Mr. and Mrs. Knight come to call

Patty and David came in on Friday, and stayed until today, which was a lovely treat. Of course we got up to the usual hijinx:

Vampy photos.

Nice Photos.

Proof that David doesn't like girls.

More proof David doesn't like girls.

Even his wife.

Mustache Party!!!

A trip to Hastings yielded a surprise discovery:

Renaissance Art Book...

...excellent hiding place for porn! That was a very good issue of Hustler, by the way.

Most overused name for a cat besides "Fluffy":

On Saturday we saw "A Haunting in Connecticut". Save your money. Most predictable movie ever.

After lunch we went back to the hotel and played Scrabble Upwords. None of us had played before, but we at least attempted to follow the rules at first.

Kate and Patty both lost interest shortly after this point, and we declared "anything goes" to finish it. It's a long game.

We all met at Cafe Marron for breakfast this morning, before Mr. and Mrs. Knight began the long drive home.

Birthday Swag

Of course I baked my own birthday cupcakes, and I think they turned out delicious. I meant to document the process, but forgot. Silly me! I decided to go with Chocolate Cherry Cordial cupcakes, and made the cherry cordials by hand with the help of my lovely assistant, Kate. It was an experiment, and I incorrectly gauged the volume of the cordials, which resulted in over-filled cupcake liners, but they ended up not being too difficult to remove from the pan.

Deliciously baking cupcakes.

I opted for a low-key gathering at my favorite local watering hole, O'Doherty's Irish Pub. Most of my anthropology buddies and several of the old Renn Faire gang attended, along with childhood pal Desi(who taught me to spin).

Chaz and Mike.

Kate iced the cupcakes for me, and made extra icing when it ran out. Such a lifesaver! Her frosting is much better than mine.

Emily, Alice, and Jamie.

Tiffany, her friend whose name I can't remember, and a bit of Sarah's cheek. She kept moving and all other images of her turned out blurry.

After a few hours my hair began to wilt.

Chaz after I told him not to move because he kept coming out blurry.

Having not had alcohol for three months(minus the Valentine's Day white liquor incident, see the China blog for details), my tolerance has gone down considerably, and after three rum and cokes and two shots, I was feeling pretty good. I managed to unload the rest of the cupcakes on the good staff at the pub and a couple lucky patrons unaffiliated with my birthday, and had a lovely rest of the evening.

Wednesday was mostly spend in recovery, with much napping. In the evening my mother came over to see my China loot and have some cake:

Courtesy of Just American Desserts, continuing the chocolate cherry theme.

Kate brought these over when she came to help with the cupcakes because "everyone should get flowers on their birthday." I agree wholeheartedly.

Lovely hairpin and earrings from Kate as well. When in doubt, always choose pearls.

And an angry chocolate bunny, because it's funny.

Homemade apple butter from Sarah.

And a wonderful pendant from Carmen in keeping with the socialist theme of evening.

All in all, a very good birthday, a wonderful time had by all, to be repeated this weekend when Mr. and Mrs. Knight come to call.

March 24

I am now officially 25 years old.
Other notable March 24 births include Harry Houdini,Clyde Barrow, and Alyson Hannigan. Notable March 24 deaths include Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Jules Verne.


On March 24, 1603(the day Queen Elizabeth I died), James VI of Scotland became James I King of England. In 1837, Canada gave African men the right to vote. In 1923 Greece became a republic. In 1973, Pink Floyd released "Dark Side of the Moon". Last year, Bhutan officially became a democracy. On the darker side of things, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Jonesboro Massacre both occurred on March 24.

Coraline, or How I learned to Spin

We had some time to kill before the movie, and while we were browsing in Nordstrom's, I saw this dress, which reminded me of the Atlas fabric I became so fond of in Urumqi:

It's not exactly Atlas, but it's so close!

I really enjoyed Coraline, even with the addition of new characters and a slightly altered ending. Visually, it was absolutely stunning, and now I'm even more interested in making one of those Coraline Boxes I've been seeing everywhere. I love buttons.

Before the movie Desi and I had lunch where we exchanged birthday gifts. She seemed to like the Guan Yin figure(it's much heavier than it looks), but she totally wins the gift-giving round this time. She got me two drop spindles(one large, one small), a niddy noddy, a nostepinne, and some gorgeous red wool roving. After the movie we went to the Chocolate Apothecary, ordered some drinking chocolate(I had the Chocolate Mocha, and I highly recommend it) and settled into the overstuffed chairs in front of the fireplace so she could teach me to spin.

Her yarn is so even and thin. I must practice until I get that good.

And my sorry excuse for yarn. Super-lumpy.

I'm still proud of it, though. It didn't end up a giant tangled ball.

We got free biscotti. People love spinners.

The hardest part for me so far is drafting(where you pull the fibers apart so they're thin enough to spin, but not so thin that you split the roving). This roving had a fairly long staple length, which helped.

That's a niddy noddy she's winding her yarn around. The yarn looks red in the photo, but it's actually orange and purple.

You know, the Chocolate Apothecary should really consider paying me for my endorsement.

Recovery

I really have no excuse for my laziness. I've been back for a week now, my sleep schedule should have returned to normal and I should be catching up on my work. Instead I'm still up all night watching television. It is Spring Break, but still, I should at least make an effort to be productive. Being gone for three months can only excuse you for so long.

Tomorrow I am going to finally see Coraline with a good friend as a belated birthday celebration for her. I've brought her a present from China, which I hope she'll enjoy:

Guan Yin, the female Buddha, of whom my friend is a devotee. I bought her in a small shop in the neighborhood around the Yonghegong Temple in Beijing, which was regrettably closed when I tried to visit.

I'm getting excited about my own birthday, which is tomorrow. A few of my friends reported suffering a sort of crisis at reaching twenty-five, but I have so far been unaffected. I feel very good about where I am and where my life is going. The friends I have are genuine and supportive, my professors think highly of me and let me know my hard work is appreciated, I feel healthy and energetic. I think my late twenties are going to be even better than my early twenties.