Forgot the "Stitch n" part

Last night's scheduled Stitch n Bitch at my house was a lot of fun, but we got absolutely no knitting accomplished while everyone was there. We talked about yarn, looked at yarn, discussed patterns, all that knitterly stuff; no actual knitting took place. We did manage to consume a bunch of food and wine though, and did lots of talking.

Claudia arrived early and helped me download the right program for my Garmin. She and Olivia had talked about the maps and other features they had and I just couldn't figure out why I didn't have the same thing. Turns out I was using Garmin's own Training Center and they were using a free web-based program, Motion Based. That's where they have the maps and extra info. If you want map on Garmin's program you have to buy the mapping software. At about $300. No thank you. I transferred all the data from my runs to the new program and it's pretty nifty. The elevation is still screwy and the temperature is completely off but the maps are complete and that's what I was looking for.

Our meal last night consisted of marinated, baked chicken (yes, I turned my oven on even though it was in the 90's outside, thank you air conditioner!); pine nut couscous with added tomatoes, onions, garbanzos and (low fat) feta; broccoli salad (thank you Anita!); and yummy bite sized brownies (thank you Olivia!) with fresh raspberries and Haagen Dazs light cherry fudge truffle ice cream. We topped it off with lots of wine (thank you Claudia). And we talked and chatted and gabbed and on and on. Lots of fun. It was great seeing everyone, especially Cindy whom I don't think I've seen for almost 3 months. Pam came later, to say howdy to everyone that she hadn't seen in a long time. All in all a great night.

After everyone left I knit a bunch of rows on the new Temescal Bag. It's such an easy pattern that knitting in circles after a couple few glasses of wine isn't a problem. Or wasn't, until I realized I had dropped a stitch a few rows back. Still not really a problem, I was able to pick up the stitch with a crochet hook and continue on my merry way.

Our Gratuitous Bear of the Day is a medal bear that was taken off another shelf in my house and given a medal. A friend had given him to me a couple of years before I ran the Big Sur International Marathon. I trained for and ran that race harder and better than I've run any other race. At the time there was a very strict 5-1/2 hour cut-off. I don't start races that I can't finish within the time limit so I knew I'd have to PR that day. Yeah, hardest race around and I had to knock several minutes off my previous fastest marathon. I did it, ran my heart out, pounded my way across the finish line as they were starting to remove it, just making the cut-off at 5:30. It still is my PR; after that race I decided to enjoy the scenery for a while, then my lungs got crappy, then I gained weight, then I just said "hmmph" to finishing quickly. [I've changed my mind about the "hmmph", lost weight, lungs feeling a little better, still trying to enjoy the scenery; someday I'd like to break that PR!]

I couldn't find a bear in the Monterey area that would suit the big clunky ceramic medal that Big Sur hands out. After I got home and I was limping around my house (that race hurt!) I noticed this bear; he looked perfect in his little workout suit and was big enough that the medal wouldn't break his neck. So Blackie got the medal and the move to the shelf with the marathon bears.