surprise destination for a weekend of excessive sun and wine. I'm so excited to plan a trip to a sunny place - even though it will be nice here then, it sure isn't now, and it's nice to think about. Plus it is kind of turning out to be exactly what I hoped it would be - low key, cheap, and near a beach. Sweet.

Have a great day, guys.

love,

mcnabbs

2007-02-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

won't someone please just send me flowers at work?

a quilt a day keeps the doctor away

2007-02-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

hey guys!

I finished my red quilt this weekend and washed it and everything, it looks GREAT! I'll upload pics as soon as I remember to bring my camera to work to download everything...

I also am well on my way on the hand quilting of my next project - I'm about 10% done and really excited about it. It's my first big quilt that I'm doing by hand. (I don't know how Kate has the patience for this!) It's going to look great though, and I'm going to offer it for sale. If no one buys it, no skin off my nose - I'd be happy to keep it!

Today I bought six small prints in a red theme - I have a whole bunch of prints picked out that I'm going to matt in white and frame in a plain black wooden frame, and put on a pale blue wall. Take that, interior designers! It's going to be awesome. Red makes my life better.

Tonight is the first installment of Season 3 of Dinner and A Movie chez Mike. Stoked!

Love you guys,
A

sewin' up a storm

2007-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

hey guys! i've been bitten by the productivity bug and tearing through some of my in-progress quilting projects! saturday i got most of a quilt done (except the part where i have to hand sew the binding, but no biggy), i've done a bit of hand quilting on my huge quilt, and right now i'm taking a break from piecing some pastel pinwheels i started about five years ago. whatever posessed me to make an entire quilt top out of only triangles? i hate triangles! at least they're pretty big... and i've got half the blocks made. if i get really sick of it i can just make a smaller quilt, or put a simple border on it, or put sashing in between. love it! this one is pretty cool, i picked the palest greens, blues, and lavenders - plus a print or two with those colors - and the background is all white. it will be such a nice soft summery beachy quilt! i can't wait until it is done. i am thinking i might even just back the top with a piece of muslin to contain the seam allowances, and put a sheet on the back as a duvet cover for my down comforter to make it seem sunnier in the dead of winter. who knows.

also today i got inspired to try and sell any quilt i can bring myself to part with - i don't know if this will actually fly but it's worth a try right? i love making them and i'm going to continue making them anyway but how many quilts do i really need for myself? (the correct answer: twelve before i get married.) i won't do any custom work - i've realized i hate it - but maybe someone will like what i do. i'm just going to put it out there, and if you don't like it, just send it right back.

i wanna be on you.

no, no no no, wait, no....

i wanna be on you.

ok it's late and i'm getting silly. clearly.

oh! and monica got a new job! i'm so excited for her. it's going to be so much better than her oppressive former employer. so we went out and had a great cheersy celebration saturday night. i know you don't believe me, because we never really have fun, but this time we did. here's proof:

so there. see.

love,
mcnabbs

someday he'll come along, the man i love

2007-01-27T20:59:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.

It's Saturday night and since I'm broke, I'm staying in and moping about how complicated love is, and my poor spending habits. Boy, do I know how to party.

I meant to clean my house today but I'm pretty lazy when it comes to that sort of thing so I spent most of the day quilting instead. The bright side is that I actually almost finished one of my projects. Granted, it was one of the easiest ones, but it's in my stack of things-that-are-almost-done instead of the ever growing and toppling stack of things-that-are-going-to-be-so-awesome-if-and-when-I-finally-get-around-to-making-them. So that's as good for my soul as cleaning is. And once I got that to a nearly-finished point (just one more step but it's pretty time consuming so I'll wait for a movie) I actually did some cleaning too. I've been doing laundry all day and decided to fold everything and put it away and reorganize my drawers. I did this sometime last fall but after having a few parties and tiring of the clutter in between, I shoved some things in drawers and it kind of got messy again. When I reorganized my drawers last time, I put a whole heck of a lot of clothes in bags to give away (which I still haven't gotten around to, but I haven't looked back at what's in them; I don't really care anymore). I did some careful purging then and had 4 big bags full.

After being away from all my worldly goods save for what fits in one duffel bag for an entire month, I realized I really don't need all these clothes. Or even most of my other crap. I'm keeping my kitchen and books and craft supplies but everything else has got to go. Goodbye, old magazines (except for December back issues of Martha Stewart Living); goodbye, extraneous packaging (I'm consolidating all my stationery into just one box; ditto for beads, ribbons, sewing needles, and buttons); and goodbye unnecessary receipts, letters, and paid bills from five years ago. Hello shredder. I need more room for beautiful things and I need to do a little feng shui-style 'letting my chi flow' sort of stuff.

So I sorted and refolded all of my clothes while watching West Wing reruns on DVD (thanks Netflix!). My couch is overflowing with tidy stacks of like clothing and I'm having my own personal fashion show in the living room. Aside from necessary evils like Halloween costumes or fancy evening gowns, everything is going unless it meets ALL of the following criteria:

-fits
-flatters
-is comfortable
-makes me feel attractive
-is worn more than three times a year
-is in good repair
-can be worn with shoes I already own
-matches at least three other items in my closet (or jeans).

