Our Journey of Giving: Locks of Love

Maggie has been wanting to cut her hair shorter since the summer. I briefly mentioned that if she wants to lose 10" of hair, she should consider donating it. After that day she did not stop talking about donating her hair.

Of course, initially when I mentioned it I thought, well, she'll think about it and forget it. Yah.... I forgot who's kid it was! Anyhoo, Mags insisted I call to get our hair cut before the holidays and begged for an appointment. I figured since she is being so brave to chop her lovely long locks, I should suck it up and consider doing the same.

So, that is what we did as you can see below.

Now that you know what we look like now... allow us to take you on our photo journey into donating our Locks of Love...

Maggie's Journey - Locks of Love

Maggie's Journey

Locks of Love

Andie's Journey

Weezie's Blanket

It has been a long time since I've updated this blog after stepping into the world of the Myspace blogosphere. (Pictures below, after this entry)

Well, alot has happened, but I'll bypass all of that to say someone incredible has touched my life. I've never met this person. She is the friend of a good friend of mine. And because Heather is such a wonderful person - a friend of hers is a friend of mine. That brings us to Weezie.

Weezie was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Her treatment takes her on a voyage of immunosuppressive therapy and subsequent bone marrow transplant (BMT). All the while she had to find a bone marrow donor. Her brother and sister were best possible matches but they did not. She had a donor lined up but they, being anonymous, for whatever reason decided to remove themselves from the donor list. Weezie finally got a donor and she had radical chemo (that is usually chemo is done every three weeks over months, hers was done in five days), full body radiation and the day after those were done she had her BMT.

What I know of Weezie's journey is through Heather and Weezie's blog. Heather is one of ten people allowed to see Weezie during this journey. Weezie had hit the bottom with the pain and nausea, chemo causing blisters on the inside of her body, her body stripped of an immune system. This reminds me of the Marines where they say a Marine is torn down, stripped to the bone and rebuilt stronger and better. I find myself thinking of Weezie often... sending her positive vibes and I'm awestruck by her courage and spirit. She is a reminder of the saying "count your blessings", "life is too short", "be thankful" and "mind over matter".

Well, as I've said I've never met Weezie, but I have been touched by cancer. My dad succumbed to a fairly rare and virulent case when I was 18. Cancer has no regard for anything but itself. I wanted to make a difference. I knit chemo caps from time to time for friends or family of friends. Basically anyone that needs one. I wanted to do something for Weezie. I perused my Vogue Stitchionary and found a stitch pattern worthy.. a leaf and vine pattern. This was perfect as I came to find out that Weezie's favorite color is green. To me this pattern and color were a sign of life renewed, of hope and of earth itself.

I knit furiously for many days and when I was bogged down by concentration issues (as the pattern required more attention than usual), or short on time due to this and that, or fatigue in my wrists and hands.. I thought of Weezie and her fight and how much bigger her stakes and setbacks were.

I missed my self-imposed deadline of having the blankie to Weezie before chemo and my second goal of before the BMT. Alas, I finished Sunday, washed and blocked it and it is now ready to go. Here I share my creation with you. I tried to focus love, determination, healing and comfort into each knit, purl and yarn over. I only hope that this blanket will keep Weezie warm inside and outside for many years to come.

weezie's blanket photos

hug o' war

sophia, maggie and charlotte
first livermore farmer's market of 2006

this picture reminds me of one of my favorite poems from childhood....
i will not play at tug o' war
i'd rather play at hug o' war,
where everyone hugs
instead of tugs,
where everyone giggles
and rolls on the rug,
where everyone kisses,
and everyone grins,
and everyone cuddles,
and everyone wins
- shel silverstein

booga booga!!!

booga felted bag in kureyon red & brown colourway.

cuppa

"Why knit that?" you might be asking? The simplest reason I can provide is "because I can." That being said, I give you .... CUPPA. This bad boy is destined for my favourite cafe in the entire world. It's like the Cheers of Livermore where everybody knows your name. The service is fabu and the liquid caffeinated expresions are always first rate.

what're you up to norm?

i'd like to think that norm would enjoy this knitted stout. though i believe he was a lager man on the show cheers, which i barely watched. still, i know enough to get the norm references and of course a fan of woody and cliff. was there anyone else on the show of note? nah.

