Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap Questions!

Coffee

What are your favorite kinds of coffee? (Brands, Roasts, anything at all you'd like to share!)
Smooth, and rich. Jamacian Blue Mountain or LavAzza Qualita Rossa (espresso)

Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee? Whole bean prefferably since I have a grinder.

This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee? Do you enjoy special blends? I do not drink flavored coffee, but I do like Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee

How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf? usually with soy milk and splenda

Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer? I prefer nice thick mugs

Winter and Holidays - PLEASE be descriptive! Your pal will need this information to be sure to put together a package you will enjoy!

What is your favorite part of Winter? snuggling on the couch with a loved one, under a blanket.

Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday? I celebrate Christmas

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree? Yes, I put up a tree

Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package? either is good

Do you collect anything? Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect? I tend to decorate with Nutcrackers, angels, and fairies,

Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats? Yes, yes, and yes :)

What is your favorite holiday or winter treat? my all time favorites are these awesome cookies my aunt makes. And although she has shared her recipe, NO ONE makes them quite like her!

Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory.

Yarn and Crafting

Do you Knit or Crochet? For how long? I've been crocheting for about 20 years and knitting for about 1 year.

Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight? I love my KnitPicks Options set! I have been debating on the KnitPicks Harmony set, but I think I will put that on my Christmas list *heehee* I would love to try those "Sox sticks" just can't afford them right now :)

What sort of projects do you enjoy making? I'll try almost anything once :) I have made afghans, baby booties, baby blankets, tanks, scarves, hats, dishcloths, ice cream cosies.

What are your favorite types of yarn to work with? I like soft, natural fibers. Bamboos, silks, alpaca. No fun furs or such yarns. I haven't tried yak, corn or banana yarn yet.

Do you spin or dye? no to spinning, but I would like to try my hand at dying sometime.

Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else? I enjoy painting ceramics

General

When is your birthday? June

Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!) my kitty, Frisco

What are your favorite colors? autumn colors and royal colors. No orange or yellow though.

Do you have any allergies? only to my boss :)

What's Your Monster Name??

In honor of Halloween :)

Your Monster Profile

Wild Strangler You Feast On: Starbucks You Lurk Around In: The Hearts of Men You Especially Like to Torment: Republicans

What's Your Monster Name?

Knitter's Coffee Swap 3!

QUESTIONS

1. Whole bean or ground? Whole beans please

2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully-loaded and ready to go!

3. Regular or flavored? Regular

4. How do you drink your coffee? Usually make a soy latte with splenda.

5. Favorite coffee ever? Jamacian Blue Mountain or LavAzza Qualita Rossa (espresso)

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? Unfortunately very fussy. I grew up in an Italian household on true Italian espresso coffee :)

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? A good book, my laptop, or knitting needles & yarn :)

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I like bold flavors.

9. Yarn/fiber you love? natural fibers, bamboo, silks, alpaca

10. Yarn/fiber you hate? scratchy yarns, fun furs,

11. What's on your needles? Oh lord.... baby blanket, arm cosies, 2 scarves, dishcloth, and then I have two crochet afghans started as well.

12. Favorite colors? Earthy, fall, royal colors, especially reds and purples. No orange please.

13. Allergies? Work, ignorance and stupid people :)

14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I collect fairies, love fantasy books, detest my principal and her severe lack of leadership skills, and I'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of, but you can always email me for more information :)

One Hell of a Weekend Party!!

I had the most phenomenal weekend! Haven't had a weekend like this in a very, very long time!! I play on a MUD called Igor. I started playing Igor back in '92 when I was in college. Through this game I have met some of the most amazing people and not just from the US.

In '93 one of the players decided to put together a Meet (a weekend event where people from the game get together meet each other and hang out... and yes, lots of alcohol is usually involved). The first several meets we had use to draw a crowd anywhere from 50-75 players. Talk about a weekend party! Over the last few years, the meets have sort of dwindled here in the states, but this year two friends of mine (Paul and Brent) down in Georgia decided to give it the ol' college try and organized a GA meet. We didn't get a crowd of 50, just 12 of us for most of the weekend. A few of the locals had dropped in on one night or another. It was a blast! We certainly drank enough. :)

I can't even begin to think about the amount of beer and alcohol that was consumed over the weekend. I flew in Thursday night and spend the night at my friend Brent. He was so worried about me stay at his place for the night because he lives in a camper and was worried I couldn't handle it with my NY upbringing. It was a hoot!

Friday we headed up to Lake Lanier and got to the cabin around 3:15pm. We opened up the back door to the deck and found this little guy just chillin' on the deck. Isn't he beautiful! Unfortunately, Paul gave him the name "Bastard" and it sort of stuck for the weekend. Apparently, he didn't mind cause he hung out with us all weekend (especially after Jeremy gave him a whole chicken breast for Friday night's dinner!)



