Day 3. Ocracoke Island NC to Myrtle Beach SC

Posted on 5/8/2010 by kari| 5,754 Comments

MAY 8.

The next morning we were up leisurely and on the 10AM ferry from Ocracoke Island to Cedar Island. Mike S and Mike F stayed behind for a rest day on Ocracoke, and the other five of us motored on to SC.

a note about these NC ferries – last year, I recall that there were blocks to put against your front tires. this year we didn’t have any of those at all. No tie downs either, on either of the ferries (though we didn’t have them last year either).

may8-2

it was a gorgeous day for a boat ride. The Ocracoke-Cedar Island ferry is about 2 hours and it was sunny and warm and I had to hide from the sun by the end of the ride!

When we got to Cedar Island, we got on the bikes and rode straight off of the ferry with no stopping until we got to a car wash where we could rinse the salt off of the motorcycles. And let’s be honest: some of our bikes (OK JUST MINE AND MIKES) were cleaner at this point than they had been for months and months.

and then we went to the first of many delicious meals at the Golden Corral.

For those of you not in the know, The Golden Corral is a reasonably priced buffet and the food quality is amazing in the south – but we can tell you that based on careful experimentation, the quality is quite patchy the further north you get from Delaware. Janice loves it. also: SWEET TEA.

The only problem with starting the day with a ferry is that you get up, get on the bikes and you hurry up and get started… to, well, wait for 2 hours. in the sun, and you get sleepy… and then you stop at a delicious buffet… so by the end of the day you feel like it’s really been a LONG TRIP. We felt that way for sure when we pulled into a rest area in south carolina at about 5PM. after a short stretch break we were on our way into Myrtle Beach. It was hot and we’d been riding through a headwind and we desparately needed a drink of water. We all stopped and texted exciting, pithy, and relevant updates to our official trip tumblr.

Bike Week in Myrtle Beach has been a contentious issue, lately. The City has been trying to chase out the bikers by passing things like helmet laws (there’s no helmet law in SC) and noise ordinances. And to be honest, while I’m in general supportive of these things (especially the helmet law, gracious!) I think that the City could have done a better job of saying: you know, we want your business, bikers, but we want you to be SAFE. but they were pretty clear they didn’t want the business of bikers so last year most bikers wouldn’t even pass through the City of Myrtle Beach, sticking to the activities on the north, west, and south instead. We stayed in Myrtle Beach and every hotel and restaurant proprietor was pretty clear that they were losing boatloads of money because of the drop in attendance (anecdotally, hotel bookings went from nearly 100% two years ago to about 50% this year) but at the same time the Mayor was reelected last year so who knows?

Personally we stay in the city, because we like hotels on the beach! Like this one, where we were happily ensconced for a few days:

after we got in we unloaded and went down to the beach-front bar for a drink, and then nearly passed out on our feet from exhaustion so turned in.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

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Day 2. May 7th: Onley VA to Ocracoke Island, NC

Posted on 5/7/2010 by kari| Leave a comment

We were up at a reasonably early time so we could get on the road – our goal was Ocracoke Island, to a hotel Mike S liked very much, and a restaurant we had all eaten at last year and enjoyed.

And look how bright and happy I am first thing in the morning!

I have to add that I LOVE MY DIRTBAGZ SADDLEBAGS. like, a lot. a whole lot.

They’re canvas and come off the bike super easy, so when we pulled in to our destination for the evening I would pop them off the bike, open the hat box and pull out a canvas tote bag, throw them all over my shoulders (as shown above), and hike into the room. it was so easy!

Besides proximity to Mike F’s friendly diner, the other reason we like to stop in Onley is that it’s only about 50 miles from the Bay Bridge Tunnel, so we were planning to have breakfast on the bridge (there’s a restaurant at the midway point). We got up and loaded the bikes and enjoyed our continental breakfast (but not too much!) and headed out to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Unfortunately the restaurant was closed! undergoing major renovations and due to open in JUNE 2010! We were a month too early! Which made us crabby!

Until we weren’t:

In Virginia Beach we practiced classic Rainmaker U-Turn Maneuvering Formation, and stopped to eat at a Waffle House. Delicious! However others in the party gave it mixed reviews.

After what felt like a long morning of fits and starts, we were finally off! It was pretty much gorgeous driving through VA and coastal NC and then there was a sudden (classic Rainmaker U-Turn Maneuvering Formation) u-turn and our party found itself in Kitty Hawk at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. You know what’s nice? being on a trip with a lot of other people and STILL being able to just stop off the cuff and check out a national park.

