Happy Thanksgiving!

And now we are going to go back about a month and talk about Halloween. LOL. Yeah I still have not showed you any Disney pictures yet. I suck.

So anyway, you all know my SIL and I went to Disney for the Not So Scary Halloween party, right? Well, as with all of our trips, the usually giddy stuff happens once we officially go into vacation mode at the airport.
And then by the time we sit down, the crafting comes out. That would be my Nutkin sock. Tammy had her snowmen with her to work on for the upcoming craft show.

After rolling into bed at 2AM when we arrived, we hit Epcot on the first day for the Food and Wine Festival. This is my favorite time to go to Disney. It's not ungodly hot, everything is decorated for the Fall, and I can eat/drink my way around the world. Not so bad right?

First things first. I had some unfinished business to attend to. We ran to Norway so I could redo my picture with the giant troll that I took in Feb when my camera was stolen. I love me some troll.

Then give two girls on no sleep frosty alchoholic beverages, caffeine, and a captive camera man and well....you see, we are very fun. :-)
We have fun regardless. The Disney high and tasty beverages just make it MORE fun.

This is the face of a very happy little girl below. I have my Moroccan food and I patiently wait to hear Mo'Rockin' in...shocker...Morocco.

My super-duper SIL videoed the entire performance while I happily stuffed my face with North African goodies. Nirvana.

The next day we headed to the Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party. I love the way they decorate for the Fall.

Of course, me and thousands of others dressed up for the occasion. Arrrgh! Fetch me rum ye swashbucklers!

Later that evening, we sat for the parade. I had "Boo to You" stuck in my head for two weeks following the parade. It's Disney and it's catchy.

The float below is one of my favorites. It's the hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion ride.
These are supposed to be the ballroom dancing ghosts in the dining room scene of the ride. The coolest part were the gravediggers. They use shovels as a prop and scraped them across the concrete causing bright orange sparks.

This is Jack Skellington on a giant disco ball. Can I tell how much I love Halloween here? I love villains. I echo my SIL in that I was never a princess person. I always liked the Evil Queen or Cruella, Ursala.

Next we are on to my FAVORITE part...the pirates. I happened to catch Barbosa in there too which I wasn't expecting. He was um...very good in the part. wow.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! That's captain. Captain Jack Sparrow. *rolls eyes*

Tammy was very excited for this rare treat. Snow White and all Seven Dwarfs! You usually only see her with Dopey. And I met my very first, not so scary clown. Isn't Eyore adorable? I hate clowns, but how could be afraid of a sulky, melancholy donkey?

We had an awesome time as evidenced by the smiles here.

We also got to spend a little time with the kidling when he wasn't spiking a fever of 102. I kid you not.

hehehehe that's mah boy.

After Disney, I went to visit a bestest buddy in St. Pete and got to spend Samhain with her just like old times. (Yes, we left the plate of food out too for All Souls. If you want more info on this custom, go to my October 2007 archive). While there I was introduced to two new friends, and this guy. Meet Scrumpy. Isn't he a doll? He is a friend's newest rescue bully.

Of course, Nesa was none too thrilled over the attention Scrumpy was getting. She got over it. Nesa is my friend, Wendy's bullie.

As well as this cutie. She even tolerated us putting the little clip on horns on her for her Halloween costume. Kind of scary how they actually look like they are coming out of her head, huh?

And then there is Moo-Moo, the wonder kitteh. If it wasn't for the good care of some fabulous people, she might not be here right now looking so healthy. She has kidney failure and was diagnosed while we were in Ireland in April. She's had a rough year, but she is doing great now.

Ok well I'm going back to clean my pots and pans after cooking today. Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving. I am certainly very thankful for the extended family of friends met through this blog, Ravelry, and Plurk.

Believe it or not, as busy as work has been, I have lots of knitting and pinning content to speak of next week. Some I can't speak of, but you can catch me on Ravelry to see what I am working on for the super-secret snoopers of the blog.

San Francisco and S- FOs

As most of you know, I was in San Francisco for work all last week. I was in training for 8 hours a day. At night, the 4 of us from my company tried to get out and see some of the city by the bay.

Our preferred hotel is the Hotel Monaco right downtown. Yes, it is pricey and swanky, but we get a fantastic rate through corporate. See? Very trendy.

On day one, only 1 of my co-workers would be getting in at a comparable time to myself so we intended to shop when she got there. After a bit of a delay, she got to town and we hit the ground running. First up. What is the most touristy thing you could possibly imagine doing in San Francisco? There is nothing like hanging from the side of a trolley with 110 yr old breaks and other cars passing your back end within mere inches. What can I say? I live life dangerously on business. The view below is looking down to Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39. That is Angel Island in the background out in the bay.

