Man, this has been a long, hard week...and it's not even over yet! So much to talk about. Get ready for a long, drawn-out post!

The week has been tough because we are nearing T-minus zero on the move. Departure scheduled for Saturday, yikes! Of course that also meant having to get things wrapped up at work, making visits to people to say good-bye, packing the apt, and on and on. More on that later.

In the midst of all the chaos, I did manage to finish the Lacertilia socks, and now I think they actually look kinda cute:I guess the colors have grown on me.
I did foul up the heels a bit. They don't look like any heels I've seen before. The problem was that I kept turning one stitch too early. It wasn't until I started making the heel on the second sock correctly that I realized the first sock was wrong! But, was I going to rip out a whole, finished sock to fix it? Of course not! I just did the second heel the "wrong" way. I mean, it still fit my foot OK, so why bother.Pattern: Lacertilia Socks by Dipsy
Yarn: Trekking XXL in Color #11, knit on 2 mm needles
I loved the pattern--simple and easy to memorize, but creates a pleasing pattern. I started with 68 stitches rather than 60 because it seemed like I was getting smaller gauge or something. Also, I loved the yarn! I can totally see why people are fans of Trekking. It's quite soft but seems like it should wear well, and it doesn't seem nearly as splitty as some sock yarns. Just a good quality product all around.

So, back to my crazy week. The thing is that I hate, hate, hate having to say goodbye to people! Even when I know I'll see them again, it makes me really sad and I tend to get weepy. Which sucks because it's so embarrassing (not to mention unflattering to one's complexion, ha ha), especially in front of work colleagues. Yesterday I had to say goodbye to one of my two favorite coworkers and I totally burst out crying, ugh. Luckily no one else was around and I had warned him beforehand that I might cry (I was actually laughing and crying at the same time, and had big sunglasses on so at least I was a bit in hiding), but still felt bad. He laughed though, and promised we would get together soon...the funny part is I will actually live closer to him than I do now.

Then, today was my last day at work and I woke up at around 5 AM feeling really excited! I couldn't get back to sleep. I'm sad to leave but it's still a good feeling to know you don't have to go back anymore! I took a picture of my last morning on the lake (so sad to be moving to a cube farm):I basically goofed around at work all day, got my office cleaned up, etc. The plan was to go out for dinner tonight with my three coworkers that live here in town, along with their spouses. Yesterday I was worried that there would be more waterworks but I knew this morning when I woke up I would be fine--I just felt so at peace and happy. We had a great time at dinner, they gave me a couple funny gifts, and we parted in the parking lot with happy hugs. I did feel a slight catch in my throat when I hugged my other favorite coworker goodbye, but all was fine. Hooray. I also learned today that if you feel like you are going to cry, you should press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Apparently that will stop it...funny I never knew that because G said he had heard that before.

Besides all the emotions, there is also the plain physical tiredness of having to pack, clean, move, blech! We got rid of soooo much stuff over the last couple weeks, just bags and bags of stuff going to Goodwill, the dump, etc. But, it feels really good to finally let go of all the junk we've been dragging from apartment to apartment but never used. Then G went to get our moving truck today and wow, it is way too big for the amount of stuff we have left! The only choices for trucks were either really small or really large, and I didn't want to get stuck not having enough room. Hopefully we make it down without mishap, because it is a real doozy to get around corners.

I wanted to show you one more picture that has a bit of a funny story behind it, this pretty kalanchoe plant was sent to me at work last week:(Notice a trend of little cat faces lurking in the backgrounds of my photos? ;)
They were sent by a local real estate agent who I have had many dealings with through my job. I was particularly tickled to get them because back four years ago when I started this job, we totally butted heads the first time I ever talked to her. I complained to my coworkers about how horrible she was and how I hoped I didn't have to talk to her much. Well the funny thing is, as time passed we started to get along really well, to the point that we usually had a chit-chat once a week or so! Isn't it funny how your opinion of someone can change so completely? She was bummed to hear that I was leaving and sent me these as a going-away gift.