By 3:30PM there were a few people at the cabin and the drinking had commenced! Erika and I were up till 4am waiting for our friend Dave to get there. He was driving down from Cleveland for the meet! Dave was no means the person who traveled the furthest for this weekend. John came all the was from London *yes, London England* for the weekend!!

Saturday night was really the best night of the weekend event :) I was grill master for dinner and cooked up brats, chicken breasts and corn for 13 people for dinner. After dinner is when I changed into my bathing suit, opened my bottle of tequila and turned into a prune in the hot tub!! Ever have 7 people in a hot tub?? *LAUGH* By 5:30AM the bottle was empty and I was heading to be after a 7 hour game of Apples to Apples !! Ever play that game with 10 drunks?? Talk about hysterical!

Here are some of the picture from the weekend of debauchery!

Just Do It!!

Not THAT *though if you do have someone to do THAT with by all means GO FOR IT!!*

Well, I went by Curves earlier this weekend and set up an appointment to go in and find out more about it and that appointment was for today. I am officially a new Curves member! Of course, I'm also leaving to go out of town tomorrow for the weekend so I won't have my first official workout till Monday, but I joined! I'm half way there! While I was at it, I went ahead and joined the "Curves 6 Week Solution." Six weeks of small, intimate classes where I'll learn how to lose weight and keep it off for good. *zip your lips and exercise like hell* But seriously, battling my weight for as many years as I have, I've pretty much read it all, though a nice refresher course will be nice.

I am off for the weekend though! Heading down to Georgia to hang out with a bunch friends at a cabin on Lake Lanier. I'm so looking forward to seeing certain people :) And I need the little mini-vacation. Hopefully, I'll be sober enough to take lots of pictures ;)

Oh, almost forgot.... You can find info on the National Book Festival here!

National Book Festival and SP 11!!

This weekend I made my first trip down to the National Book Festival which is held in the National Mall. My gf Lorraine and I have been trying to get down here for the past three years or so and for one reason or another we never made it. This year we finally did!! And it was a perfect day. Sunny, 75 degrees, cool breezes, just perfect. But it was damn crowded... *like the National Mall isn't normally crowded on a weekend, what was I thinking.... apparently I wasn't*


As if the day couldn't have been better I came home to find this nice little package at my door! *squeal! I love unexpected packages!*





It was a package from my Secret Pal!! And just look at all the goodies that were in there! My absolute favorite chocolate *second only to Italian chocolate torrone that you can only get from Italy* Adorable fun pen that goes perfectly with the little knitting notebook *well that notebook is in my knitting bag for corrections and what nots, so yes, it's a knitting notebook* and cute sticky notes! And of course, I just squealed like a little girl when I saw the Handmaiden SeaSilk!!




Thank you Secret Pal!!

Color Me Crazy..... Again!

OH MY GOD! Talk about a gorgeous piece of knitting!! Check this out! I want!! I want!!

*call the paramedics .... she's lost her mind again!*

Sooooooooooo CLOSE!

Well, I did not make my walking goal for September. As you can see, I missed the 100 mile mark by 2.2 miles. I am not upset though! I think for having just started a walking routine, I did pretty damn good with my daily walking. I had even forced myself on days that I just wanted to crawl into bed and hide from world. In one month's time I have managed to work up to a 6 mile walk, so that's pretty good. I don't do 6 miles each and every time, because let's face it, I just don't have 2 hours every day :) But it's nice to know I can do that on the weekends!

Anyhoo, my main goal was to get my arse out there and exercise as close to a daily routine as possible, and I have. And I feel good about that.

My next step is to join Curves *yes, KozyKitty, you will be seeing me at Curves soon* I know that I need to add weight training to my weekly exercise routine in order to really boost my metabolism. It's funny, I usually do enjoy lifting weights when I have joined other gyms, so I don't really foresee that as a problem.

So, I will be stopping by Curves on the way home today. *hangs a big sign on her forehead so she doesn't forget* and my October goal is go to Curves three times a week and to walk the other 4 days of the week. I've boosted my walk goal up to 200 miles now. *good God no, not 200 miles in a month! Just another 100 added on each month to see what I really do walk in a years time*

I haven't lost as much weight as I had hoped with all the added daily exercise, but I think that's mainly due to the fact that I my body is going through a little bit of shock with the calorie cut back, the daily walking and the no smoking. But I'm OK with this. Every doctor or nutritionist says the slower you lose the better, so here's hoping the docs are right on that one :)