I am allowing myself a few pieces of clothing that don't *quite* fit right now since I am on a mission to be more fit, especially since I have nightmares about having fat arms in Michela's wedding photos. Shudder.

But I digress. Everything also will have to fit within my one (albeit huge) chest of drawers, or hang in the closet (and stay hung up, not on the floor, Abby!). I really do aspire to be a tidy person. It feels so good to clear out all sorts of unnecessary things from my life and focus on the things that actually matter - my friends and family, good books, good food, good surroundings, and good travels.

I made a budget for myself the other day and a travel fund was an imperative line item. This Scotland vacation was the first one I had taken in over two years that was anything more than a weekend. Totally unacceptable. I resolve to have more adventures.

It's funny, ever since I got back I have felt sort of mopey, like something is missing or not quite right - and frankly, something is missing, and something else is not quite right - but at the same time I just feel so optimistic about everything, about the little details that make life so grand. I don't really know what to make of it. Ah, but such is life. Who am I to complain?

I'm going to go finish my closet slash-and-burn, maybe watch Saturday Night Live. The world is my oyster.

I love you all.
McNabbs

p.s. Today's impeccable capitalization was brought to you by Folpmer, who makes me want to be a better person.

hoo boy

2007-01-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

i'm in a serious funk today. sorry.

somehow everyone got together and decided that i get to do all the shit that no one wants to do. and not only are they going to dump it on my desk without so much as a "hey, could you help us out with this? that would be super great", there are no instructions and when i ask for clarification i get a big fat nothing. ROAR. i just carried about half a ton of precast concrete samples (really, no exaggeration - those things are heavy!) into the dumpster while everyone around me completely ignored my excessive activity and grunts while lifting. did i mention that i personally did not put a single sample there myself - on MY DESK - and it's just assumed that my desk is the perfect dumping ground for every sample, necessary or un-, and if my desktop gets full, it is ok to put it in my walking path? heaven forbid i should have to do any actual work at my desk, let alone actually get to it in the first place.

also i am supposed to compile a list of things that's already in a list on the intranet, or so far beyond my jurisdiction that i don't even know who to ask - and of the three people i did ask, one said "i have no idea" but didn't tell me who might, even when i asked, and the other two gave no response whatsoever. ok guys, i know i get paid wayyyyy less than you and we're all busy, but throw me a fucking bone here, or i'm going to start making shit up and passing it on as facts. ten bucks says the list just gets lost anyway.

add to this the fact that i'm totally broke and will have to ask my parents for money, which i hate, just so i can eat. and the phone call i just got from the bar, where upon being told that saturday was the only night i am available, and not every saturday at that, said bar manager got all annoyed-sounding. wait, you called me. and wait, remember that other 40+ hour a week job i have? and remember how i haven't worked anything but saturdays for the last 6 months or more? oh yeah. fuck you.

i'm exhausted and my house is a mess and i'm in a bad mood. i need someone to come over with a hug and a movie and a bowl of fruit and a bag of vegetables.

or maybe i just need to go to the adorable high school play tonight. for free.

bleh.

mcnabbs

p.s. i got new glasses

yeggedi-yeggedi-yeg

2007-01-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

hey kids.
it's strange adjusting back to life at home. i've been getting up early and going to bed early, which is pretty nice. i like getting to work early instead of at 9 am when most people are here already. it makes me feel more productive.
i'm nearly caught up on all the work mess - that only took a couple of days! the contractor was keeping things light though for the last month, i think that helped a LOT. everyone still seems to be very pleased to have me back though, which is a great boost to my self esteem (like i needed that).
i just bought new glasses frames yesterday which i can't afford but i need glasses like whoa. plus these are SO awesome. i bet you can't wait to see me in them.
wishing you the best of life and love,
mcnabbs

resolutions

2007-01-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

hey guys. in case you were wondering, i did make three new years resolutions:
1) drink al fresco more often
2) wear more skirts
3) get cable internet
enjoy!

it should be against the law to feel this good

2007-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

hey guys!

it's saturday afternoon and i'm slowly easing back into real life. it's really strange to be away from my overseas friends and i miss them already. also there are a very few sad things happening to a couple of dear friends, which is unfortunate. but nevertheless, i am all of a sudden in a TERRIFIC mood!

i saw a ton of my seattle friends yesterday, at work and afterwards, and it was so nice! my work associates seemed quite happy to have me back (i must do a good job!) and after work we went to von's and there were some guys there i haven't seen in months so that was fun too. then monica graciously drove everyone and their mother home and i fell into bed early again. this morning i got up early and had the pleasure of chatting to folpmer for a few hours, and neil too! god bless the internet.

