My cute little cat is creeping me out!

So my cat Sophie has HUGE eyes! In the light they are a very pretty soft green, although sometimes her pupils are so large that it looks like she has black eyes! Normally she is very cute!


But she likes to sit at the end of a dark hallway just inside my bedroom door. Her eyes are so reflective that all you see is 2 giant yellow glowing things staring at you! And then they BLINK which is even creepier somehow!WOW! I mean I know cats have reflective eyes, and I have had a lot of cats, but this is just crazy!

I like fish, but not Long Beach

Ok, so a week ago it was Trevor and my 7th anniversary so we decided to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific! I had never been there so I was excited! Well we were still quite tired from last month (see previous post) so Friday night we were like, well should we set an alarm clock? Well, yes we "should" but we are so tired, lets just see if we wake up in time we will go, if not then it was not meant to be....

So we woke up at 9am, not too bad actually so we decided yes lets go! Now of course the down side is that it took me 2 hours to get ready (I had to wash my hair....I have a LOT of hair). So it is 11am, suddenly it almost seems silly to go, but we were all excited so we decide to go anyways. I have a bag with knitting that I like to bring in the car (why not get some crafting done if I am stuck in a car for 2 hours?). But I am rather clumsy so as we are leaving and my hands are very full, I bump into the wall, this drives the "knifty knitter" hook into my thigh. It took out a chunk of flesh 1/4 in wide by 1/4" deep! Ouch!

We also decide if we are all the way up there, we might as well stop at Sonic Burger for lunch! There is not a Sonic burger closer than 90 miles to my house, which is very sad because despite this they play the commercials on TV here in San Diego all the time and it makes me want to eat there! I really love Sonic Burger, they have so many drink options, and cool things like tater tots instead of fries! Anyways, we get to Sonic, and you drive or walk up to the menu, press a button and wait for someone to take your order. Well it was so crowded every drive-in slot was full so we went to the walk up tables. We pressed the button and after like 15 minutes no one had taken our order, so I decided to go to a different button, and then our order got placed after like 5 minutes. I guess I am saying we were there for longer than I had wanted and I was feeling like we were already late the the aquarium! It was also at this time that I discovered that during the painful hook into leg incident that I had dropped my hair clip as I was stabbed and while Trevor gathered up everything I had dropped he failed to get the hairclip, it was like 90 degrees Saturday and I have waist-length thick curly hair so I was DYING of heat without my hairclip...

So we get to Long Beach and the freeway just sorta dead-ends into downtown Long Beach, there are these stupid forks and google maps tells us something like take the left fork, right fork, right fork, left fork. Well clearly we missed a fork at some point because we ended up in the wrong part of town, we followed the signs to the Aquarium so we thought we'd be ok, but these actually led us back on to the freeway, Trevor said well I will just stay in the right lane so we can take the first exit, well I guess in Long Beach they have exits on the LEFT side! So we see a sign that says for the Aquarium you need to exit left and U-turn (wow that is stupid) so we cut across three lanes of traffic, we finally make it to the stupid Aquarium and the parking is full, so we park across the street in the "Pike" parking garage (I still am not sure what the Pike is...).

Yayy, we are finally at the Aquarium! Wow, they had the BIGGEST sting ray I have ever seen in my life! It had spots like a leopard, not I know many people say "spots like a leopard, and they just mean it had spots, but this sting ray really really looking like it had leopard skin (minus the fur).

The seahorses were so cute and tiny!

