Poncho Poncho

Newest knit from the Taylor couch. This is my first poncho. It's a bit like a cup of coffee isn't it? I kinda want a cup-a-joe with it.

Our New Home

So, A few weeks to go before we officially close on our first house. We took a nice trip into Cambridge, getting lost of course to see the place again. And for your viewing pleasure, I took some photos of it. It's not large, but boy is it set up! First is the entrance to the building.



This is where we enter (no, it's not the cute green stairs with the flowers) It's a gated entrance below the 107 building number, and those windows are from the living room.



This is the entrance lobby to get to our condo, this is where the mingling and the mail getting happens. But the charm of this building is just... perfect.



The entrance to our condo, lucky number 3. It opens to a cute hallway then branches to the rooms from there.





The kitchen on the gods. Brushed chrome everything. New washer, fridge, stove and granite counter tops.





But this is why I wanted the place. JUST LOOK AT THIS BATHROOM! Granite from floor to ceiling (yes, granite is on the ceiling!) spa tub, I don't know how many shower heads there are but with a tub like that, you will never see me again.





Our balcony, which is a fire escape that descends to a small back yard green space. Look at the brick! It's beautiful. and there's a bed room and living room and dining area too, but these are just some snippets of the main features that sold us on this place.

The strike

Italy is known for their stikes. Everyone is on strike, it's amazing that anything ever gets done. The strike is what made me want to leave Italy. Our last day we are dropped off at the airport, finally we are going home... broke. BAM a strike is being set up outside the airport, first we are cheering for them... then we see that our flight is cancelled and I have never wanted a dozen eggs so badly in my life. After being told by Air France (always said in a snooty manner) that they can do nothing for us except give us a new ticket on a totally different airline, in a totally different airport, in a totally different part of Italy, on a totally different day! No, they wouldn't pay for the bus to the train station, from the train station to Milan (3 hours away), from Milan to the bus to the new airport (1 hour away), nor would they cover the hotel cost. What cheesy pricks! I hate you Air France, you unhelpful snooty wankers! So after a full day of traveling in a different country, not knowing the lay of the land or the language we finally got to the airport to make sure Air France didn't mess with us by making up new plane tickets in order to get rid of us and keep our money. Our tickets were real at least, now for the hotel. Turns out that there are only 2 hotels near this airport. We choose the cheaper of the 2 (cheaper in euros that is, in US dollars it's not a cheap hotel) We sweat all night long in a falsly advertised air conditioned hotel and wake up and the butt-crack of dawn. I step outside to see the place we have been dumped (darn you Air France). I wake up to the most beautiful town I have ever seen. It was this rustic, old world farm town. No tourists, no crowds, no constant buzz of the scooters and street vendors, just a peacful dawn on a truely beautiful place. In the distance stands a duomo (church) in the town center, old houses with metal shades and flower boxes. If I would ever go back to Italy, I would learn the language, and stay in this town, Arragio I believe it was called.

Now for something wacky

Italy is full of stuff I have never seen before. In a meat deli there was a display to draw in the business. This display consisted of stuffed pigs in old world costumes sitting around a table eating a meal consisting of their fellow pig brothers.



Another bit of the wacky are the automobiles. Florence is made up of streets smaller than the width of J.Lo's back side. All roads are one way and are cluttered with tourists, scooters and cars. The only way to survive is to find the smallest car possible. Enter the Smart Car. Now this is perfect! Who really needs an SUV when you can have the space efficiency of the Smart Car. Bigger is not better!



Italy feeds you a lot, a millions courses in a meal. One night out at Il Latini, the meat dish is offered to us. Will jumps at the chance to get rabbit. So we're eating and he shows me his rabbit, he's playing with it's legs making it dance, then he opens thumper up to give me an anatomy lesson. Now, as a vegetarian, I don't know all that much about meat, but aren't you supposed to take the insides outside? There were kidneys still in the ex-fluffy bunny. KIDNEYS, all attached and everything to the rest of it's organs. Dear god, that's just not right, I don't care where you're from!