then i went to the store because the entire contents of my fridge were beer, wine, champagne, diet pepsi, mustard, and salad dressing. tasty, but it does not a breakfast make. so i went to the store and purchased all manner of delicious and healthy foods. i am pretty proud of myself for the good choices i made today. now it's snowing and i am all cosy and warm inside, hanging out with the cat and eating fresh homemade coleslaw abby-style (sans mayo - really it's just cabbage with a sesame ginger dressing). then later monica and ani are coming over and we'll make tortellini soup and have delicious soup and wine and go to the bowl & skate for 80s night. how could it possibly get any better than this?

tomorrow i'm going to my parents' house for a homecoming brunch, which is adorable, and then i'll have the afternoon to do whatever i want. then back to the grind - the project i'm on at work is going to be insane starting monday i think. i do love a challenge though.

so, life is good, as usual. there are some things that will be hard in the near future but as the proverb says, "the gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials." so 2007 is off to a fantastic start so far and i can't wait to see what the year holds. should be good.

best,
mcnabbs

home again home again jiggety jig

2007-01-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

i arrived in amsterdam monday afternoon and walked around waiting for folpmer to finish work. i got a nice stroll around the canals, basically just wandered about and stopped in places that looked interesting. i saw the rembrandt house, which they had restored to look like it had when he lived there - a very nice house and well furnished. i also saw the oude kerk, the oldest church in amsterdam. good stuff.

the next day i went to the reijksmuseum and the anne frank house after getting gloriously lost in southeast amsterdam. in the evening folpmer and i made dinner (delicious!) and went out with his friend irving to a couple of nice bars (you can walk in and order "three beers" like in the movies! you get just a standard pils unless you ask for something special) and had a generally good time.

wednesday was more wandering, i started off late and didn't stay out long because it was fiercely windy and raining - i got caught in a couple of downpours and spent most of the day being rather damp. i found a neat little catholic church hidden on a canal and enjoyed being the only person in there and dried off for a bit before i faced the weather again. i did get some shopping in though - a couple of pairs of nice slacks at h&m for 15 euro each. the euro is much kinder to my wallet than the pound! which is nice because i paid about 10 euro to get into every museum and church in amsterdam, where all the public museums in britain are free.

wednesday evening after a much needed nap, folpmer and i went to a very amsterdam style 'brown cafe' which refers to the dark and cosy interiors, and had a traditional dutch dish of smoked sausage and potatoes mixed with a spinach-type vegetable. very good! folpmer made me read the menu in dutch and translate - a fun exercise!

my last morning folps went into work for an hour, then i met him in town and he gave me a lovely walking tour of insider places. there are so many little streets and as much as i thought i had walked all over, i missed a ton of stuff! i really enjoyed the tidbits he had to offer. then we had croquettes - another dutch treat - and were off to the airport.

here are the dancing houses - some of the most prominent examples of houses settling due to the 400 year old piers.

and here is the Night Guard in 3D! pretty awesome.

a HUGE thanks to all of my hosts for making my trip so comfortable and fun!

Brian and Jacqui, for making me feel like one of the family always,

Neil, for letting me decorate his Christmas tree,

Keith, for pouring the strongest drinks,
Richard, for literally sawing off the AC converter so I could charge my camera battery,
Folpmer, for sharing his lust for life,
and a huge thanks to my parents, for all their help and support before, during, and after my trip.

it's a shame we don't live in the same town because i would love to see all these people all of the time, but our paths will all cross again soon. it's nice - and weird - to be home, and i'm looking forward to hanging with all my seattle friends!

love,

mcnabbs

blown away!

2007-01-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

ok, by the wind. it was rather blustery today! i went to the rijksmuseum today (tons of awesome dutch painters represented) and the anne frank house (really amazing to put something like that in perspective - i've read the book several times since i was 10 or so but to actually see where it happened is cool) and got gloriously lost all over the city in between. then folps and i went shopping and bought all sorts of delicious things to cook for dinner, which is forthcoming. then i think we'll go out tonight. fun!
love, mcnabbs

amsterdammin' it

2007-01-08T13:30:00.001-08:00

hi kids!
today i arrived in amsterdam and actually left the airport for the first time (this was my 7th or more time in schiphol). amsterdam is really interesting, i walked all over today waiting for folpmer, my host, to get off work. the canals are beautiful and the houses are really interesting. many of them date back to the 1600s, and have settled over the years so a lot of them are diagonal on the face. i also accidentally walked through the red light district! i guess i wasn't as surprised to see it here as i might have been in Seattle, but it was definitely disconcerting to all of a sudden see an almost naked lady hangin' out in a window. good times.
folpmer, recommended by the gorgeous, talented, and charming miss monica, is awesome. in case you were wondering.
more tomorrow.
love,
mcnabbs

help me, betty ford!

