Yesterday I spent a bright, warm summer afternoon at the baby shower of my lovely friend Julia. Sitting on the patio, talking and snacking and crafting with an amazing group of talented and inspiring women, I realized how lucky I am to have met such amazing friends here in Los Angeles. I love my gals.

Obviously Julia is in the "glowing" stage of her pregnancy. She looks amazing.

Making baby clothes is always fun just because everything is small and cute; making baby clothes for loved ones is an absolute joy. I made the Baby Sweater on Two Needles, from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac (February). The yarn is MadelineTosh Sock; super vibrant and electric color. After washing, it became silky-soft and drapey. I already had the tiny little vintage silver buttons. I worked stockinette stitch instead of lace for a more unisex sweater, and shortened the sleeves by about an inch (it's Los Angeles!) before working the garter border. I know that I will make this sweater again... probably first in my size using Pam's February Lady Sweater pattern, which I loooooooooove very very much with deep loving feelings. Ahem. (Ravelry project page)

More prezzies! (And Miss Marnie, who was much better than I about taking pictures of the whole shebang - I took my memory card out of my camera, for some reason, and I had no space!)

I gave Julia the Mobile Menagerie sample (and the matching sleep sack) from Boho Baby Knits. It makes me happy to think of a little baby playing with it! And even if the little one isn't into it, at least it has another fan in the house.

Nounie thought it made a nice kitty bed. Such cuteness.

I'm finishing a project and I think it's going to be one of the sweetest little things I've ever made (and the recipient totally deserves much sweetness). I can't wait to show pictures! I haven't knit very much this year, but now I realize: that's nuts! I should knit every day! I really like knitting. Ahem.

In lieu of secret pictures, I have a photo meme taken from my friend Nonnahs... simple questions. Here is how you play:

• type your answer to each question below into Flickr Search
• using only the first page of results, pick an image
• copy and paste each URL into fd's mosaic maker
• blog it!

The Pictures:

 The Questions:

1. What is your first name? Mary
   
2. What is your favorite food? strawberries
   
3. What high school did you go to? gunn
   
4. What is your favorite color? teal
   
5. Who is your celebrity crush? bettie page
   
6. What is your favorite drink? water
   
7. Dream vacation? Tokyo
   
8. Favorite dessert? creme brulee
   
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? wise
   
10. What do you love most in life? family
    
11. One word to describe you? solid
    
12. Your flickr name? Mary-Heather

Oh man, it's hot. I'm trying to embrace it, but heat is really hard for me. It makes me pouty and annoyed. Plus, this is not supposed to be a hot month! June is normally sort of misty and cool in Los Angeles - June Gloom. Where is it? I liked it. Please come back, June Gloom! Good thing that cold beers and ice cream exist on Earth. I remembered how much I love ice cream in Ohio, which may or may not be a good thing. The Jeni's right across the convention center + it was a bazillion degrees = we ate so much ice cream!

The lovely Kristine from A Verb For Keeping Warm (if you haven't seen her fiber yet, and you are interested in yummy naturally dyed goodness made by a very nice person... please just click on that link right now and I'm sorry about your PayPal balance) tagged me with a meme, which is great, because I have been wanting to blog but feel like I have so much to say I don't even know where to begin, and now I can just begin with the questions! Excellent.

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I had just finished my third year at CalArts and was waiting tables at Spago Palo Alto for the summer. I got to take wine glasses, which was fun. Edit: Classes! I took wine classes! I have never taken a wine glass from a restaurant in my entire life!

What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Blog entry (mine and also work), groceries, cook yummy dinner (salmon & veggies), watch a movie... um. That is it. It's Saturday and I am kicking it. Sunday will be busier.

Snacks I enjoy:

Kettle corn, chips and salsa and/or guacamole, almonds, peanuts, salt & vinegar potato chips, kumquats, Haribo gummi bears.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Buy a lot of wheelchairs (and do so many other Good Things), buy a house, travel. Life is pretty sweet... I guess I do this stuff anyway. Except the buying a house (yet).

Places I have lived:

• Pittsburgh, PA
• Fairfax, VA
• Palo Alto, CA
• Valencia, CA
• Val Verde, CA
• Van Nuys, CA
• Los Angeles, CA

Jobs I have had:

Babysitter, waitress, nanny, teacher at after-school arts center, LYS manager/teacher, knitting/crochet designer, Director of Operations, Ravelry Person (woo hoo)!

I finished a project! A pair of socks. I have only blogged three finished items this year (two pairs of socks and a hat) and that had me a little bummed, thinking that was all I had actually knit. (That's just not like me.) Then I remembered the finished silk garden sweater, much loved but not yet photographed, and the unbloggable things large and small, and felt better. Makes me wonder what pre-blog projects I have just completely forgotten about. Sad. But! More pictures later, which is good!

I am six days into it - hope I can keep it up!   

Boston has very good things.

Good conversation, good food, really good hummus.

A lovely skyline. Perfect weather! (At least while I was there - I have no interest in Boston winters, I know I am a wuss and could not deal. Big ups to those who can.) Hotel rooms with beautiful views over a quiet, sunny harbor.

Yummy, flowing tapas and damn good drinks. Insanely delicious garlic shrimp.

Friends with interesting facts.  That monument in the background? That's the monument of the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was actually fought on Breed's Hill.  The monument was built on the actual location of the battle of Bunker Hill (meaning, it was built on Breed's Hill). 

I will never, ever forget this fact because Jess, Casey, Kyle aka Frecklebrother, and Erica (Kyle's lovely fiancee) were all kind enough to share it with me several times... each. Now, every time I look at a picture I took with the Bunker Hill monument in the background, I smile.

Bob - a very good dog. He's a very friendly, snuggly little guy.

Paul Revere's house! There's not a straight line in the place. Creaky, crooked, and wooden, with lovely lilacs in bloom outside. I got busted trying to take a picture of an embroidered sampler.  I wasn't using a flash, but I stupidly have my camera set to make amusing animal noises when turning on and focusing... and evidently such nonsense will get you busted in museums and historical houses where there are no pictures allowed.

Good luck statues! I had to rub John Harvard's foot when I found out that it is considered good luck to do so.  Since it is a statue, and I have statue posing issues, I got a little funky with my pose and totally cramped up my hamstring.  Nine years of ballet and now just striking a goofy pose with a statue means a cramped hamstring... I am not as spry as I used to be!

On the afternoon of my last day in Boston, Jess, Casey, and I met up with Kyle and Erica, and they gave me a fantastic tour - Kyle even printed out a map with aerial views of colonial Boston side-by-side with and Boston today, and the five of us rode around the city in a convertable. That day was perfectly sunny, crisp, beautiful. It was so great! I got to see everything from the site of the Boston Massacre (Kyle's commentary was particularly vivid here) to the Boston Commons, to these beautiful gardens where Kyle and Erica took their engagement photos, to the outside of the Cheers bar. I just sat back and soaked it all in and listened to all the facts and anecdotes. It was a perfect ending to my trip, and my experience in Boston - I loved it! At the end of my last day, we sat in one of Boston's many breweries (my kinda town) featuring a very nice beer menu (my kinda place). A perfect ending.

I felt very welcomed, I learned a lot about the city, and I had a blast. It was exciting to get some work done with Jess and Casey all together, too - focused around a coffee table, scribbling notes and brainstorming, making plans.

I'm grateful for so much right now, every day. Life and home and work and fun - very grateful.