I’d been there before, but it’s such a neat place.

“By Dauntless Resolution and Unconcorable Faith”
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The glider itself (or was it a full scale reproduction?):
And we thought *we* were overloaded!

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may7-9

oh the drama of the accidental double exposure:

After a couple of hours of walking around, we were back in the saddle and headed down to Ocracoke. Snacks were had by chipmunk riders everywhere.

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We took the ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, and happily, it was a regularly traveling ferry which left every 1/2 hour, so we didn’t have to worry about schedules at all. How lovely! Our innkeepers at the Silver Lake Inn called us while we were on the boat to warn us of a police stop on the way into town, which was really thoughtful of them, and before you knew it we were at our hotels and walking down to the restaurant (The Flying Melon) for some delicious local fish. A really lovely day!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

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DAY 1: May 6th, Newburgh NY to Onley VA

Posted on 5/6/2010 by kari| Leave a comment

We met at 10AM at the tandem trailer parking area on the NYS Thruway headed south at Newburgh. (um. we were supposed to meet at 9 or 9:30, but Mike had a business trip that week and didn’t get home until nearly midnight the night before. And we might have had to pack still that morning. At least all the oil changes had been taken care of ahead of time!)

We always joke that our motorcycle “club” name is the RAINMAKERS, and in typical fashion we started out in our rain gear. It was drizzling, but not too bad, and because it was a little chilly starting out the rain gear wasn’t such a bad thing.

After admiring each others bikes and packing jobs, we were off! This day was mostly highway, unfortunately – I-87 to NJ Rt 17 to the Garden State Parkway to the NJ Turnpike to … well, to LUNCH. in Delaware.

As we were peeling off our raingear at a rest stop in auspiciously sunny southern NJ, Mike S said: “Hey! let’s go to Mike’s Famous Harley’s for lunch. They’ve got burgers or something there.” OK, that’s sounds awesome! let’s go.


And then: MIKE S PROCEEDED TO BUY A NEW MOTORCYCLE. that’s right, he traded his in, and picked up a new one. and man that new one was SHARP:

We ended up hanging out for about 3 hours while he negotiated (he had to walk out 2x before he got the deal he wanted) – we had sandwiches, and sat in the grass, and talked, and drank lots of water, and waited….
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and waited…
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and waited…

but it was worth it!

and then we were back on the road! Our goal for the day was Onley VA, Mike F has a favorite diner there with a reasonable hotel right next door within walking distance. We pulled in at around 9PM, dropped our gear, and dashed next door to get some delicious dinner. Our last 50 miles or so was down dark US 13 in MD and then VA, and we picked up a lot of dead bugs on our shields.

I can’t even imagine the horror of riding through that without some strong plexiglass between me and the innocent swarms of gnats and mosquitoes.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

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Spring 2010 Trip: Prep and Introductions

Posted on 5/6/2010 by kari| Leave a comment

The last few years, my partner and his friends (now my friends as well) have been riding down to Myrtle Beach for bike week. Last year was the first year I went, and I was passenger on my partner’s bike. This year was my first year to ride my own!

Here is my ride:

My awesome DRZ-400SM, which I souped up with a larger gas tank (Clarke 3.9 Gallon), a spitfire windshield, dirtbagz panniers, and a givi hat box. I didn’t get around to putting a new more comfortable seat on it, though I did get a sweetcheeks (but never used it) – you can see it strapped to the back against the hat box. More info about farkling the friendly and competent DRZ-400SM is here.

and our gang:
from L-R –
My partner Mike, me, Rick, Janice, Kerry, Mike S. and Mike F.
That’s right: three Mike’s, two “Kari”‘s, a Rick and a Janice.

We updated while on the road using tumblr, our trip page is here.

PACKING LIST and PHOTOGRAPHY

I used my lomo fish eye camera on the trip – I haven’t used it much, so I was pretty much experimenting with it as I was going. I think there’s a filter or app that will stretch the shots out to make them less rounded and more wide angle, I’m going to look for that for future experimentation. I also snapped a lot of shots with my iPhone 3, and sometimes I used my panasonic lumix digicam.

And as far as packing, I think I brought maybe 30% too much stuff! we did do laundry 2x on the trip, which really helped.

