These past few weeks have been a ridiculous flurry of happenings and commitments, but lateness aside I am actually updating again (lucky you, all two of you who might read this!). Before I jump into it I have to confess it's extremely difficult to blog with music rambling on in the background and since I have no control over it at this time please forgive me if this turns into an incoherent jumble of thoughts.
I'll start with my knitting since I have to assume one of the only people that might actually read this will be 'M' (named changed to protect the paranoid innocent <3). Unfortunately there's not much to report on this topic. I had intentions of finishing the scarf I was working on before the holidays came and went (perhaps gift it to my unsuspecting mother instead of something she actually wanted) but alas, other things have kept me from being too ensconced in yarn. I'm hoping once the new year is finally rung in I'll get back into it more. There just aren't enough hours in the day lately and to be honest I've yet to find yarn nearly enticing as the prospect of sleeping an extra hour. Good intentions foiled by lethargy? Check.
More excitingly though I've managed to finish my christmas shopping before Christmas Eve! While shopping I even managed to pick up a few goodies for myself (I'm doing it wrong, aren't I?).
Said goodies include my shiny new camera, a Pentax K-x DSLR. What's more, it's white! Suck it pretentious "professional" cameras and your monotonous, snoody black cases. My 'prosumer' camera looks like a stormtrooper and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So far it's been a dream to play with, though its action has been limited. I'm hoping to get at least some indiscriminatingly bad candid shots of my poor family during the holidays (here's looking at you Lauren).
I also stumbled upon the fantastic website/publication house McSweeney's (via Coolhunting - aka the best blog in town) during my online shopping adventures and ordered myself a plethora of their quarterly publications. Thus far I've only delved into my first one (13, the comic edition) but I'm already tempted to purchase a subscription for myself. Perhaps after the holidays once my bank account has been replenished a bit.
Other things I purchased that I can freely mention here without fear of giving away surprises include a plethora of tidbits from Liddabit and two tickets to go see Brian Regan live for my parents (their favorite comedian, am I the best daughter or what?)
Speaking of sugary goodness there's nothing like the holidays to make you want to bake, and that's precisely what I'll be doing tomorrow. Being the aforementioned good-daughter I'm planning on helping my mother in her pursuit of all things pastry, though what we'll be making is still a mystery to me. Maybe if I ever update my blog again I'll include pictures of the process, but don't hold your breath.
In addition to said cookies, I ventured out on my own this year and attempted to make truffles all by my lonesome. The process was actually easier than I expected it to be and they turned out fairly decent, though after reading the comments and rolling them into little balls myself it was plain to see they would need some sort of outer coating to prevent them from melting at room temperature (instead of the wussy light dusting of cocoa powder as suggested in the recipe). This is where my downfall began; the chocolate I chose to coat them with (a baking chocolate different from the semi-sweet dark chocolate I used for the ganache) melted well at first but then somehow cooked itself into a strangely dense mass before I could coat too many of them. Obviously I did something wrong, or just chose the wrong type of chocolate to do it with, and was left with 20 or so incomplete truffles centers in my fridge. I've decided possibly just melting down some chocolate chips or something would do the trick (they solidify pretty well and don't turn into some strange abomination of chocolate if heated improperly) but I've yet to complete this process. With the right ingredients I could see them being very good.
I still haven't painted my wall or put up my Blik's and I'm beginning to feel guilty about that. Maybe I'll clean my apartment one of these days, paint, and sticker away. And now that I have a camera who knows, maybe I'll even take pictures of the whole thing once I'm done.
Work is going well despite a bout of stress-induced insomnia courtesy of a certain production director who shall remain nameless and, despite the festering loneliness of living alone in a town seemingly impossible to meet people in, the home-front is peachy as well. The holidays are here after all, what's there to complain about?
Right now I'm just sort of stitching with no real rhyme or reason other than to practice the technique but I think I may be ready to graduate on to actually creating something! Now what to make..