They had the most magnificent collection of jellyfish! My favorite was this one neat tank where they had res lights in the front which made the jellyfish glow red, then in the middle was white lights and in the back was dark so you had this neat mix of red, white, and shadowy jellyfish floating about.
So we finish looking at fish and we decide it is time to go, we go back to the "pike" parking garage and there is a line to leave (we are on the top 6th floor) so we are like dang this could take forever! Well we did not even realize the extent of how horrible it was.... After 20 minutes we had only moved one car length!! We saw an open parking spot so we decided to go park again and go kill time somewhere instead of sitting in line. As we were in the elevator going down the doors would open and you could see that the traffic was totally jammed on floor as well. Floor was jammed. The doors open on floor and it was completely empty, we were like, woah, where did all the traffic go???? We figured that there MUST be a traffic accident on floor 4. So we go to a Borders across the street to kill time, I bought 3 cookbooks, hehehe, opps! So we go back an hour later and the traffic is totally cleared, we see a security dude and we ask him hey was there an accident earlier, he said no it was crowded because people were leaving the aquarium, movie theater and something else all at the same time. Well that just did not make sense to us, then why was there no traffic on floors 1-3? Well as we were driving out we found out why, for floors 4-6 you have to drive through the garage to get out but at floor 4 they send you out to some funny little loop exit on the side of the garage. So everyone on floors 4-6 has to wait to get in the loopy exit as people from floors 1-3 also are cutting in front of them, what a poorly designed garage!!!

So we are finally leaving and Trevor asks what we want to do for dinner, I say lets just get the heck out of Long Beach/LA/Orange or wherever we are. Lets go home to San Diego where the roads are labeled and there are no weird left lane exits. Well then Trevor points out that it is 7pm already (I have not adjusted to daylight savings I guess) and that by the time we get home it will be too late to get dinner. So we decide to go to "Amazon" which was a Brazilian place that we had seen across the street from Sonic Burger. It was good, they had all sorts of funny meats like alligator and the waiter comes to your table with a sword of meat and spears you off a slice. We ate our meat, we went across the street and got a cherry-limeade and then went home to San Diego (which I have a new appreciation for) and fell promptly asleep.

I'm FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am always a busy person. I am an only child and I think that being an only child has been fantastic! People say, oh weren't you bored or lonely as a child? No! I could always come up with something to do, this led to several robust hobbies that I have kept on into my adulthood, like crafting, cooking, gardening, video games, reading, costuming, theater, ect.....

Well this past month I took being busy to a new and unholy level. But I am FINALLY finished with my crazy commitments and I am FREEEEEE! Don't get me wrong, I am still quite busy, trying to schedule anything on a weekend for the next 4 months is a joke (I do have some free days coming up in August). But that is my normal state, rather than the work all say, stay late, then go home and work until I drop from exhaustion! I normally don't have this many CRAZY huge things all lumped at once, here is what I have been up to:

March 25th was our "site visit" at work. I work in a Bio lab at UCSD and every 5 years the federal government (NIH) comes to inspect us to see if we deserve more money for the next 5 years. So needless to say this is a HUGE deal for my work, we have to have everything ready and perfect.

Then March 30th was our Spring Line Up! Craft Show. This was a blast! I can't believe how many people came! I was on the PR committee so I am glad to see all our hard work getting the word out paid off! The only downside is right when we opened the doors it was so crowded people could hardly shop!!! If you stopped to buy something everyone behind you bumped into you!!! Well we are working on that for next time! Check out my pictures! I also hate to say I am glad it is over! I enjoyed doing it, but it was also hard because I was simultaneously trying to start up my business so I had to also do things like design and order business cards, get my tax license, try to make a website, ect.......... I also had never done PR before so I had no idea what that would be like! Then I made a 100 pairs of earrings to give away in the swag bag, and I had to make stuff to sell too! So it was pretty crazy, but it was worth it. Also I bet it will get easier with each show I do!
Then on April 5th I had to cook a medieval feast for 80+ people!!! The UCSD medieval club (otherwise known as the College of St. Artemas in the SCA) was having it's 20th anniversary extravaganza so I wanted to do an extra-special feast this year! I decided that the main course would be a beef Tri-Tip roast, it came out SO GOOD! The beef melted in your mouth! We had two ziploc bags of meat leftover which they decided to auction off and they went for $40 each! I cannot believe we made $80 auctioning off leftovers!!! A lot of people told me it was the best feast that they ever went to so I guess I am pretty proud of myself! We did not quote sell out, we were selling 80 seats and we were about 15 short so that means we had about 65 people. Well I cooked 120lbs of meat! And there was not very much leftover! So that means on average people ate 2lbs of meat each PLUS side dishes. We did not have many side dishes left either! It was crazy! Here, check out our crazy menu!