Clothing:
  • 2 tank tops (icebreaker wool)
  • 1 long-neck zip up turtle neck (also wool)
  • 1 wool sweater/jacket that zipped up all the way
  • wool leggings
  • 5 pairs of underpants
  • 4 tshirts
  • 5 pairs of knee socks
  • flip flops
  • running shoes (I have big feet so I’ve been trying to use minimalist shoes like the nike 5.0 so they pack smaller)
  • running shorts and sports bra
  • swim suit
  • 2 skirts
  • a light weight long sleeve wool shirt (really it’s a wool long john top)
  • a pair of yoga style long wool pants (can be worn out at night or under my motorcycle pants as a layer)
  • shorts
Accessories and Accouterments :
  • 3 pairs of motorcycle gloves (mesh, plain leather with gauntlet, and cold weather gloves)
  • glove liners
  • turtle fur for my neck
  • snacks
  • film camera and digicam
  • 3 bandannas
  • extra ear plugs
  • a folding backpack in case we found something we couldn’t live without on our travels
  • rain gear – zip-in pants for my motorcycle pants, and an overjacket
  • extra sunglasses and my clear glasses for night
  • paper maps for everywhere we were going
  • motorcycle manual
  • my toiletry bag
  • and most important perhaps:
    • travel coffee cup that seals so I could chuck it in the top case while we were moving
    • my reusable water bottle.

In retrospect:

  • I would probably only take the 2 tanks and 2 tshirts, instead of the 4 tshirts.
  • I was surprised at how frequently I wore the shorts. I didn’t need 2 skirts, I only pulled them on for dinners or long days walking around away from the bike. Mostly I kept my riding pants on with my leggings or shorts on. I think replacing a skirt with a pair of comfy hot pants would be better for day-long rides.
  • I may have brought too many sweaters too, but I wore them all at different times (the zip up was nice to throw on when it was chilly for dinner, and the long neck sweater was great when it was chilly on the road).
  • for most of the trip I thought my winter gloves were overkill but it was really cold on our last day heading home, so I was glad to have them.
  • I did go swimming 1x and running 1x, so I’m glad I had that stuff with me, but it wasn’t strictly necessary.
  • I’m so so so glad I had my flip flops with me, though I would love to have a pair of really comfy compressible closed toe shoes to wear instead.
  • the maps were bulky but we did refer to them. a good road atlas would be a better option but I got the maps for free from better world club as part of my membership.
  • I need a compression sack to keep my rain gear in, because it’s really bulky as is. something that will store it flat will be best, so I can keep it with me every day in my
  • I sorted the saddle bags so I had one side with clothes that I would be wearing frequently, the other side with swimsuit/other stuff and the snacks right on top. the rain pants and rain jacket went on top of the stuff sacks stuff in each saddle bag. my hat box held the water and travel mug and my motorcycle clothing and toiletry bag and cameras and maps for the day. I used a canvas sack to bring items from the saddle bags up into the hotel when I needed it.
  • AND I also got waterproof stuff sacks for the saddle bags – and they fit almost exactly inside the saddle bags so I didn’t have to worry about my stuff getting wet! Every morning when repacking I would shuffle the things I needed up to the top, and things I didn’t need (and dirty clothes) down to the bottom.
  • even though I did bring a little more stuff than necessary, I was never cold, handled the wet just fine, and all in all it isn’t bad for 30 min. of packing the morning we were due to head out.


[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

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2009 CSA Week 5

Posted on 7/14/2009 by kari| 1 Comment

CSA WK 5:
2009 csa wk 5

we got: lettuce (only 3 heads, it’s on it’s way out!), yellow squash and zucchini, mondo cabbage, 8 (!!) ears of corn, broccoli (a whole-lotta-broccoli), kohlrabi incl another giant head! beets, shelling peas, sugar snap peas. not shown a gorgeous bunch of basil.

from last week we had leftover – a couple of zucchini, and a whole bunch of lettuce but we have plans to braise them all, if they’ve made it this far. And I made zucchini-chocolate-chip muffins. we have some sugar snap peas left over as well. I mean to steam some of these to toss into my salads but haven’t done it yet.

On wednesday we had folks over for dinner and we ate all the corn, some of the broccoli, and all the basil in my favorite format – PESTO. and then we sent them home with half of the leftover broccoli. excellent! last week we sent them home with a bunch of lettuce, too.

