I had a nice, long weekend. We played Neptune’s record release party on Saturday and had a great time. They decorated the whole stage with live plants, and as usual, were totally amazing. They’re one of the few Boston bands who have been playing about as long as we have, and it’s been really good to play with them the past few times.

If you don’t know much about Neptune, there was a story on them in The Dig last week. Jason makes all of their instruments, and the band was born out of his thesis. They’ve been going strong for a long time, and you can have a look at their website for more info.

Thanks Mom!

Christmas was super-nice. We spent time with my family in NJ, then planned to head back up to the Cape to Sean’s family, but everyone had the flu! :( We’re heading up to Loon Mtn. this week with his family, so we’ll have our Secret Santa trade then. I am so fricking excited for that. I can. not. wait. to give my gift. I’ll post more when it’s been gifted.

And on to the most important part … what did I get??! A new sewing machine. A super beautiful, non-thread jamming, easy glide along, non-scary buttonhole-making Janome. It’s a real peach. I started this dress (the one on the right) in a nice goldy-yellow herringbone, but have had some achy back problems, so I’ve taken a week or so off of sewing. Among other gifts (my family goes a little gift-crazy) I also got some new Earth boots, and a really amazing pair of hand-made scissors I’d asked for.

My knitting, as usual, is slightly complicated. I have one “I’m stuck,” another “I have to back pedal a bit, but it’ll be a quickie once I get going” sweater, an inch of ribbing for a vest that that I ripped and restarted the other day, an EZ hat that I am about to rip and restart on a larger needle … and there are a few more, but I’ll spare you the drama.

For houses, we decided that neither of the two houses we’ve been looking at (see my Flickr account) are quite right, so we’re going to keep on looking. We’re leaning more toward staying in the city at this point — I don’t know if we can roll in the ‘burbs just yet.

I can’t believe I only have three more days of work, then I’m on vacation again, but you’ll hear no complaints from me! Hopefully by the next time I post I’ll have learned how to snowboard. And if that doesn’t work out, I’ll likely spend the week finishing up all those knits I mentioned …

Yes.

And these are the reasons we are hesitant to leave the city. The people (wouldn’t I miss that stuff if I didn’t live here?), the mass transit (it could be improved, but can’t everything?), the access to anything you can think of …

So we’re focusing a bit more on house-hunting around here instead of elsewhere. This one’s in the running right now.

It’s in JP, was built in 1914, and had teeny tiny rooms, a fireplace, a small yard, and a slate roof. It’s very New England. We’re going to look at it again this week. Know anyone who wants to buy our condo? We will really miss this place when we leave. Never mind that that bus ride last night dropped me off 100 feet from our front door.

Also, wasn’t Freaks and Geeks the best? I’m about half way through watching the only 12 18 episodes, and I’m so sad it’s going to end.

I’ve been knitting too, just one gift this Christmas, and I wish I had put in the effort to give all handmade items this year, as many others did, but I just don’t have the space to create all that much, and knits are usually slow-going. I do have the sewing bug though, and am looking forward to having more space to use all of the fabric and patterns I’ve been collecting for the past couple of months.

Happy holidays!

The good news: I finished the C25K running program last Sunday, and am now working on becoming a one hour runner. My neighbor and I have been at it for the full nine weeks of the program (ten as of today), and it feels good. Sean even started … so there may be a race in our future when he’s done.

I finished Mom’s sweater a couple of weeks ago, and am now working on finishing Backyard Leaves, which I put aside some time last year. It’s in the same yarn as my Fetching gloves, so they’ll make a cute match.

Another quick thing: I was looking at my friend Jeff’s blog yesterday, and it turns out he submitted a piece of music to KnitKnit that has been chosen to be part of an upcoming show. You can read all about it on his site, and you can also hear a couple of friends of ours on the recording.

So back to a quiet Sunday morning of knitting and decision making.

Today’s our 4th anniversary!