and this is why i love the summer in the city:


(taken at approximately 7:35 pm, sunday, june 18.)

warning: much complaining/drama follows. proceed at your own risk.

sundays are supposed to be relaxing, right? or maybe today was just the exception to the rule. after attending a family function last night, my sister & i headed just west of here to attend a combined graduation/good-bye party for her boyfriend's cousin and his wife who are moving back to new mexico at the beginning of july. seems pretty harmless, right? well, by the time we got there, approximately 10:30 pm, everyone (well, mostly her boyfriend, my boyfriend, and one of their friends) had been drinking pretty much the entire evening, and, so by that time, my boyfriend was just about totally gone. with that, i have to say that he gets extremely *loud* and downright *mean* as well. so okay, fine. he's inebriated enough where i can tolerate him (slightly) at this point, so, i deal with it. by the time we are about to leave, though, my sister's boyfriend convinces him to go out with him, his friend, and his (other) cousin who was in attendance, and, let me tell you - i've never seen four people so quick to get into a cab and speed away, leaving my sister & i on the sidewalk. fine. didn't want to go out, anyways. but i did make it very clear to my boyfriend to *not* even waste his time coming over to my place if he's drunk. (i mean, after all, he could spend the night at his friend's, or at my sister's boyfriend's (i'm sure my sister would've loved that one.)) but what happens? 6:00 in the morning, i am *rudely* awaken by my supposedly sweet boyfriend, who has had several more drinks since i saw him earlier in the evening, and, i should add, is covered in *sand* because the three of them (sans my sister's boyfriend's cousin) decided to take a nap on the beach. at this point, i am trying to remain calm and not start screaming at him, so, i just kept my mouth shut. he wanted to take a shower, so, he did, and in the process, managed to rip down my shower curtain along with the rod. (really trying to keep calm at this point.) he says that he's just going to go home, because i'm really starting to slip and lose it at this point. i told him that he wasn't going anywhere - how could he even possibly *think* or driving when he can't even *stand*? shortly therafter, he starts throwing up, but, i do have to give him credit for actally making it to the toilet. so we sleep for a few hours, and, i get up. i do my little things around here that i've been meaning to do (like laundry and e-mail my SP8 :) ), and, have some breakfast. i even wash his clothes that are all over my bathroom floor.

my sister & her boyfriend stop here about 2:30 pm, and, at this point, my boyfriend finally makes his way out of bed. i'm not talking to him at this point. then, if all this wasn't drama enough, my sister checks her voicemail while she was here, and, there were two calls from our mother:

"i'm going to place and order for some food, you will need to pick it up. i'll call you back." (my family had a small get-together for father's day, and, they ordered from this chinese place that they just love in morton grove (= totally out of *everyone's* way))

"the food is going to be ready to pick up at 1:30."

by this point, it's nearly 3:00 pm. my sister then calls my mother, who, at this point, considering the time, cannot decide whether she should wait for us (since i'm the one with the car) to leave, pick it up, and then head up to gurnee (almost at the wisconsin border). sigh. more drama.

then, my boyfriend runs to the bathroom and throws up. great. at that point, my sister & her (very reluctant) boyfriend make the decision that they'll have to go and pick up the food and head out to the suburbs, because i apparently *still* have to babysit.

i drive my boyfriend to his car (still parked at the bar where him & his friend went to go and watch the world cup games yesterday, where the drunkeness began), and, let me tell you, you could've cut the tension during the ride with a knife. i didn't say a word until we were at his car, and at that point, i let him have it. and, i told him that i didn't want him to go out drinking with my sister's boyfriend or his friend anymore. he just doesn't know when to stop.

so i head home, and take a nap. i wake up at about 7:30, and look out the window, and, that's when i took the picture above. it was sunny outside, when, during the morning/afternoon, it was crappy and overcast out. it was already the *evening*, but the sun was stil out. maybe it wasn't a *total* day wasted.

okay. enough complaining already. (i know, i know, i whine.)

so at least today wasn't a *total* waste. i managed to take photos of a few things:



pink scarf, of some unknown, unlabeled, fuzzy-type yarn from hobby lobby's clearance bin. started (and ripped back) wednesday during my morning commute, and finished thursday morning, on my metra ride back into the city. my first scarf knit for the think pink challenge.