2007-01-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

so today is my last day in Scotland. sad times! last night we went to a party at stuart's parents' house. keith and i went halvsies on a bottle of jack, i told him he could keep whatever we didn't drink. imagine my surprise when i finished my first drink and he poured my second - and the bottle was empty! note the level of JD in the pint glass, foreground:

needless to say, i feel like absolute crap today. i was still drunk when i woke up. yikes.

on our agenda today was a trip to st. andrews, which was lovely despite my serious hangover. the cathedral ruins there were totally awesome! here is one of the pillars:

and the view from the ocean:

then we went down the road a bit to anstrother, for the best chippie in the country. it was the best fish and chips i've ever had! very fresh and delicious.

now i'm back in perth packing up all my things. sad! i leave bright and early tomorrow morning for the drive to edinburgh and my flight to amsterdam, i'm quite looking forward to experiencing the city, but i'm also ready to be home again. can't wait to see everyone in seattle!

love,
mcnabbs

panto

2007-01-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

hey guys!
today we went to the pantomime! it was actually really fun. the story was Cinderella and there was lots of audience participation - i could almost handle all the screaming kids! good times. then fish and chips for dinner and a quiet evening in. i FINALLY finished uploading my London pics, and got a little flickr widget over on the right there. neato!
i'm off to watch tv and drink some whisky - i've only gained 7 lbs back so far! well done me.
love,
mcnabbs

p.s.

2007-01-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

city hall was pretty awesome too.

and did you know that 30 st. mary axe was built by skanska? good going, guys!

whew!

2007-01-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

hi kids -
here are a few of the better snaps from yesterday and today in london. i can't find a suitable map to draw my route on electronically (i have a tangible copy that i drew on yesterday and today at the end of the day to help support my feeble taylor memory) so that will have to wait, unfortunately. i'm sore from all the walking! i really should see how many miles it was... and how much dessert i can negate...
today i started out in northampton, took the train to london, walked all over, took another train to gatwick airport, flew to edinburgh, and rode to perth on the neil express! how often do YOU get to four cities in one day?

here's a wholly unimpressive picture of the outside of the british museum.
a rather artistic shot of the gherkin, if i do say so myself.

whatever building they were putting up next to lloyd's was awesome.

no. 1 poultry

i quite liked this view along the river, including the new globe and the tate modern - someone please tell me what the building on the far left of photo is.

this picture does not do the view justice - each step looked to be a different color of granite (kind of like the end of my desk at work...) but they looked way cool just a bit damp like they were. along the river walk.

a cool view of the millenium bridge from inside the tate modern

this building was in an area (a road?) called more london, opposite the tower of london. the buildings here were really cool. i just liked this view.

and a cool shot of big ben from the gates as i scurried past to catch my train this morning with literally one minute to spare.

i'm back in perth for the weekend, going to the pantomime tomorrow!

love,

mcnabbs

link-tastic! clickety click!

2007-01-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

hi kids!

i just walked allllllll day around london (this one, not any of these). last night i wrote myself a little index card with 4 destinations on it and the streets required to arrive there - three museums, 50 pictures, and 10 hours plus 3 hours' r/t train later, i'm back at richard's and enjoying sitting down. i bought a map of london and drew a wee line on it so i remember exactly what streets i was on for your enjoyment later. i'll photoshop it or something i guess. i left my camera cable in scotland so you'll have to wait a couple of days for the pics but you can do that, can't you? i knew you could. here's a rundown:

1) started out at euston station and walked to the british museum - awesome. the new roof they put on in 2000 is WAY cool. the interior space is huge and bright and just... cool. one of the special exhibits was "the past from above", photographs by Georg Gerster. it's pretty much what it says, aerial photos of archaeological ruins. it was great - covered all six inhabited continents and was very thorough. they also had a ridiculous amount of greek and roman sculptures (very controversial), and assyrian/egyptian sculptures, including some glorious passageway lion/griffin thingies. amazing.

2) walked down holborne past st. paul's cathedral to see the lloyds building and the "gherkin". good stuff. also noticed that there is quite a lot of construction going on in london. lots of cranes and scaffolding.

3) walked across the london bridge and west along the south bank of the thames to the tate modern. that place is HUGE. they have quite a lot of exhibits going on, i didn't pay to see the special exhibits but there was still plenty to see. i think my favorite part about that museum (besides the awesome twisty slides in the huge open space at the back of the building!) was (were?) two books i saw in the museum shop - toilets of the world and f*** this book. i don't know if i'd want them for me but i quite enjoyed looking at them. also i got a cool snap of the millenium bridge from the galleries.

4) walked back east on the south side of the thames to the design museum. they had an exhibit on alan fletcher, which i quite enjoyed, and a whole bunch of 70s and 80s design firms with logos and letterheads and things. soooo up my alley. i was just disappointed with the non-representation of the exhibits in the museum shop - though i did come away with a super awesome mouse pad.