upon reviewing fab patterns in knitorama, i realized i didn't want to crochet a stout so i set out to design a knitted version. alas, i give you the knitted pint of guinness which is destined for my mate big andy may in the UK. it is his birthday on the 23rd and he's starting a new job on the 24th, so i plan to mail this to his new office so all of his brit officemates see just how cool americans can be.

spectre or no?

i'm not sure what i really believe in with regards to the here and the herafter but i do have a certain amount of belief in ghosts or spirits. i felt a definite presence on the uss hornet in alameda especially in the sick bay and some crews quarters. i guess alot can be said for those sorts of places, but i really did feel something deep in my gut.

the east bay has been the new seattle so rather than wait for sun to have our fun, we decided to hit the road in search of fun regardless of weather. we trekked out to santa cruz for some pizza at our fave place and then hit the road on the 9 to big basin for some hiking and exploring. along the way we passed the famous (or infamous) brookdale lodge. this place is supposed to be haunted. http://www.hauntedbay.com/features/BrookdaleLodge.shtml

so believer or not, take a gander at these two photos. one was taken literally one after the other at 2:20pm. i took a photo and saw the blob in the viewfinder and then took one immediately after without moving the camera or blowing on the lens. i supposed it could have been a dust particle illuminated by the flash but i've never seen a dust particle look like that. there were definite cold spots in that room (colder than the normal unheated space) and i felt like there was a presence there as well. you be the judge...

with six you get eggroll

good fortune is a terrible thing to waste.... continuing into my foray of non-edible knitted treats i give you the felted fortune cookie as seen in fellow blogger indigo muse http://indigomuse.blogspot.com/2006/01/felted-fortune-cookies_30.html

let them eat cupcakes!!!!

why knit a cupcake? because i can, dammit! it's petite, sweet and 100% calorie free. i may find some vanilla scent to add to it if i'm feeling crazier.

Bacara Bliss

The weekend of March 24th was an incredible, luxurious, relaxing and fun one thanks to my company's owner Terrence and his fab bride Cat.

We are a virtual office, you see, and the four of us work in different locations. Me - NoCal, Marjorie - Southern New Mexico, Rodney - El Paso TX and finally Terrence - Santa Barbara. Thanks to the modern conveniences of phone, instant messaging, web cams we work pretty seamlessly.

There are pitfalls to this arrangement. For one, I hadn't seen T-Man since November 2004. I hadn't seen Marjorie since she moved to NM in March 2004 and I had never met Rodney! This weekend was a wonderful time to bond and have fun. Really, it seemed like we had been working in the same office all along. It's a very easy bunch of folks with which to chill.

So, T-Man and Cat arranged for us all to have a relaxing weekend together at the Bacara Spa Resort in Santa Barbara. I had not heard of this place before but upon further education I found it is a hot spot for the Hollywood types. Apparently Oprah visits often. I hope she doesn't run into any writers while she's there!

So, a weekend of strolling, eating, drinking and being merry were on the agenda. Saturday was an all day spa day for each of us. Lounging in robes sipping cucumber or orange water between treatments. FAB! We had a delish dinner and more libations at Lucky's in Montecito. Our server Guy was a delight. Yours unruly experienced her first e'scargot! Quite tasty if a bit chewy. Those pesky little garden invaders of mine better look out or it's the fiery pan for them! The garden pests of today are supposedly one and the same. Story goes - some French feller brought his snails over to the Americas hoping to introduce the delicacy. I guess some of the critters escaped and viola! I don't know if it's true, but it's a fun story.

What a weekend!

Bacara weekend photos

Photos (l - r)

Andie, Rodney, Marjorie & Terrence - Packaging Concepts photo

Andie on nature trail at Bacara

View from Andie's bedroom window - hello mighty Pacific!

i dunno, she shrugged

take a plain shrug and make it noro-iffic! i varied the "ribbed shrug" shown here http://www.interweave.com/knit/interweave_knits/web_projects/Shrugs_instructions.pdf and made the length longer so it would be long instead of 3/4 sleeve. i had two balls of noro silk garden in reds since october and had no idea what to do with it. yes, i have yarn-itis and will buy "pretty yarn" i see even if i have no project in mind. i know, i know. and i always buy two because i think "well, i can always make another scarf". luckily i was able to purchase 2 more balls in the same dye lot and voila created this shrug. i adore it! it's very comfy and the colors are so ME!

