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One Happy Person

2008
06.23

Tags: scarf, ted
Posted in Family & Friends, Knitting, Spinning | 3 Comments »

Yes I am! A package arrived last Friday, all the way from Canada. It was a scarf. And it was from Ted, aka Knitterguy. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! Oops. Was that a triumphal laugh, or an evil laugh??? Seriously, I am not bragging. It is just that it felt like winning the lottery, hitting the jackpot. I’ve been in awe of Ted’s knitting and spinning skills ever since I met him online. Now to receive a scarf that’s both spun and knitted by Ted. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! Oops. Here I go again. But it feels great!

I think that I can blog about this. I am not giving anything away. The person that I spun and knitted a scarf for already knows that it’s on its way. So there’s no secret there. And anyway, I am only talking about MY, all mine, scarf. Bwah-ha-ha-ha! (Are you tired of that?)

Ted started this Fiber to Scarf Exchange 2008 in January. It was very hush hush. No one knew who else was participating. No one was suppose to blog about it online. Everyone sent in enough fiber for a scarf to Ted, he then randomly selected a participant to spin and knit the scarf. We got minimum info on whom we were making a scarf for. The identity of the recipient was revealed only after the scarf was done. (See his rules page for more rules if you are curious.)

I sent in 8 oz of Ashland Bay Mulit-colored Merino Top in Sandalwood and got back a beautiful scarf:

The pattern is Campus from the book Scarf Style. Very guy-friendly I think. It is soft, springy. Drapes really well. The color is a nice warm brown. Is it winter, yet? The yarn that he spun is so fine. I’ll post a picture to show a comparison of his yarn to the one I spun when I post about my work. For now you can read about MY scarf on his blog here and here. I was going to model the scarf myself. But the weather has been very very warm. So I used one of CB’s sculptures instead.

Needless to say, this scarf has instantly become one of my treasured possessions.

1 Comment

Unproductive

2008
03.01

Tags: krandon
Posted in Family & Friends, Life | 1 Comment »

I am sick, sitting in bed with the laptop. Not doing much. Maybe I finally got what’s been going around? Hope not. It doesn’t feel too bad. I might had caught something at Molly Malone’s Wednesday night. Symptoms started showing the next evening. But it absolutely was worth it though because I got to hear Jill perform on Krandon’s last night at the pub.

Jill brings the sound of flute and oboe to the band. The oboe was especially powerful to me. At times it harmonized with other instruments that resulted in very unique sounds that were very intriguing. I am really looking forward to hearing their performance again.

I need to feel better. I want to go to the temple tomorrow and see my teacher. We really didn’t get to chitchat so much last Sunday with all the activities.

20 comments

Zhangjiajie

2008
02.19

Tags: China, Hunan, Zhangjiajie
Posted in Family & Friends, Life | 20 Comments »

A little update on my future plans. It is a positive yes for me to be heading to China for a few years. It is still not certain if CB will be moving with me. It’s not a problem with the family. It is just that we (CB and I) are not sure what’s best for CB, yet. Arrrgggh! We only have about six months to make the decision and act on it. Oh yeah, I am moving in August. At least that’s the current plan.

I think Angela was afraid that I’d fear difficulties in China. I admit, I am nervous. It is not what I am familiar with. I don’t know anything about the hotel business. But I am not afraid, and I am eager to learn. Anyhoo. To help relax my attitude, Angela said, “you won’t have too much to do. You will have time for your spiritual practice. And what a place to do that!” True. It is amazingly beautiful in Zhangjiajie. Just look at this:

I wonder how often I will actually set foot in the parks though. Oh, did I mention that Zhang is the way they spell my last name in mainland China? Zhangjiajie consists of three Chinese characters. It translates to “Zhang family homeland”. Meant to be? Another tidbit of information. When I was there in 2002, I didn’t see birds flying around. I wondered where they went? Were they eaten? eeekk! Lots of moths though. Yikes! Moths!

8 comments

Peter’s 50th

2008
02.16

Tags: birthday, friends
Posted in Family & Friends | 8 Comments »

50th birthday is a big one, no? Peter threw a big dinner party at Raku to celebrate. We took over the entire restaurant for the evening. By the way, I mentioned Raku on my blog before. A Japanese/Korean style restaurant. Their block pork, black cod, lotus roots, grilled liver are very very good. Oh, and the Korean style pancake, YUM. But for Peter’s dinner the owner/chef made new dishes not on the usual menu. Delicious. Everyone was very happy.

3 comments

Krandon

2008
02.13

Tags: krandon, music
Posted in Family & Friends | 3 Comments »

Our Jill P. sure lives an exciting life! She is now part of a music group, Krandon. Check out their sound:

They will be playing at Molly Malone’s every Wednesday in February, 8:00 pm sharp. Will you be in the area? Join the fun!

2 comments

Sven Sunday

2008
02.11

Tags: restaurant, sven
Posted in Family & Friends | 2 Comments »

I got a rushed project on Sunday, so I stayed in most of the day while CB and Sven went out to lunch and to see the Hollywood sign. No pictures to show for that. But I did join them for dinner at La Serenata. I am throwing in some funny pics of Sven to make up for lack of photos for this post. hehehe

La Serenata

http://www.laserenataonline.com/

We usually go to the West L.A. location. I actually liked the one in Downtown L.A. better. The building was gorgeous. A completely different atmosphere. I think the food was better, too!

10:09 am, CB just took Sven to the airport. It will be CB’s turn to travel and see Sven in Frankfurt next month.

5 comments

Sven Saturday

2008
02.10

Tags: bonsai, food, restaurant, sven, the huntington gardens
Posted in Family & Friends | 5 Comments »

We started Saturday with a visit to our friends, Mike and Gaby. Sven was still feeling sick, so we hurried to Triumphal Palace in Alhambra for some dim sum. The food is still great. But the service has gotten lousy. Under the previous ownership the service was top-notch. The waiters stopped by constantly to replace dishes and refill water and tea. But this time they didn’t even take our order until we stopped one of them to do so. This is not unusual in a Chinese restaurant. It is just unfortunate that they couldn’t make the experience better than the others. Food is still fantastic, dim sum or dinner. Definitely give it a try if you are in the area. Just be aggressive in ordering and asking for stuff. Well, not aggressive to the point of being mean, of course.

The Huntington Gardens

http://www.huntington.org/

It is absolutely beautiful in the gardens. We’ve only visited the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden and the not yet finished Chinese Garden. I especially loved the Japanese Garden. Do take a look at the photo album to see more pictures. Especially the bonsai collection.