5) still on foot, i went across the tower bridge and back along the thames back to the london bridge, where i hopped the tube back to euston station and, after some train delays, home again home again jiggety jig.

i only have two regrets for the day: one, that i got a jolly blister dancing my ass off new year's eve and it's still horrible, made me hobble a bit around town; and two, QUITE sadly, that due to the last minute nature of this trip, i missed seeing the gorgeous, talented, and charming joanie baloney. i miss you and we'll have to hang out soon somewhere in the world!

tomorrow i'm back to london for the morning then back to perth via gatwick and edinburgh. whew!

love,
mcnabbs

london

2007-01-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

i'm in northampton right now, i drove down with richard today. tomorrow i'll take the train into london and spend the day, then thursday i'm flying to edinburgh, driving into perth for the weekend with neil and heather, then off to amsterdam on monday!

i didn't get all the pictures from new years eve uploaded yet, i apologise for that - but i'll put them and my london pictures up when i get back to perth on thursday. so hold tight, have a good week, and enjoy this article:

"official says britons like to drink too much"

good times.
love,
mcnabbs

happy new year!

2007-01-01T08:55:00.001-08:00

yeah! we rang in the new year in style with dancing and a ceilidh band and tons of good times. it's been a long time since i was that drunk. see flickr for the photos.

weegies

2006-12-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

hey kids!
today i had a proper day in glasgow for the first time. on the way we drove through stirling, home of stirling castle (top of foreground hill) and the wallace monument (phallic bit on the top of the background hill)

first off we had a bit of shopping, then we went to the cathedral via a crumbling old cathedral spire at spire park (formerly townhead-blochairn church), masquerading as the cathedral we actually wanted to see (glasgow cathedral of st. mungo). glasgow cathedral had a really interesting necropolis, i took more pictures than were necessary but i've never seen a graveyard that big. it was awesome. all the top of a hill and at least two or three sides of it - and it was a big hill! most of the stones seemed to be from the mid-1800s but there were some as recent as the 1990s that i saw - although i definitely did not see all of them. tombstones were quite lavish and the preferred decorations seemed to be obelisks, cloth draped urns, and celtic crosses. quite a lot of all three designs. so here's a nice view of it.

next we walked down the hill again to the car and passed MY street!

(frankenstein called, he wants his shoes back.)

here is the university of strathclyde business school

and this is the university of strathclyde school of architecture and planning. you figure that one out.

then we went down to the river (quite a lot of really nice stuff being built there!) and saw the SECC which is "scotland's answer to the sydney opera house".

then we went to a really huge nice museum but only had an hour before closing so we didn't get to see the art (shame), so we did the only proper thing: went to the pub for a pint.

tomorrow is new year's eve! perhaps i'll do some drunken blogging after i get home, or maybe i'll just leave it for hungover blogging on monday. either way there are sure to be pictures of kilts and dancing. be safe, whatever you end up doing! (i'm sure as heck not driving anywhere - the concert hall where the ceilidh is to be held is only about half a mile down the road! perfect stumbling distance)

catch you in the new year!

love, mcnabbs

holiday photos

2006-12-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

you can view ALL photos of the holiday here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbsmcnabbs

naughty pigs!

woo! sorry about the wait, kids

2006-12-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

hey all! sorry it's been a week but i've got important things to do, like drinking.

i went to edinburgh again last weekend, got through on friday night, had a bit of a walk down the royal mile. this was the courthouse or city hall or something, i can't remember, but it was inside a courtyard and they had projected all these bright colors and famous people onto the side of the building, pretty awesome.

then i went back to neil's and his friend karl flew in from iceland for a couple of days. we hit a few bars, which were all empty and had far more men than women. we couldn't figure it out. while queueing up for an underground mexican themed club with a three-pound cover (?!) we spotted this car parked out front, in the middle of the street. look closely and you'll find the sign on the side reads "ZNIRP top security". your guess is as good as mine. znirp!

this picture is the following evening, saturday night, when we all gathered to go out to the pub. left to right kis karl, neil, glen, becky, a hidden shell, caroline, sandy, leanne, me, and keith in the front. yes, we have already been drinking.

later the same evening, things start to get frisky!

KARL!

christmas eve we went down to the neighbors' for a champagne open house and got gloriously smashed. and HAPPY. we were there about 3 hours, then went down to the pub to meet the boys. stumbling across the bridge it was all foggy and i decided to snap a photo of the kirk in the fog, and this! is what came out...

this is neil, graham, and a classic richard face, christmas eve at the pub:

and then it's christmas! after a lovely long lie-in and a batch of cinnamon rolls, we start drinking, like you do. champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends!

i made all the boys hats for christmas. don't they look warm!

so that's about it - i made off with lots of chocolates and scotland-themed bits and bobs, and a nice cold to boot. so yesterday we hit the boxing day sales, and i stayed in last night and all day today watching tv and feeling sorry for myself. good times.

i miss you all and hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!

much love,

mcnabbs

happy birthday to both jim and brian's mum

2006-12-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

hey guys! i forgot to put up this awesome photo i took while barhopping in Edinburgh last weekend. leave one bar, trot down the road on your way to the next, look to your right - hey! a castle!

so today was a gorgeous day. i went down to the river (it's tidal up to about Perth - smelled like the ocean, YUM) to check on the flood levels - it went way down just a day or two after i got here and now it seems to be at pretty normal levels but now you can see the extent of the flooding. see, branches were stuck in the artworks here:

and here is the flood wall on the left hand side, which was entirely covered up in the middle when we were down at the park last thursday night, you can see the darker areas of leaves where the river washed them up; the brighter green spots were all covered in water.

this last photo is from the other side of the riverbank, you can see the wall on the other side. see where the guy in the red coat is standing? he's standing at the bottom of the previous picture - entirely submerged in last week's flood.

that's about it for now. finishing up christmas shopping tomorrow then back to edinburgh on friday.