handpainted yarn that i ordered, in this absolutely gorgeous colorway called 'arco iris'. i'm not totally sure what to do with it, but, it does make for a wonderful stash addition.

and, for some reason, as i was staring at the wall earlier today (literally), i decided that i wanted to dig out my manos del uruguay yarn and try knitting up my so-called scarf after a few failed attempts last winter. lo and behold, i made some progress:



i can't tell you how many times i ripped this thing back - every time i'd try to start it, it'd end up being this mess of stitches, totally not looking anything like the picture. so, i'm very excited!

okay. so maybe my sunday wasn't a *total* waste. i'm happy now! :)

now, without further ado, here are some very belated thank-yous!

first off:



*thank you, thank you, thank you* to my knitters tea swap pal, kathy! when i signed up for the tea swap, i figured that i'd be getting some tea. and some treats. and some random yarn from someone's stash. boy, was i wrong! not only did i get some deliciously-sounding vanilla caramel tea (which, by the way, i haven't had a chance to try just yet - so much for running late in the mornings!), she also sent along some of those asian chocolate-covered biscuit cookies (in which all varieties i *love*), and even knew that all my knitting accessories are all over the place (and nowhere to be found), and sent me the *cutest* little pouch to hold it all! she even sent me two of the most meticulously handcrafted bracelets i've ever seen - both of which have been worn already!

but enough already. now, for the best part:



some *gorgeous* malabrigo yarn, in a colorway i've never seen from them before - this beautiful brown/magenta/pink combination, which also happens to be one of my favorites as well!

but, when i don't ever blog, i have lots and lots of time to do other things, like bake, and knit. i am very proud to present one of my very few fp's this year:



can you believe it? and to think, since kathy sent me two skeins, i have enough yarn left over to make another hat - and then some! i'm considering knitting up a matching striped scarf with the other one, maybe combining it with a solid magenta from lamb's pride... possibilities, possibilities...

and now, for my *second* thank you of the evening!





this one goes out to my super-secret secret pal 8 partner, who is just so secret that i don't even know their e-mail address to thank them myself - or sooner, for that matter! :)

my secret package was actually a surprise for me at the post office - when i went there, i knew that i should have had one package waiting for me, but lo and behold, the post office was actually doing their job, and they had three packages, each marked 1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc. but, still not believing that they're totally competent, i asked the guy to humor me, and just check to see if there was anything else. and guess what was on the very top shelf, in the furthest corner? my secret pal 8 package! let me tell you - i couldn't wait to get home to open it; i almost opened it up right there in the car!

so *thank you, thank you, thank you*! as you can see, i received a plethora of gifts in my secret package. i received a knitting reference book (which will prove to be invaluable, i'm sure), a cd full of music from plays & musicals, a little notepad (also noting that they read my mind and knew my knitting notes were all over the place) and some absolutely dee-lish smelling vanilla potpourri. of course, the best part consisted of some wool of the andes yarn, in this beautiful deep royal purple color, and yay, a skein of sugar and cream! (you just knew i needed a solid color for my "c" dishcloth, didn't you?)

last but not least, this is what has been keeping me busy for the past few hours tonight:



i'm knitting a panta out of jaeger's baby merino dk. i'm knitting on #5 needles. need i say more? i'll keep you posted... :)

i actually volunteered to work tomorrow morning, so, with that, i think i'll call it a night. until next time...

so much for 'required weekly postings.'

but i've been so busy doing other things!

some of my latest obessions:


irish soda bread


pound cake #1


pound cake #2

after settling for the soda bread recipe that has baked up 'pretty okay', i think i've finally perfected my irish soda bread, or at least the way i like it - not too dense and slightly sweet. but as for my newest obsession...pound cake...well now that's a different story. i've tried this recipe and that recipe, and even a recipe from marthastewart.com - and really didn't find anything that i liked all that much... and then i tried some of those ones from about.com's 'southern food' section - those came out downright awful. (can you believe that i actually took one of them with me to a picnic/bbq that we were attending? i personally didn't like it, but my boyfriend convinced me otherwise.) i'm getting closer, though - there's a sour cream one that i'm liking (#2), although that recipe needs to be modified, and, i think the winner'll be actually pound cake #1 - sans nutmeg. we'll try it without next time.