I’ve been making salads every day and putting kolhrabi and yellow squash in them, and then eating them with hummus. today I’m using zucchini b/c we’ve used up all the yellow squash.

we also made this delicious dinner last night:
photo

I love shelling peas boiled or steamed quickly and served with black pepper and chopped hard boiled egg. so simple and so delicious.

the cheesy mess on the right is escalloped cabbage, with potato chips on top, in an effort to make it kid friendly. On the other hand, we didn’t get around to making it when the kids were over, and then we ate it all without them. it has CHEEZ WHIZ in it. eep. (DELICIOUS.)

this CSA we’ve joined is so big. it’s very nearly overwhelming us every week, but somehow we pull it through. for comparison purposes, here is our share from last year in NJ – it was mostly lettuce, which was much easier to eat our way through:

2008CSAshare4

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2009 CSA Week 4

Posted on 6/30/2009 by kari| Leave a comment

2009 csa wk 4

We got:

lots and lots of lettuce, kohlrabi, broccoli, tomatoes (so delicious this week), shelling peas and sugar peas, yellow squash and zucchini.

left over from last week:

shelling peas, zucchini, kohlrabi. not bad!

but seriously, though – what are we supposed to do with kohlrabi as big as my head?

kohlrabi as big as my head

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2009 CSA Week 3

Posted on 6/28/2009 by kari| Leave a comment

csa 2009 wk 3

We got:

4 kohlrabi + leaves, sugar snap peas, shelling peas, tomatoes, a giant mass of swiss chard, beets + greens, dill, 4 heads of lettuce (two purpley oak leaf? and two more like romano).

We made this delicious beet risotto:
beet risotto

and ate the peas with hardboiled eggs. We quick-boiled all the chard at one time or another and enjoyed it in it’s chardy goodness, we avoided the kohlrabi, and we ate most of the snap peas. we had big big salads with lettuce and tomatoes. so yummy.

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2009 CSA Week 1

Posted on 6/11/2009 by kari| Leave a comment

We have a new CSA this year! They’re right down the road, and I wrote about them here.

here is our first share:

2009CSAwk1-basket

AND they apologized for it being so small. YIKES! we are a little nervous.

All spread out:

2009 CSA wk 1

kohlrabi, a giant cucumber, 4 heads of lettuce (two each red leave and possible boston?), bunch of dill, gigantic bag of spinach, and 2 quarts of strawberries

The strawberries – oh my lord, the strawberries. They are so magnificent. I can’t even explain how great they are. And the cucumber! the first cucumber of the season is so incredible – the fullness of flavor is so startling after winter grocery store cukes.

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I can’t even begin to catch up.

Posted on 6/10/2009 by kari| Leave a comment

I’ve been meaning to return to karinajean for a wicked long time, and have even got lots of posts halfway crafted in my head! but I have been so slow to do it. Partly I am just really busy: a new and longer commute, someone with which I want badly to spend my evenings, books to read, boxes to unpack, and also, my ever-continuing side project. But I’ve been thinking thinking thinking of what to write here, and how I don’t want to leave karinajean behind. I don’t want you to think that it’s this NYTimes article about abandoned blogs that is spurring me! it’s not that at all. I just plain miss it here at karinajean, ergo, hopefully, I’m back. (and not just because we got our first CSA shipment yesterday, no no, there’s more to it than that.)

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OH HAI BIRTHDAY GIRL.

Posted on 4/16/2008 by kari| Leave a comment

OH HAI. Yesterday was my birthday. It was pretty super. Yes, I did go to work, and yes, I did poop out and not go to the concert I’d meant to attend. but I still had an awfully great day, including so many birthday shout-outs and phone calls and lovely emails. It culminated in dinner with michelle and jenn at a mexican place, where I think we were all surprised by a sombrero and birthday flan. What more could a girl ask for?

Multimedia message

This birthday princess says: nothin’. that’s for sure.

digicam 728

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Craft night!

Posted on 3/27/2008 by kari| 1 Comment

Last night was the inaugural local NJ craft night. We’ve been talking about this for, oh, at least 2 years (and probably closer to 3 b/c that’s when I moved to NJ). and FINALLY we got together at my place for some makin’stuff.

I’m really excited! I cast on for the Scoop Neck Vest – you can see another photo here. I am not using the fuzzy yarn because this is something I’d like to wear in the spring, and alpaca is hecka warm. I’m using a cotton-model blend from knitpicks in a very classic KarinaJean color: TURQUOISE. of course, knitpicks calls it “reef.” That’s a much more modern name than TURQUOISE.