First day in Italy

After a million hour flight in coach where the leg room does not exist, we arrived in Florence Italy. There are a few things about Italy that I was confused by. First It is hot as balls there and you MUST drink water, a lot of water. But do not make the mistake that I first made, and that would be to purchase water with gas. Now, being a silly American, I prefer my water without flatulence.



Well, after the water mistake we took in the gelatos, which is just really good ice cream. Really really good ice cream.



Then before we passed out from jet lag we took in a sight or 2. This has to be the only beautiful place in Florence. And wouldn't you know it, I don't know what this place is called.

The first post in a long time

I've been out of the blogging scene, not like what I write people read, but whatever. Well let me start with my first house. My boyfriend and I have moved to Mass. and we are going to be first time homeowners in about a month. So we celebrated in our favorite sandwich shop in Cambridge.

The dino that ate Boston

Dino Cookie
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

So here we are again in Cambridge to look at condos to buy and while we stopped to have lunch when the the dreaded Dino Cookie that ate Boston came upon us (at the price of $4) and started with his shenanegans. We fought bravely agains the Dino.



My boyfriend trembled with fear, you can see it in his eyes, Tyra might say he's fierce, but she has no idea of what she is saying. After searching through all possible scenarios I found the weakness of Dino Cookie. Apparently he is made entirly of sugar icing and ginger bread, there was only one thing I could do.



I ate him. I started with his head then worked my way down. He put fear in the hearts of many, but fear no more, I have taken care of the situation. You may lunch extra carelessly again.

Drinkin in the hotel

Drinkin in the hotel
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

So, the day is over and we got ourselves some beverages, you can't have a huge hotel room without liquor. Just watching Brit & Kev show, not feeling anything from the white russians except for the yummy goodness that they bring. So me and my hottie cruised around Woburn Mass. looking for a restaurant. Woburn, not a place I want to live, so we have another town off the list. Tomorrow, we are excited about another day of being grown-ups looking for a house, and not just looking at places pretending we could buy them, you know, the way we go into stores and try on stuff we won't buy only to look at ourselves and at what we would look like if money was no option. I think Will is drunk, he just licked all over my face like a dog. and on that note, I have to wipe my self down from his slobber.

Boston or Bust Part 2

Best sandwich
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

handsome boy with sandwich
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

Our second time in Boston, but his time we drove. Not always the best idea. From Northern Virginia to Boston is a few more hours than I really care to count, and my butt is a bit upset about being sat on for that amount of time. So after driving ALL of Monday, we wake up very early Tuesday for our first homebuyers tour. Not as long as I was hoping it to be, not as many places as I was hoping to see and nothing was in our price range or taste. So thank's Kevin the Coldwell Banker guy for really asking us about what we wanted before wasting all of our time. So after this tour we stop for the yummiest sandwiches offered at Hi Rise bread shop... mmmm... I will love them long time. and then to make sure that these 2 days in Boston and 2 days driving (back and forth) are just that meaningless, I desperately need a very long nap. This is the nap that I have just woken from.

Duck Tours
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

I haven't been on one yet, but I hear the duck tours are to die for, the bus actually turns into a boat and sets sail.

Purple Rain

Prince
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

My second completely knitted doll to date. I'm thinking I should do this for a living. As you can see this is Prince from his Purple Rain cover. He was a gift to my friend Jessica since I am moving several states away and will no longer be able to join her and Suzy for OC night. I was a bit sad to part with this little guy, he turned out so well from his frilly collar and over sized lapel to his huge head of hair. I am proud of him and will gladly take orders. You can also see my other doll Joey Ramone here I wanna be knitted

Lose my number

Okay, so Friday was my last day at work. Much celebration and jumping around. But the new designer is...um...well good luck. so far he has had to call me at home no less than 4 times a day to ask me questions about such difficult things as...tabs. Oh come on! Are you kidding me? I have turned my phone off, this is just rediculous! I had to learn this crap on my own! I can not do this kids job for him, this is why he was hired, to do my job for me. I refuse to turn the phone on for fear of how many times he has called today. I don't work there, does he understand this?