St. Artemas 20^th Anniversary

Feast Extravaganza!

~Course One~

St. Artemas Veggie Platter

Featuring green veggies and special yellow St. Artemas carrots!

Tzatziki Dip

A refreshing yogurt based dip with cucumber and dill

~Course Two~

Capon Rosted

A roasted chicken where lemon and rosemary infused butter is rubbed

under the skin with moist and delicious results

Fenkel in Soppes

Fennel and onions are sautéed in olive oil and seasoning and then turned

into a very light and tasty soup

Bread & Butter

A classic staple! The butter is flavored with honey, fresh parsley, and basil

~Course Three~

Malaches of Pork

With eggs, pine nuts, currants, ground pork, and seasoning this medieval

quiche is basically sausage pie which is extremely scrumptious

Salat

A salad of mixed greens, red onions, glazed walnuts, gorgonzola, and

a balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Couscous

A grain dish that is actually made of very small pasta spheres, added to

this is dried apricots, almonds, and olive oil for a pleasantly sweet flavor

~Course Four~

A Roste

Beef Tri-tip is roasted to perfection for a melt in your mouth consistency

and covered in an exotic array of sweet and savory spices

Garlec

Garlic cloves boiled with a rich array of spices

Hummus

A dip made of mashed chickpeas, garlic, tahini, and pine nuts

Pita

A slightly leaved wheat flat bread with a subtle onion flavor

~Course Five~

Fyne Cakes

These cute little cakes are shaped like mini castles and taste similar to modern

shortbread with cinnamon

Glazed Nuts

A delightful mix of sweet spiced pecans and walnuts

AWESOME Swag for "Spring Line Up"

Ninjas, Robots, and Earrings, OH MY!

Look what fabulous swag we have to give away at the "Spring Line Up!"

If you want to see more great pictures check out my Picasa Album!


My kitchen has literally been overrun with swag!

So for my part in the great swag giveaway I decided to make earrings! We are giving away 100 swag bags to the first 100 people at the Spring Line Up! Well that sounded fine and good, but I had no idea how much work making 100 earrings would be! 100 pairs of earrings actually means you need to make 200 individual earrings! (duh) But man are my hands tired!
I think they came out pretty cute, so it was worth it!
I wanted to show off some of the other great goodies we recieved! These are some of the plushies and cards from www.sweetandsourgoodies.com I am just amazed at all of the cool things she is giving away for FREE in our swag bags! I cannot imagine the time she must have put into these!

She just has such a neat variety of stuff, there are tiny ninjas, medium ninjas, and huge ninjas for our raffle (not pictured). My personal favorite is the geisha! there are also neat cards and pin cushions!

These SUPER cute cards from www.heartsandlaserbeams.com They are so funky, I love it!

BEADS!!!! The pack on your left is a "build-a-bracelet" kit from www.p-starr.com (what a cute idea, now people can participate in the DIY fun!) The pack on your right is a huge bag of beads from www.southsunproducts.com a local bead shop here in San Diego

These elegant cards are from www.invitapaperstudio.com I love the sift colors, it makes them so classy!
Fun stickers!!! From sandiegonorthparkcraftmafia.com www.bellepeppercouture.com www.velvetklaw.com and www.iwishihadapenguinfriend.com
I love the UGLY=CUTE movement, and I think these darling little monsters qualify! They are from www.bognogginz.com
Everyone loves buttons!!! From www.madewithluv.com www.longbeachcraftmafia.com and www.poseurink.com
The comb is from the fabulous stylists at www.hairdrezzersonfire.com and the cute candy bracelet is from www.jewelrybyallison.com
These are SO CLEVER! It looks like a little matchbook, but it is actually a cute little notepad! They are from shindigshirley.etsy.com
These cards are so witty and clever! They are from www.iwishihadapenguinfriend.com
What a funky and fresh card! It is made by staceywinters.etsy.com
I am sad that you cannot see these earrings more clearly, I tried to take a clear picture but they are wrapped in parchment paper and I did not want to open them! They are from asilomarworks.etsy.com and I cannot believe sh made so many, I love them!
This cute little magnet is from alteredprovisions.com and this yummy smelling soap from sparkledarkko.etsy.com is fantastic!
Well www.pixelknit.com makes these coffee cozies to go on your coffee cup, but quite frankly I think they make excellent arm warmers too!
These are cute little stitch markers from itscute.etsy.com
Great coupons from www.theweeset.com and sewhut.com
These are lip balms from naiad.etsy.com and they come in such neat unusual flavors! each one also comes with a cute little button!
Ohhhh, I am soooo jealous I don't get a swag bag! I'll have to see if my friends get any, maybe I can do some trades, heheheheehehe.