oxygen mask theory

in the event of oxygen masks drops during a flight one is instructed to put their mask on before assisting others. the point being you're no good to anyone if you're belly up not breathing. i've often tried to subscribe to this thinking in my own personal life. as a full time mom, full time employee, girl scout leader blah de blah....i know that i have to take care of myself physically AND mentally in order to play the game of life at my peak.

my dear friend andrew sent me an article and cited me as being brilliant for thinking of something far in advance of cnn's report :) i can't claim the credit for the theory, i think i read it ages ago, but it's a great article and in today's world, we can all use the reminder to slip that oxygen mask on and maintain balance for ourselves so we can be effective for those we love. kids deffo pick up on the energy we produce, be it negative but hopefully more positive.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/03/21/moms.and.depression.ap/index.html

so, grab a mask and suck it up people! high quality O!

v dub in da hooooooouse

happy (rainy) first day of spring y'all! now that's out of the way let's move onto more important things. as i've mentioned the dream of being a v-dub owner came to fruition in december. some days i'm driving it and hardly believe after 26 years of wanting a bug, i've got one!

so nothing could make me happier than some new snappy adverts from vw. when the new beetle came out the ads were so happy and partridge family. loved them. but i have to say i dig these new "representing deutschland" much better. peter stormare is one of my favorite unknown actors. best loved to me as the wood chipper dude in "fargo". he's had a long list of credits, if you search on him in imdb. let's not forget him in his tour de force performance of the "frogger" episode of seinfeld as slippery pete! well, i abso adore peter's work in these commercials. maybe one day pete will get the recognition that one of my fave actors recently has. PSH or known to the rest of the world as capote's philip seymour hoffman.

well, i digress (as usual) feast your eyes kids.

http://www.adverblog.com/archives/002386.htm

cabled chemo cap

cabled chemo cap for "second mom" of a fellow parent at school.

update on heart hat giftee kathi. unfortunately kathi passed away earlier this week. i do know that the hat gave her comfort and joy. i feel so fortunate, though i never met kathi, that i was able to touch her life in a positive way during a difficult time. she leaves a husband and 13 yo son behind. i feel compelled to do something nice for the son as i know too well what it is like to lose a parent quite young as an only child. any ideas are greatly appreciated!

remember to live, live, LIVE!

six more weeks of winter

punxsutawny phil - february 2, 2006

i know he's nothing but an overgrown rat, but he's adorable.
plus, i love the movie groundhog day, i can't help myself.

successful chemo cap donation * hazzah!

heart comfort hat

well, i had a very successful (finally) knitted chemo cap donation! after trying to give my caps of care to a local organization without success i decided to go rogue.

please do not be alarmed! i will not resort to running amuck, ammo strap filled with knitting needles and grenade holders containing balls of yarn. funny image though, innit?

i've posted a message requesting chemo cap recipient leads on mags kindergarten group board and hope to receive some info. i've got stitches of love and comfort to give, by cracky, and a well meaning, yet unorganized non-pro charity isn't going to stop me!

last week, i was discussing my plight with my friend mollie who said her neighbor was just returning from a bout of chemo. eager to part with my creation, i asked mollie if her neighbor would find a chemo cap useful or helpful. indeed, it was and is. mollie reported that her neighbor was bowled over by the sentiment and was having a particularly difficult post-chemo day and it lifted her spirits.

i've never read random acts of kindness, but it's one of those things that was instilled in me since childhood. for instance, did you know that if you smile at someone they are in turn likely to smile at someone else - so on and so forth, ad infinitum? don't get me wrong, i'm not some wacked out suzy sunshine skipping tra la la through life, but i do believe that little moments count big and we can each make a difference.

so, my PSA today is along those lines. i share a favorite quote of mine.....

Aspire, break bounds.
Endeavor to be good, and better still, best.
Robert Browning

pür joy

want to see what pure joy looks like? being a kid, sledding downhill....

the perfect mallow and s'mores

it is widely known to those whom i love and know me well that i feel the only good mallow is a crispy and charred mallow.

additionally, i enjoyed quite the perfect s'mores this day. nothing like a warm ooey gooey s'mores accompanied by a steamy cup of mexican chocolate to ward off the chills when playing in the snow.

Knitting Prana for Andie