I just had a weird memory today

I just remembered while I was in the bathroom, back to the days of my youth, like really back there, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 years max. I remembered that I hated the sound of the toilet flushing, I thought it was so loud. I used to use one hand and cover my left ear and press my shoulder up to the right ear and use my right hand to flush. I think the reason I thought of this was I was trying to see if I locked the bathroom door here at work. I didn't want to be walked in on. This was where my memory came back to me. In elementry school we had a toilet in the classroom in a tiny watercloset. One day a boy walked in on me using my flushing technique in full activation. Even though I looked like a moron, this boy who's name I do not remember so we will call him Gus, ran into the class to tell everyone that he saw me using the toilet. So I guess I was not the moron in this case as it was apparent to me that flushing and peeing are two completely different things, Gus was not clued into this fact. But regardless I had to spend the rest of the day defending my honor and my bathroom activities.

Gus, you bastard.

Boston or bust

I haven't posted for a while, the amount of work I had to do just blew up, then we got the call. My boyfriend had his last day of work last week and has been looking around for another job, one that would hopefully take us away from the suburbs of Virginia. Nothing happening in that department and he was about to take a job locally when he was contacted by Raytheon in Massachusetts. They expedited his interview so he wouldn;t accept another offer before talking with them, they bought both of us plane tickets, a rental care and a hotel, we paid for nothing. He had his interview on Monday and after a five and some hour long interview they extended him a job offer with an incredible relocation packet. We spent 3 days in Boston and fell in love with it. I handed in my two weeks notice on Wednesday when we got back and thus begins our new journey. One involving packing and finding a place to live. I can't help but think that we don't have enough time for all of this and that most people have months where we have only weeks to do this. But I have the Boston bug and expect our travel to be one of pain and joy.

Mr. T Hearts his momma

Treat your mamma right (Windows Media).

You tell 'em Mr. T. This is a shinning example of how stellar the 80's really were.

Wow, the alien gets mad

tyra mad
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

On last night's episode of ANTM (the show I love) Tyra bursts out with alien rage. The show starts off well, the models go for their lessons in acting. Put on stage to speak a few lines about flowers in a cockney accent, Michelle believes she has this whole thing nailed since she's acted for 4 years (as a woman). Sadly, the only other person who portraid an English accent worse than her was Tiffany and the beer in her weave. But Michelle believes that she sparkled with her radiant talent and much to her dismay did not win this competition. The winner Naima got to pick 2 friends to all receive free diamonds. Their next challenge was to pose with a male model by the name of Rip, Bif, or Bib, not really sure, but it was a stupid name never the less. And for the first time in weeks we were not choked by the Cover Girl product placement and instead got our fill of Wonder Bra. And by the looks of it, those bras were lacking in some wonder, I'd be afraid to put my little jigglies in those lace padded contraptions. Now we get to the fun stuff, no one passes out or has the flesh eaten from their body in this episode, but Tyra is full of the diva anger. At judging the girls are put to another test. This test is to see if these girls can read. Acting as a tv correspondent who is at fashion week they had to read from a prompter for the judges. This gets me, out of all of them words like technicolor and magenta where completely unknown to these dingbats. turning them to telecolor and magnetic do they not teach english in school anymore? Don't even get me started on how stumped they were when they had to read the word chartreuse you'd think that they were reading the Greek alphabet. Aside from mangling the names of designers (which in model land is apparently the ONLY thing one needs to know, all else is left to basic bodily functions, except eating,) the girls proved themselves to be completely illiterate. When Tiffany arrives to read her prompter she backs out of continuing, stating that she can't read big words. Tyra coaxes her on, and she continues and doesn't do as poorly as everyone else, but leaves the stage muttering how each week gets harder and harder, perhaps next week they might make them spell, won't that just make 8 pretty heads explode. Well the judges talk amongst themselves about who will go and nothing is accomplished at all and Nole does nothing but repeats the statement that is said before him, much like a parrot. Well the girls come teetering in, shaking from the fear that their dreams of being a winner on a reality TV show may come to an end this night. We get a big shocker as all the names are called but two Tiffany "Bitch poured beer in my weave" and Rebecca. Tyra calls them forward and in a shocking moment decides to eliminate both of them. Gasp! Well the two losers go to say their goodbys to the non-losers when Tyra calls them back to her. This is where I think this was staged for ratings. Tyra starts in on Tiffany about how she can't believe that this seems like a joke to her since Tiffany wasn't on the floor sobbing. I mean come on Tyra, you've broken down her spirit by making her order foods she can't pronounce and by making her READ! Tiffany defends herself and Tyra, in a gale force PMS rage, Tells Tiffany to shut-up and then pulls the "I was rooting for you, you could have won this competition" card, anything to make our tough ghetto Tiffany crack. But Tiffany has been through more on the streets and no Victoria's Secret super model was going to make her cry. They pack up and say that they learned so much for this experience and walk away from the splendors of a reality TV show.