LOVE!

mcnabbs

p.s.

2006-12-19T15:04:00.001-08:00

i absolutely HATE comic sans. there. i said it.

hmm

2006-12-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

sorry kids, no news today. had a lazy day - got up super late after some strange dreams and now i'm attempting to find a reasonable mitten pattern. maybe i'm setting my sights too high.
i wanted to go to london tomorrow but the decision has been left too late and there are no train tickets left, and plane fare is cost prohibitive. i might have to skip it, unfortunately. ditto for dublin. i am going back to edinburgh next weekend though, and i'll be going to glasgow as well, so i won't be spending all my time in perth. plus there's the much-awaited amsterdam trip! yay!
i'll get back to my knitting attempts just now - wonder if i can fudge a thumb...
love,
mcnabbs

lazy sunday

2006-12-18T14:04:00.000-08:00

i came back through to perth yesterday with keith, we stopped in at sarah and gordon's place since brian and jacqui (my hosts) were there for dinner. gordon brought out five different bottles and offered me all of them. then he was talking about kilty pies (kelty pies?) and turns out it's just steak and gravy in a pie - easy peasy. i told him i'd make him one and he offered me more of everything. the scots certainly are the most hospitable people i've ever met.
today i just went down to the chippie for lunch (mmm, fried things) and i'm pretty sure i'm going to be gaining back everything i lost - everything here is fried and veg is rare. i'm doing my best though. i will get to cook some (made a lovely chicken and white sauce with rotini saturday night) so i put in veg every chance i get. mmm. can't wait to have sushi again when i get home. what veg there is is wayyyyy mushy and overcooked. but it's a small price to pay for the hospitality.
i'm going shopping in perth tomorrow for christmas presents, let's see what i can get at reasonable prices (£1 is $2 even - i'm getting royally done up the arse). but it will be fun poking around town by myself.
hope you're all doing well.
love, mcnabbs

saturday in edinburgh

2006-12-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

we decorated Neil's christmas trees! they look really nice. here's one:

we went out in edinburgh last night, took a couple of pictures. nothing big. i got dressed up just for kicks, the dancing was good but not as nice as fridays at the noc. here's the boys.

see how excited i was to be hanging out with such attractive tall men?

so yeah, we had some good times. i talked to some ridiculous fellows at the chippie who thought that alaska was more than half the size of the rest of the States. i told him he was wrong and he said "no, i've been to america!" turns out it was like connecticut or something. he was still wrong.

people are friendlier here - quite willing to talk to you on the street or give you a chip in the middle of the night on the way home from the pub. nice.

more later.

love, mcnabbs

everything tastes better with bacon

2006-12-16T02:11:00.000-08:00

keith and i came through to edinburgh last night, we're staying at neil's new flat here. it's about the same size as mine, maybe a bit smaller, but really nice. we're going to go get him a christmas tree today and decorate it - fun times!

last night we were up drinking lots of foster's, and jack & cokes. neil had a variety of snacks left over from a party he had, this one is my favorite:

check out the caption under the green V. it's so wrong... but so awesome.

i'm off - bacon rolls for breakfast! seems i'm going to totally negate the 15 pounds i lost before i came over. oh well, you win some, you lose some. i'll walk all over edi today to make up for it.

love, mcnabbs

first day adventures

2006-12-15T03:14:00.000-08:00

Hey all!

I've arrived safe and sound here in Perth yesterday. No hassle in the airports even though I brought 4 ounce containers of shampoo and conditioner (the limit is 3.4 oz, report me to the authorities!). All flights on time and smooth except for a windy takeoff from Seattle, which I slept through. Good times.

I watched three movies, knitted three hats, ate three meals, and went through three airports. Arrived in Glasgow after having slept through the entire Amsterdam - Glasgow flight, was wide awake on the ride back to Perth, had some lunch and then a wee nap, then dinner and felt fine - went down to the pub and was up till 2 AM. Woke up at 10 this morning and feel entirely acclimated so we'll see how the next couple of days go, but I'm surprised at how good I feel.

Yesterday when I arrived they said, "Did you hear about the flooding?" and there has been massive amounts of rainfall here and the Tay is bursting its banks. We went down to the edge on the way to the pub last night and the river is maybe 8-10 feet higher than usual. It's really amazing. You can usually stand on the bridge or riverside walk and look wayyy down to the river but now it's nearly up next to you.

Going into town this afternoon for a bit of shopping, then to Edinburgh tonight for some debauchery. Should be some good pics of that up in the next couple of days ;)

Love,

McNabbs

HEY EVERYONE! COME AND SEE HOW GOOD I LOOK!