I also treated myself when I bought the yarn and purchased the knitpicks interchangeable needles. they are SO SUPER. They’re nickel-plated, and very very fast. I’d picked up some addi turbos recently and fell in love with them, but they are SO EXPENSIVE. these knitpicks needles were super affordable, and they are so great to knit on! and when I say I treated myself, I mean it: I also got a few sets of the nickel-plated double pointed needles too. I’m planning to get rid of a bunch of my old needles. I don’t really need all the odds and ends I’ve picked up over the years.
any bets on how long it will take me to finish this project? Hint: the corn baby? still not complete. (I AM THE WORST FRIEND EVER.) anyway, is anyone on ravelry.com? I’m on, as karinajean. obvs.

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Running season

Posted on 3/23/2008 by kari| 1 Comment

This weekend I went to Albany for Easter, and also, for a 4-mile run with Meredith. It went REALLY well – I finished in 42 min. which is 10:30 miles, and way better than I expected considering how i only ran 3x before this run. Man. think of what a great runner I’d be if I really practiced!

A couple of weeks ago a work buddy from Philly asked if I was still interested in the Broad St. Run. and I said “oh, of course I am!” without really considering that it’s going to be on MAY 4th which is a short FIVE WEEKS AWAY and oh also this is a TEN MILE RACE. I am a little more heartened today than I was yesterday, considering that I just ran 4 miles and finished in good form, but still, this is really soon. I hope it works out for me. of course it’s a really good start to the running season, and I really do want to do a bunch of 5 and 10Ks this year – so it will hopefully get me in form Fast and even more hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up.

Of course, if I continue at the same pace I have been (which I should, I think) this means I’ll be running for over 1 1/2 hours. HOLY COW. I will have to add more songs to my running mix. and also get better at drinking water as I run. so much to do before May 4th!

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some things I’ve seen lately

Posted on 3/16/2008 by kari| 2 Comments

Big Ass Fans (TM) at Ikea:big ass fan at ikea

A delicious fish sandwich at a dump diner in Edison NJ

fish sandwich at edison deli

and some seriously risque fabric in the garment district:

Multimedia message

Last week has been pretty darn good!

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trains, trains, and trainymobiles

Posted on 3/3/2008 by kari| 3 Comments

this weekend I had a Big Bunch of Travel. It was excellent.

Saturday went out for the express purpose of buying a Very Expensive Sewing Machine. I can’t wait until it arrives. and then I went to Queens, for a Tol celebration. viva la korean food! viva la friends from college!

then came the trains. are you ready?

  • LIRR to Penn Station, Amtrack to Albany.
  • first leg completed by my sweet brother picking me up at 12:20 AM.
  • Then was the excitement of my hilarious nephew being shocked and thrilled to see me sleeping on the couch in the morning!
  • And then came a lovely birthday breakfast for Meredith!
  • and then came my first exposure to the Wii! According to Wii fitness, I am SEVENTY YEARS OLD. just sayin’.
  • Then came more trains:
  • Albany to NYPenn station, wherein we stopped 20 min. in to the trip in order to sit, dead on the tracks, while a mechanic was summoned because our brakes didn’t work. That’s right – OUR BRAKES. (the guy sitting behind me kept saying: how did we stop then?).
  • oh, and right after we started moving again and I tried to get some tea in my mug [failure due to amtrak’s reluctance to use my reuseable mug], I had to listen to an awfully annoying conversation wherein gentlefolk were discussing how dirty mexico irrigates with sewage even though california was trying to help them out. Wow. I’d hate to see how california helps their RICH ENEMIES.
  • Anyway. I was only 45 min. late to Penn Station.
  • And then I took a subway that didn’t stop where I wanted it to and I had to walk through times square on a sunday afternoon.
  • So I took the bus home, and not the train. because I didn’t want to tempt fate.

