Crocheting with a vengence ...

I think I first learned to crochet when I was about 11 or 12. I must've made chains for weeks and redid them over and over until it finally looked perfect. I can't remember if I ever made anything beyond chains, but I do remember making an afghan in college during a particularly difficult semester. I remember that it calmed me down and gave me something to focus on and really enjoyed seeing the order and progress made when everything else in my life seemed to be in a halt and chaos.

When the latest community education program catalog arrived, to my delight I saw that a beginning crocheting class was offered at a local high school. I signed up! Our first class we made chains and our homework assignment was to make a dishcloth.

Well, it just so happens that every year at work we hold a fundraiser for the local chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. A couple of co-workers would make dishcloths and bundle it up with some dish soap and sell them for $5. When I came to them for some pointers on my homework, I was asked to make them as both co-workers do not have the time to make them this year. Why not, I thought, it’ll give me the practice I need and I’ll just do this instead of giving the charity my usual $$ donation. Due to illness and no church (General Conference), I was able to make 15 dishcloths and brought them in earlier this week. Before a co-worker could even go out to buy dish soap to bundle with the cloths, ALL the cloths sold out. How about that? I have been asked to make additional dishcloths which I’m willing to do, but I’m so ready to move on to something else – I’m working on a small purse and want it finished before class next week (modified from the homework that was supposed to be a small iPod case) but I can’t seem to make the strap work to the point I think it’s perfect …

Eye Exam

Oh yeah, did I tell you, I went to see the eye doctor. The last time I saw such a doctor, he scolded me for leaving my contact lenses in my eyes for months at a time and threatened to schedule surgery the following year to scrape the contacts off of my eyes if I don't start wearing glasses and give my eyes more frequent breaks. Long story short, I avoided seeing eye doctors since and that was probably ... oh, 8 years ago or so.

Forward to present day or rather a couple of months ago, the last pair of contacts that I've been wearing in my eyes are about 6 months old. It started to get scratchy and no back-ups other than the glasses and I HATE wearing my glasses (childhood trauma being called 4-eyes, etc.). So when I saw a Groupon coupon for $50 for $180 worth of eyewear, I caved and made the appointment.

Surprisingly, my eyes are fine and I can continue to wear contacts. The doc did make me promise that I'll take it off at least weekly to clean and wear my glasses for a day to give the eyes rest -- just like the Sabbath. I've decided my eyes are Seven Day Adventists and Saturdays are their Sabbath. In determining my prescription, the doc did determine that I may need -- {{GASP}} Oh, don't you dare say the "B" word -- yes, BIFOCALS. Although, he said, I can probably just get by with using the weakest reading glasses out there ...

So, here's a couple of pics of me with a pair of readers, what do you think? Don't I look smarter?

"Holi" Cow!

Went down to Spanish Fork over the weekend to attend "Holi" at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple on Saturday with the Julies and Janeen. It was a bit unorganized, but it was certainly a fun experience.JB and I waiting for the bus at one of the remote parking areas ... before the "colors"

An indication of things to come ...

They packed us like sardines into yellow school buses and shuttled us to the temple.View of the temple from down the hill where the bus dropped us off.

I wanted to be a spectator at the festival and not get any colors on me. Yeah, good luck with that ... no way around it when you're surrounded by people who look like this.

The first in my group to be christened. A stranger dumped some purple on my head.

The Julies in the gazebo where they sell colors ... there wasn't a line, just a mob of people around a folding table. We opted not to spend the $2 per color and just let other people decorate us as we walked around.

We had to be "dusted off" by security before we entered the gift shop. This is me "dusted off" and within the first half hour of being at the festival.

A few relics in the temple:Chanters:A few different shots of the temple:

On the way back to the shuttle stop, Janeen asked a boy to put some pink in her hair. Suffice to say, the boy had really bad aim.

Getting in the car to head home, this is what I looked like:

I freaked my neighbor out when I got out of the car looking like this. He told me I looked like I had been beaten up and thought I was bloodied.

I imagine this is the closest Utah will come to "Woodstock". To those who may be interested in going next year, these are a few things I'll plan on doing again (or differently) in order to make the experience an enjoyable one:

1. Park at one of the off-site parking places and pay the $2 for the shuttle (it also benefits the local boy scout troops).
2. Wear clothes you won't mind throwing out -- there is no such thing as going home unscathed. You will get "colors" on you.
3. Bring sheets and towels to cover your car seats and put it on the car seats before you catch the shuttle.
4. Bring baby wipes to clean up, especially if you're planning on grabbing dinner or doing some shopping elsewhere after the event.
5. Wear something to protect your eyes (i.e., sunglasses, goggles, etc.) ... some festival attendees just don't care and think that everyone is there to get colored. They just toss the chalk powder in your face or dump it on your head, so if you wear contacts ...
6. Wear a medical mask (when I blew my nose, what came out was very "colorful").
7. Go on Sunday if you want to avoid the college-age crowd ... the crowd is smaller and, chances are, a lot less wild

Dinner Outing -- Kyoto

A few times a year, I get together with my former Enrichment Committee. I love these girls and the fact that we can always just pick up where we left off. We went to Kyoto Restaurant this week to catch up and give me a break from a very hectic week/month at work:

Darcy won't let me take a picture of her, but gave permission to photograph her tower of shrimp tempuras and bowl of sukiyaki.

Nicole and her tower of shrimps.

Elaine and I ... and our "buckets" of Udon noodles full of chicken, shrimps and lots of other good stuffs made three meals for me.

They did that with chocolates?

The wonderful thing about Vegas is you'll always find unique and creative things to gawk at. I don't think I bought a thing at this store in the Bellagio Hotel/Casino, but the chocolate sculptures were certainly fun to look at.

Viva, Las Vegas!

Viva, viva, viva ... Las Vegas!

Belle

Chocolate fountains

And the grand dame of them all ... Lady Chocolate!