I love how they turn these buggers around. They hit the end of their route and are spun around by hand on a wooden turnstile of sorts. You got to love the smell of burning brakes and trolley operators throwing around huge gears. It's certainly part of the experience.

We ate at Neptunes that night on Pier 39 and took a night view of the local group of Sea Lions that call the docks at Pier 39 home. It was a gorgeous night and we headed back to the hotel to meet our 2 other co-workers for a drink at the hotel to say hello.

Over the course of the next two days, we ate at The Waterfront (swanky) and then The Slanted Door. I've got to tell you, the Slanted Door was my favorite of all nights. It was a Vietnamese fusion restaurant and the food was fab.u.lous. I ain't lyin'!

Please excuse the extremely blurry shot of the San Fran Bay Bridge at night near the Embarcadero, a trendy section of town on the water full of nifty eateries and place to "be seen". By the way, let me just mention the Garmin GPS sucked in this city with telling us to turn on one ways into on-coming traffic and at trolley cars. Yep, the Garmin was about chucked out of the window regularly. That bitch living inside the Garmin tried to kill us on numerous occasions.

One night we walked through Chinatown with our counterparts from another company. We walked through and ended up in a "little Italy" of sorts and settled to eat at the Mona Lisa Restaurante. YUM. Ravioli alla Zucca which translates to pumpkin-filled ravioli goodness in a sage butter sauce. This is truly one of my favorite Italian dishes. For whatever reason, the best versions I've always had of this dish have been in either Oakland or San Fran.
Of course, there was also a little yarn detour. I drug my co-workers into Artfibers. Thrilling company that they were, I did actually come home with this. It's merino yarn, 669 yards of it to be exact.

On Friday, we got out early enough to go play before going to the airport for red-eyes home. One of our counterparts from a nameless, competitor company was there from Poland and staying until Saturday night. She hadn't been out to see anything so we asked her to join us. She happily accepted so we schlepped her along to do more touristy crap.

We went back to Pier 39 to see our Sea Lion friends during the day. What a life.

Next up, we booked ourselves and hour ferry ride in the bay that took us around the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Angel Island. I had seen Alcatraz in the bay all week and was so dying to get a closer look. We were convinced the Golden Gate Bridge did not exist. All the traveling we had done to different places all week, we still had not seen it. The joke was that it was a myth, a bridge in the mist. LOL. Finally here it is in all its weekly hand-painted glory. Yes, you heard right. It's painted by hand, by two people, continuously. By the time they get to the other end, they have to start over.
BTW, have I mentioned that I love architecture and suspension bridges?

I have a ton of bridge pictures that I'll put on Flickr. I admit I am a picture snapper. What a gorgeous ride around the bay.

Here's a nice view looking back at the SFO skyline and my favorite building, the Trans-America building (the pointy one).

Finally, what I was waiting for was a close-up view of Alcatraz, made famous by the Al Capone, the most famous prisoner.

Next time I want to do the tour on the island and go into the prison. I want to see the solitary confinement cells and things. I think it would give me the creeps, but I would love to see inside.

They say that from the boat dock to the prison is like walking up a 13-story building. Yikes. We'll bring the tennies next time.

To round out the day, there were fruity drinks, of course. I was in good company for that. This is a "California Dreamin'" which went down entirely too easy.
We put the poor Polish girl on the trolley and made her live dangerously with the rest of us and hang off the edge. Hey, it's all part of the experience right? While on the trolley, we ended up at an intersection to allow the USC Marching Band do their thing through the city streets. There was a game there that weekend.
I got on my red-eye home, slept a little, and was reunited with my hubby and spinning wheel. I know. I know. A girl has priorities.

Before I left, I ordered a bit of fiber. I had to people. Seriously. It's from Cosmic Fibers and the colorway is called "Bog of Eternal Stench". Hello? I love the move "Labyrinth". How could I not get this?

Also, I came home and plied a bit, reuniting myself with Wenders, my Ladybug Wheel, aptly named after my bud, Wendy. The wheel was born on her birthday, hence the name. This is one of many skeins I made of Zarzuela Fibers in the "DC Sunrise" colorway. It's so purdy folks. I'm getting more excited as my spinning slowly becomes more consistent.

In other news, there is also a finished object to speak of today. This is the what I am calling the "Psychedelic Bunneh Cowl". It's actually the Crofter Cowl by Gundrun Johnson aka Shetland Trader. I used half of a skein of the agnora/merino blend I bought in Rhinebeck.

It's so warm and soft. I loves me some bun-bun fuzz.