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    Oh PS

    Posted on 2/28/2008 by kari| 2 Comments

    Here is my bouffant. you know, it just does this all by itself. I was definately born in the wrong era.

    digicam 739

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    Dear KarinaJean Dot Com

    Posted on 2/28/2008 by kari| Leave a comment

    Dear KarinaJean Dot Com,

    I realize you might think that I don’t love you any more. it’s not true! I *have* been super busy with my other project. And I have been very busy at work, because one of my coworkers has been out on maternity leave for 3 months leaving me working at 150% instead of just 125 or 110% (luckily my other project work dropped off a little just after she went out). But these are just ugly excuses, and what you want is actual content.
    So in the last two months there have been hijinks and 25 books read. I’ve shopped for sewing machines and I’ve avoided doing my dishes with embarassing and slightly gruesome results. I’ve tried to trick myself into being clean by having a cocktail party, but I’ve only just finished cleaning up after the cocktail party. I’ve avoided running very successfully. I’ve been to montreal on business, but not actually To Montreal, but to a suburb which is surprisingly like the French Seacaucus. I’ve bouffanted my hair while wearing a bridesmaid dress in a dive bar. I made a pineapple ring cake in the swashbuckling style of my ancestors the german bakers (not like that) and I’ve won best costume at a mardi gras party. I’ve had dim sum two times. I have eaten too many cheese and cracker dinners. It’s been a pretty good couple of months.

    I’ll try to tell you all about it in backdated posts. Check back, friends, to see what might be below this one as you scroll.

    Love,

    Me.

    digicam 750

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    That day that Fiona turned One officially if not really and physically.

    Posted on 2/9/2008 by kari| Leave a comment

    When Fiona turned one she was like freddy kruger. all her skin melted off. Gruesome.
    digicam 706

    and also she was severely cake drunk.

    digicam 701I love this ultra surreal photo of Daniel eating

    digicam 693And Murphy is a Very Very Good Dog.

    digicam 713

    angelic, even. digicam 671

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    At the Pinewood Derby

    Posted on 2/8/2008 by kari| Leave a comment

    digicam 654 digicam 655

    With my boys. Daniel won 13th place. It was V. Exciting.

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    Cocktail party

    Posted on 1/10/2008 by kari| Leave a comment

    I had a brilliant idea to have a cocktail party after New Years. You know, after the rush and the crazyness. The ultimate goal was because I wanted to start the New Year with a clean apartment, and if people were coming over I would HAVE TO have a clean house.

    And it was really wonderful. I love my friends so I mention this only as a point of humor: people show up whenever they want and leave whenever they want these days, and don’t follow cocktail party protocol. I’m glad they stayed so late. But it was funny that some people who DID show up at 7 and left at 9 felt like they were doing something wrong. You were right, friends! entirely right!
    I served dark and stormy’s and there were unicorn tattoos for the taking:

    digicam 573

    The party concept of Clean House worked, to a point. I did a lot of heavy duty cleaning and tossing beforehand. I packed up a full car-load-worth of stuff to donate, and I invited my friends to pick up a box of books and other sundries to take what they would. And people did! Which was great. I also asked people to bring recyclables with them for me to dispose of properly, and while I didn’t get a lot of stuff, I did get some weird things that I am happy to take care of.

    digicam 569But after the party, the concept of Clean House didn’t work at all. It took a couple of weeks before I finished cleaning up all the dishes. It took longer than that to put up all the dishes that were on the dining room table. And I haven’t been able to maintain the swept floors of my dreams. At least there’s always room for improvement in my life, I guess?

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    on resolutions.

    Posted on 12/31/2007 by kari| 2 Comments

    I tried so hard to make good, solid, achievable resolutions last year. I think I did, actually, but the problem lies in how I immediately forgot about said resolutions after making them. oops! let’s see how I did:
    financial goals

    1. read your money or your life and implement important $ strategies
    2. keep track of all $ spent for month of january
    3. catch up and keep checkbook balanced

    achieved: none. well, I did buy quicken. that’s something.
    crafty goals

    1. finish corn baby stat
    2. knit a sweater
    3. use up skirt fabrics – I’ve got material for at least 6 more skirts, so get to it!
    4. really commit to buy vs. make – repurpose clothes rather than buy new ones
    5. use up CSA foods more efficiently

    achieved: some, sort of. I did really good on my CSA for the first 2 months, and then a lot of veggies went to waste. In my defense, I will say that the CSA was HUGE and I was really busy at work and lacking time and motivation to cook when I got home. I sewed 2 skirts and a shirt, but that was basically it. on the other hand, the only thing I bought new this year was some underpants, a bathing suit, and some athletic apparel – so that’s something, at least! I haven’t finished the corn baby (BAD ME) and I haven’t knit a sweater.
    other goals

    1. read 100 books again
    2. inventory and sell off MK stock

    achieved: one.  I read over 100 books (final count  102). the MK stock, on the other hand, is living fruitlessly in my closet. I am going to give it all away.

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