Spring is here!!!

Well in the past 2 weeks my garden has exploded in floral activity! The whole San Diego county has it seems like! As I drive down the freeways every hill is covered in neon yellow, purple, and orange! It is very exciting because most of the year our hillsides are brown because it is so hot and dry!

I bought the above asiatic lily 2 years ago and I had no idea of was the type of plant that goes dormant each year (I don't have any of those!). So when it withered up I thought I had killed it!!!!! I put the pot around the side of my house and I figured when I had time I would plant something new in the pot! Well it is a good thing I was so busy last year that I never got around to doing that!! Imagine my surprise when I went around to the side of my house last spring to get something and there was a whole huge plant again!! I was so amazed!!! My parents of course late looked at me like I was stupid, "of course Amy, those go dormant." Well it looks like he is sprouting up again for this year!!! It is very exciting because even now I know he goes dormant I am still always a little worried I killed him!
Yayy! Purple is my favorite color!

My geraniums have grown so much this month they are as tall as my 6ft high fence, that's craziness!! I had no idea they were such a fast growing plant, it keeps sending little seedlings out into my lawn. I ripped some out when we put the pond it, I threw it in a trash can for 3 days, then I changed my mind and planted it in a pot and it is doing great! How many plants can do that? I still have some in a trash can and it keeps blooming! it has no dirt, I am not watering it, and yet it is blooming!

Just got these! So pretty!
These are Azaleas, they are becoming one of my favorite new plants!
Some daisies I dug up from my parents garden (with their permission), they were dormant, so I was not sure what color I was going to get! The bloomed yellow, I have one more plant I am waiting on. It is good, since purple and magenta are my favorite colors I tend to buy too many purple/magents plants so I am happy for some variation!

Calafia/Gyldenholt Friendship Tourney

Well I had a fun day Saturday! One of my many hobbies is the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) which is a medieval and renaissance reenactment club. It is a lot like a Renaissance Faire, except we are a non-profit organization so we do it just for fun and education. Like people seem to think in Medieval Europe that the King sat around eating giant turkey legs,.... well no, turkeys are from AMERICA. That's why we eat them at THANKSGIVING! We are 100% participant driven, at a Faire they put on a show for you, for example they might sword-fight. Well in the SCA if you are interested in sword fighting, you pick up a wooden sword and you learn how!

I was merchanting! Here is my cute little booth:

My other pop-up was missing poles so I just had the one, but we had a nice little tree so it was ok. It was a good practice run, I have my big Spring Line Up show on March 30th and I have to make all my jewelry fit onto one table so I was able to test that out here!
I think my new PVC earring rack is much better on the table, at the Crafty Debs I had in on the floor and it looked awkward for people to have to squat!

The event was at Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center, CA. This was fun because they have a cute little shop, I bought English Toffee (YUM!!!) and a cute new tea strainer (I seem to have quite the tea strainer collection these days).

Crafty Debutantes was FUN!

Well we had our first San Diego North Park Craft Mafia show of the year! It was the "Crafty Debutantes!" craft show! It was named thus because we were "presenting" our new members (including me!) to society! We all dressed up for the event and our founding Mafia members presented us all with tiaras and the most beautiful corsages!!! It was silly but very fun!!! It was a small show, very casual, but it was a good trial run as our group gets ready to host the Spring Line Up on March 30th which is going to be a HUGE craft show, we have invited 50+ vendors, we are having some really great local bands play, we will have a fashion show, we are going to serve beer & wine, and the Other Side Coffee House is going to serve coffee and tasty treats and sandwiches! I am so excited, but I have a lot to do first!!!