2006-12-10T22:34:00.000-08:00

too much to ask?

2006-11-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

ok, here's the deal. i don't want a boyfriend, i don't want a friend with benefits, i don't want some random fuckbuddy. all i want is a friend who is a man who sleeps in my bed from time to time.

men are strong, men are comforting, men smell good, and men are funny. i want my head on a man's chest when i go to sleep, i want to hear him breathing in the middle of the night, i want to laugh at his funny hairdo when he wakes up. i want him to stroke my hair and kiss my forehead goodnight, and i want him to say silly sleepy things to me. i don't want to make out with him, and i don't want to have sex with him, and i want him to be there when i wake up in the morning. i don't even care if he has a girlfriend (although his girlfriend might care that he's spending the night with me, but trust me, ladies, i'm no threat).

i'll make coffee, i'll make breakfast, i will watch saturday morning cartoons in my PJs, whatever. is this too much to ask?

three weeks and counting

2006-11-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

i wish i had less coffee today. i tried out a new shampoo and i'm not sure how i feel about it yet. the vik muniz exhibit at the SAM is amazing. so are my cooking skillz. i bought a christmas tree this weekend. my abs still hurt from friday's drinking and dancing debauchery, saturday's wenching into the wee hours, and sunday's laughing our asses off. all in all, a good weekend.

oh em gee

2006-11-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

i just realized it's FIVE WEEKS till i leave for scotland. i thought it was six. holy schnikies.

bloggity bloggity

2006-11-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

i've had a cold for a week and a half and my ear hurts today. this is not kosher. usually my colds last three days tops.

grrr.

2006-10-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

here is some music you could listen to.

now all i need is a red toaster to make my life complete.

2006-10-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

i just realized that i have every necessary kitchen appliance, in red, except a toaster. i've got a kitchenaid mixer, a cuisinart dual food processor/blender, a cuisinart coffee grinder, and various accessories including a jar for tools, a cookbook holder, a paper towel holder, a colander, measuring cups, measuring spoons, serving dishes, cutting boards, serving tray, kitchen linens, et cetera, ad infinitum. so take notes, kris kringle. i want a red toaster.

ok, i said i have everything that's "necessary". i also want a red ice cream maker. sue me.

...oh wait, i forgot. i want a red teakettle too. and eventually i'd also like a red espresso maker (for posterity of course), and i need a waffle iron, in any color - although they do make them in red.

life is good

2006-10-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

so there is a little bit of stuff going on. One of my best friends is getting MARRIED to an awesome fellow, and I'm a bridesmaid, so that's huge.
my 25th birthday was two weeks ago. I went to Vegas with a bunch of friends and we had a ridiculous time.
The day after I got home my dear friend Richard arrived from Scotland for a trip that ended up being much too short. His friends Gordon and Monique stopped in for a week on their honeymoon/world tour. They are super awesome. The three of them went out to the Yakima Valley on a wine tour after we all spent the weekend together, and brought back a ton of wine and we drank nearly all of it and had a lovely time.
Now all's quiet on the Western front - I spent the weekend doing a whole lot of nothing. Friday night we had an extended work happy hour. I met some fun new friends from work. Saturday I kicked it at my house, watching christmas movies and baking bread, and then I was asked to work at the bar so I made a few extra bones. Sunday I bought a coffee grinder and some new huge red mugs. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
See? Glorious. and they are HUGE. so that's awesome.
I finally sent out thank-you notes today for all the people who took me to Vegas for my birthday, so I feel better about that. Now I need to get a pleated plaid skirt for Halloween - when in doubt, be a Catholic schoolgirl.
and then after that, in between, and during, it's Michela Wedding time.
and theeeennnnnnnn... it's CHRISTMAS time! woot! I don't know if you knew, but I LOVE CHRISTMAS! really.

time flies when you're having fun

2006-09-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

so it's been a month since i've posted anything. not like anyone reads this.

i've gotten a website on etsy.com, it's www.abbsmcnabbs.com. you should go there and buy some stuff. mama needs a shopping trip in europe.

my cousin got married last weekend. you need more pictures of me and monica having fun, so here's one from the wedding:

two girlfriends who have moved to LA from Seattle also got engaged last week. love is in the air. i'm really excited for all of them, michelie especially.

work is going well, stuff is starting to pick up and i'm really going to have to be right on top of everything, but that's just where i like to be so i think we'll be fine. i'll find out tomorrow or friday if i get a bonus - i'm hoping the answer is yes because, as usual, i'm a broke-ass ho.

speaking of broke hos, i'm going to vegas this weekend, because my 25th birthday is sunday. i get back at 230 am monday, something tells me i'll be calling in sick.

my friend richard gets into town from scotland on monday evening, i haven't seen him in over two years so that will be good times. i'm super stoked.

also, i've gone to a few movies recently. not once a week but more than usual, so it's a good start. i've also been drinking less, and exercising more, and eating more vegetables. i lost 3 lbs but gained 2 back - but hey. no big deal. i got darrin's dance grooves (he's choreographer to the stars) yesterday and monica and i are learning the routines.