Well, time to get some rest, as we are going to have to spend tomorrow loading up our mega-truck. I'm ready to follow the advice that my friend gave me when I visited her this week:
"Be happy, and go kick some butt."

And there's only one other thing left to say besides that:
"So long, stinktown!"

Whew...I've been back home for a week now but I'm only just making it back to the blog! Of course we had a lovely time in San Francisco--we had last visited there about four years ago and did a lot of the tourist-y stuff back then, so this time we just did a lot of walking and sight-seeing in the neighborhood where we were staying (Nob Hill). I was particularly enamored of the tiling around doorways, the iron gates on every door, and the plethora of old neon signs that can be found everywhere.

Also everywhere was a lot of:Stairs, hills, hills, stairs...argh! No wonder everyone is pretty fit-looking in that city! We didn't do too bad but by the second day I definitely had a wee bit of soreness in the posterior!
Lots more pictures on Flickr.

The knitting was not horribly neglected either, due to the six- to eight-hour travel days including layovers. I made some decent progress on the first of my "Funfetti" socks:Although I think they should actually be called "Froot Loop" socks now. This is actually a pattern created by blog-friend Dipsy (thanks Dipsy!) called Lacertilia. I needed something easy-to-memorize--who wants to fumble with a difficult pattern while on a cramped plane?--
so these fit the bill perfectly. The only bummer is that the stripe-y yarn kind of obscures the patterning--it would definitely look much better with just a regular variegated like the originals. Also, my yarn colors border on garish to my eyes, but who's going to be staring at my feet anyway? Hmm...maybe I don't want to know the answer to that question.

I am starting to feel like I have too many projects going on...yes, three projects are just too many for me! I just hate forgetting where I am when I pick a project back up, and the more projects I have going, the longer the interval between working on each item. I really want to get the toddler aran sweater done asap, as it is starting to get a bit boring. The Victoria Shawl has been cast aside (is that the third type of "casting"--cast on, cast off, and cast aside? har har) for the time being so I can finish the sweater and socks. Plus I really want to start a semi-complex project for Christmas (not sure if it has any chance of being done by then), and I really don't think I can handle...gasp...four projects!

Well I am seriously "out of it" right now due to one of G's harebrained schemes. We drove 4 hours last night to Boston to see the Hives. Somehow through a number of e-mails amongst G's grandfather and some relative of his in Sweden, we found out that this Swedish relative is the father of the Hives' drummer. The drummer hooked us up with a pair of tickets and said we should meet him after the show. G spent Sunday morning trying to find a friend down in New Hampshire or Boston to go with him (one said he couldn't because of a "major loan" he had to close at work on Monday--I guess we are the only ones to live in eternal teenagerdom LOL). When this plan failed, I was recruited to accompany him to the show. I'm actually glad it worked out that way because it was ridiculously awesome--I'm not sure the last time I saw a band with that much energy--and well, fast loud rock 'n' roll is always a good thing. Here is a really crappy photo of the band:Actually this is what I saw most of the time, cuz i am so short:Heads.

After the show, the band was totally spent but we introduced ourselves to the drummer dude (his hilarious bandmates were like, "Ooh, is this 'the relative'?", so I called G "the relative" the rest of the night). We were able to hang out and chat with him and a couple of the other guys for half an hour or so which was interesting. They have a rather wicked sense of humor. But it is definitely odd talking to random famous people--I mean what do you really have to talk about? If it were me I would get really annoyed at having strangers hanging around all the time. But anyway, they were very nice to us despite looking like they were ready to crash and it was quite the memorable experience! Probably never to happen to me again!

Oh, and somehow we made it home and I dragged myself into work today. Although I was completely useless, so not sure what the point of that heroic gesture was. I guess you can see why I am so tired--I'm going to crash into bed now! G'night!