Gotta love those wacky Eastern Europeans

I mean they give us such wonderful things as numa numa. This is a must see for anyone who loves big guys and funny Romanian music.

Changing colours

Knit face
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

I learned recently how to change colours in the yarn while knitting and presented is my first test. It was going to be a pillow cover for these small beenie pillows we have, but it was also my first time with knitters graph paper and much to my dismay, my math was off... a lot. So this kinda goes now into a pile of oopsie's and I think that once the pillow bug gets me again, I will try this again. But you must agree that I look faaaabulous on a pillow.

It's Friday, and I need more cowbell god dammit!

cowbell
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

nuff said.

Those crazy Germans

Dog Wash
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

What wacky folk those Germans are. Aside from letting David Hasselhoff serenade everyone on the Berlin Wall in a piano tie and shimmering blazer no less, the great inventors of the Volvo (tank on 4 wheels) have created this little ditty. I think it's a dog wash, from the title on the glass wall I'd say I'm not far from wrong. Now I think I need a detailed diagram to definitively say what this does or how it works, but from I can gather, you simply shove 'ol poochy into the traumatic chamber and blast him with water. As a human, and having a better understanding of things such as showers, thunder and vacuums, this may even scare the crap out of me. And isn't it just in poor taste for the germans to create a chamber to terrorize any kind of creature? Do you get me? But I'm sure Hitler would have never thought to put gas chamber in a fun seventies puffy font letting you know that everything is not as politically incorrect as it may look at first.

Holy Camole

Brit Brit
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

I know I'm doing it again, celebrity on my blog, but just bear with me here as this will probably be my next big obsession. I do love a good train wreck masked by well paid PR.
Britney Spears is delving into reality television, thanks to a deal she recently inked with UPN, according to a spokesperson for the network. Spears and husband Kevin Federline will star in their own unscripted, as-yet-untitled series, which will document the couple's relationship, from the earliest stages of their courtship to their engagement and ultimately, their stroll down the aisle.
Whoa! say what? they are going to show on network television the worlds most confusing couple? The biggest popstar in her biggest publicity stunt ever? What are you going to call it? "Newlyweds" has already been taken, how about something simple like "Rednecks" or "Cletus and Me and Baby Makes Three". I really can not wait to see the chugging of the Red Bull, the consumption of countless bags of Cheetos, jaw unhinging laughter, a widening girth in the belly, and not to mention the Topographical map that has eurupted upon your face.

"I feel that last year, the tabloids ran my life, and I am really excited about showing my fans what really happened, rather than all the stories, which have been misconstrued by journalists in the past. As I mentioned before, I am now going to be expressing my personal life through art" There is no bloody way you have enough intelligence to know the word "misconstrued" let alone how to use it properly in a sentence. And come on, art? Reality TV is not an expression of art. Paint something, take photographs, or at the very least... close your gaping trap of a mouth. What I can't figure out is "why"? Your letters of Truth that you posted about wanting to be private and all that other crap you gave up doing when you signed you soul over to the Devil. I just don't know why , after fighting against the tabloids for as long as you have, defending your love for each other that you would turn around and air these tender moments? Britney, is it because album sales are down? Are you no longer making enough money for your husband's female "escorts" in Vegas? Man, this show is what dreams are made of you know.