i'm off to trivia. maybe i can win some dollars... or some jack. good times.

quality of life

2006-08-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

i want to go to the movies more often. like once a week. i LOVE seeing movies in the theatre! i used to hate it but i was missing out.

you may be pleased to know that i have accomplished several of my goals from two weeks ago. or you may not. it's your choice. they were some of the smaller ones but doesn't it just make you feel good to check some stuff off ANY list?

fini:
-a handbag website up
-my kitchen cleaned
-my "skinny clothes" to leave completely - i just haven't the heart to give them away, but they're out of style anyway. they're just making me feel bad.
-a ticket to ireland/paris/amsterdam for a few days while i'm in scotland this year (ok i don't actually have one but i researched a weekend in ireland and it's extremely doable. so i'm there.)

also i attempted to have my car stereo installed but it didn't work out. i will give myself half a point for trying.

addenda: (if you ever say 'addendums' i will personally find a gun and shoot you)
-go to the movies once a week
-drink less (wayyy too many calories, and too much money)
-cook at least 3x a week (cheaper and healthier)
-set myself on the right track for at least 2 domestic weekend trips a year - i've got places to go and people to see. katie and ani in SF, michela in LA, emily in socal, aunt diane in TX, tatum and dani in NY, matty in boston, franko in chicago, etc. etc. $50 a week = $2500 a year. this is plenty for at least 2 or 3 lavish weekends. i'ma start doing this.

a very nice boy

2006-08-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

all these items are negotiable to varying degrees.* but gee, wouldn't he be wonderful:
-dark hair
-a dog
-a boat
-glasses
-dresses like he just stepped out of a j.crew catalog
-loves washing dishes
-a good snuggler
-makes art

*"As long as you're dreaming, you might as well dream big." -Donald Trump

a 2 bedroom house

2006-08-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

here are the non-negotiable elements of my dream house:
-built in bookshelves (seriously, my heart skips a beat when i see these in books or magazines)
-hardwood floors
-a big kitchen
-at least 2 bedrooms - one for me, one for crafts; a third would be a guest room
-trees
-a neighborhood business district (shops, restaurants, movie theatre) within walking distance
-a red front door
-a full size washer/dryer
-a big porch
-a gas fireplace! with a switch!

bonus items:
-french doors anywhere
-a claw foot bathtub
-a living room/dining/kitchen all in one greatroom
-a basement
-a deck off my bedroom
-skylights
-10' ceilings

gimme gimme gimme i need i need!

2006-08-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

here's the short list, for today, of things i want in varying degrees, and in no particular order:
-a fast computer (a mac, perhaps?!)
-cable internet
-better money management skills
-a new serger
-the drive to finish a few of my quilting projects (and the batting)
-my car stereo installed
-a handbag website up
-larger handbag inventory
-my kitchen cleaned
-my laundry folded and put away
-my "skinny clothes" to leave completely - i just haven't the heart to give them away, but they're out of style anyway. they're just making me feel bad.
-10 pounds less by labor day (ha!)
-an ipod.
-a ticket to ireland/paris/amsterdam for a few days while i'm in scotland this month
-a 2 bedroom house (see related blog entry for details)
-a very nice boy (see related blog entry for details)

o bring us some figgy pudding

2006-07-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

so my mom has just alerted me to the fact that figs are currently in season. my friend justyn has a fig tree in front of his house and can't possibly use them to their full advantage, he told me so himself. so i'm looking for fig jam recipes. mmm jam. anyone have any ideas?

oh man

2006-07-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

it's 7:32 am on a friday. not only am i AWAKE but i am already showered, dressed, commuted, caffeinated, and AT WORK. this is absurd. i usually have not even completed step 1 (waking up) by 7:30. and don't think for a second that this will become a habit. i used to love mornings but somewhere in my early twenties i developed an allergy. it's kind of sad but what are you going to do?

i'm up early on purpose today, arriving before the elevators in the building are even unlocked so hopefully i can skip out around 3 pm, go home, pack, get all my brother's crap from his house, pick up the cooler and tent from my parents' house, hope to science that my brother finishes whatever he has to do by 5 pm and skeeedaddle out of town. we're going camping in oregon with some cousins, we went last year and it was a blast. i'm just annoyed at my brother because he knew he had a deadline, and the weekend trip planned, and the last few days he's been doing social things after work instead of staying late to finish the project. normally i wouldn't say a single thing about it because that's my general m.o. too but this time it's affecting MY plans because he thinks he might not even get out of here till 6... and we've got a five hour drive AND a tent to set up (in the dark thanks) AND beer to drink before everyone else goes to bed. 5 hours of weekend traffic, my brother and i in a car with no stereo (also his bad - he said he'd install it for me) is not my ideal way to start a camping trip.

that's enough bitching. i'm going to get some stuff done before i have to get some stuff done.
i hope you have a fantastic day.
love,
A