it is such a pretty day today! i love living here. it makes me happy. here are some other things that make me happy.


i have found the most artificial beverage in the universe, and it is delightful. i don't like dr. pepper, so i guess it's strange that i like this. i think it has to do with it being made mostly of red #40 and i looove red #40. it is like crack. yum.


this is fluffy, a ten year old toy poodle who belongs to the last man on my meals on wheels route. he thinks he is a very large and ferocious dog, but he is actually tiny and harmless. i took pictures of fluffy a few weeks ago and brought a print to his owner last week when i delivered his lunch. he was so happy with it!


i recently found out that there will be a new Tim Burton stop motion animation film (like the Nightmare Before Christmas) coming out on September 23rd. here is the trailer. i can't wait to see it!


this was a surprise present from my friend Sally this week to wear when i run. it is beautiful and i love it. she said she thought of me when she saw it because of the color and to help keep the sun out of my eyes, because a few weeks ago i had to go to the eye center with red spots on my eyes, which turned out to be pigeuculas. sounds fancy, but just means a callous on your eye. you can get them from being in the sun too much without sunglasses (or a hat) or when there are a lot of allergens in the air. i am very good at getting crazy eye problems lately. (don't click these if you don't like eyeball pictures).



it made my legs very happy today to be in the freezing cold pacific ocean after running 7 miles through Golden Gate Park. such a pretty day!

thank you so much Annabel! my wonderful secret pal sent me a third package last week, full of beautiful orange and red yarn!


8 balls of Phildar "plaisance". it's a 50% cotton, 50% acrylic yarn. the colors are so perfect for me! i was wearing a red shirt and an orange shirt when i opened this package! sorry about the bad picture, it was very sunny out when i took it. there was also a Phildar pattern book, a really pretty card, and two very cute flip-flop stitch markers that Annabel made herself! i am so lucky! here is a closeup of the stitch markers and of the zippered tank that i might make for myself out of the yarn:



thanks so much, Annabel! merci beaucoup!

secret pal 4 is now officially over, so my mystery pal has been revealed: it was Annabel from France! she just emailed me yesterday, so i have not had time to stalk her blog thoroughly yet (or learn French), but it is quite apparent that she is a wonderful knitter! i wish the google translate program worked a little better - the translation isn't very good, although i think i can get a rough idea. Thank you so much for the presents, Annabel! she has sent me one more package, but it hasn't gotten here yet - maybe it will be on my back porch tonight when i get home.

bewteen working and doing marathon training, i haven't been able to get a lot of knitting in lately. i am slowly progressing on my mom's present - i am almost up to the armhole decreases. my mom bought me tickets to come and visit her in two weeks, so that's my deadline for finishing. i'm pretty sure i can do it.



and now diet coke comes in a splenda version! i tried it today and it is so good!

on sunday my kittens officially became cats by turning a year old. i decided that their birthday was May 1st because i found them last year on June 6th and the vet said they were about 5 weeks old. they were so cute! not that they're any less cute now, just bigger and more spoiled.