Back in the land of the living...

I am on the road to recovery from being disgustingly sick all weekend. I didn't think it was that bad, but my boss all but shoved me out the door at noon on Friday telling me to go home and go to bed. I got home about 1 and fell into my bed, where I stayed until approximately 8pm Saturday night. Yep, that's right.

I'm feeling much better now, never fear. My voice isn't at 100%, but I think that's the tail end of whatever it was that sidelined me all weekend. Obviously I'm still taking it easy and trying not to overdo, because I really don't want to suffer a relapse.

Anyway, obviously there's not a whole lot that's new, due to the fact that I've been in bed for like 3 days, just doing my best to keep you posted so you don't think I deserted again.

The good news is that my footies are coming along nicely, because I'm motivated by the fact that my feet are freezing. :) I hope to finish the first one tonight and start on the second tomorrow.

Sorry, no pictures today. I thought maybe I'd have a picture of a snow covered landscape or something after the weekend, but we've had 0.4 total inches of snowfall so far this year. And that's not enough for a picture. :)

Casper

So I was just reviewing yesterday's post, and I noticed two things:

1. My legs are so pasty white that they're actually glowing in the pictures. I glow in the dark. Now that's pale. I'm going to have to stop wearing white shirts, because I'll just look like hair with pants. Holy crap.

2. I knit both of those socks from the same hank of yarn on the same size needle (the same needle, in fact) and one has significantly thicker stripes than the other. I know that they say gauge changes from one to the other (which is why it's recommended to knit both socks at once) but MAN, that's noticeable. The other thing is, when I put them on they don't feel that different from each other.... I wonder what the deal is?

Anyway, here are the newest socks:

If you think that the toe of this looks very flat and wide, you're right. It is. The reason for that is that my feet are shaped like this:


Yep. I walk around on two rectangular boxes that masquerade as feet. All of my toes are approximately the exact same length, they just begin at a lower point on my foot as they go from big to pinkie. And you know, even though this is an outrageously wide toe, I still have my doubts as to whether it's quite wide enough. I think this is why I prefer to go barefoot or just wear flip flops..it's because of my poor, freakishly shaped toes.

Anyway, as soon as I finish these, I will start these:


It's the leftover lace weight silk from Grace's shawl of ages ago paired with a lace weight alpaca/silk blend which I think could make some lucious house socks. No, not for me... let's not get crazy here. I'm hoping there's enough there to make them for Grace, but it's gonna be pretty close, she's got feet like a giant. :)

I'm also working on a replacement pocket scarf for Toni. A couple of years ago I made my friend Toni a scarf with pockets at each end and she liked it so much that she has practically worn it out and she needs a new one! I will always be ok with having to reknit things because someone loved them so much they got worn out. See? This is why I knit. To make things for people that will make them happy.

Ok, time to get ready for Heroes and Studio 60!

A pair!

Yesterday's completed sock:

Today's finished pair (the yarn is Socks that Rock in peacock, which I got at Rae's back home before I moved to Massachusetts...the pattern is from Sarah's toe-up sock class, with an after-thought heel (http://www.handknitter.sarahpeasley.com):

On to the next!

I have decided to *gasp* make a pair of knitted socks for myself. I always said that I enjoyed knitting socks but I never really wanted to wear them. It's more of a thing I have against socks in general. My toes like the freedom of bare feet. However, I notice recently that my feet are cold a lot. Mostly when I'm in my apartment, and even if I have the heat on. So... I'm going to make some little footie-type socks to wear around my apartment for the winter...cause you know, they say it gets a little chilly out East. :)

something's finished!

I've spent most of today knitting away and watching movies as a way to relax after a hectic weekend at home for Thanksgiving followed by a crazy week at work.

And, I'm happy to say that I have finished something for the first time in approximately 6 months....actually... 5 months and 2 days. I looked it up. :) That's partly attributable to moving, starting a new job, being really busy and partly due to a general lack of an attention span for finishing anything. Or starting anything, for that matter. Knitting in general took a back seat for a minute.

But now it would appear that I'm back in the game (the picture I had up the other day was of the socks without any heels, and so unfinished)!

The picture of the finished sock was meant to be here, but I seem to be having some technical difficulties with actually attaching them to the blog. I can't figure out what the deal is... all I get is the dreaded white box with the X in it. Alas, hopefully tomorrow?

Yes, I know, I have only finished one sock and there are supposed to be two socks in a set. The other one is simply awaiting a heel. But I'm going to count the one sock as a finished object anyway, despite the lack of a completed pair. I have high hopes to finish the mate this weekend, possibly even tonight! But for now, I'm gonna let my fingers have a little break and sit in quiet contentedness that I finally finished something. (and try to figure out what's going on with the picture situation)

Still smarting

So, I took quite a beating over Thanksgiving for lack of posting.

Consider my wrists slapped. :)

I give you a pictoral history of the last month and a half or so (it's faster)....

Isn't my city pretty?

At the beginning of October some pals came to visit and we had an outrageous time for three straight days. Three days that ended with a headache unlike any I've ever felt before (from the drinking) and a broken toe (the cause of which remains a mystery)...but we DID get to see THIS GUY:

There's nothing like a guy wearing a giant pair of underwear. Sweet.

The very next weekend, my parents came to visit!! I think they had a good time, they crammed themselves into my tiny apartment (don't worry, they slept at a hotel, I love my parents but there IS such a thing as too much togetherness). Here is a picture of my parents in front of Faneul Hall (I have no idea how it got this small).

Next came Halloween (I mean, there were days in between, but nothing exciting happened so why bother?)

For Halloween we went to Toni's apartment in Rochester, NY for a rockin' party.

That's me, on the left, Static Cling. That's Sacha, on the right, the hillbilliest hillbilly that ever sat through a party drinking Red Dog beer just to stay in costume. Now there's dedication.

Next, I got a haircut, made a couple of changes on the color front:

Apologies for the very serious face, but I was concentrating very hard, this was taken with my cell phone (because I had once again lost my camera, which I have since found).

Lastly, remember this?

This was incarnation #4 of this pair of socks. Incarnation #4 becomes incarnation #5:

That's about all I've got on the knitting front for now, but along with the holidays tends to come my inspiration, so I'm sure that'll be picking up soon as well.

Peace I'm outta here!

Are you kidding me?

*warning - this is a bit of a rant*

There are no words.

However, I'll strive to do my best to relay the debacle that was my commute home tonight.

I didn't go straight to the train today, I had a little shopping to do, so I wandered about the city for an hour or so (and I managed to go into a DSW and out again WITHOUT a new pair of shoes. That might be the first time that's happened. Ever) It was a lovely evening and I had a nice little walk adn was feeling all content with the world in general.

Anyway. So I finish making my purchases and it's time to go home. I go into a T stop at State Street and I journey through a long maze of tunnels until I finally find my way to the Blue Line (which is the line I take to get home). So I get on the train and there are no seats (this is not unusual between 5 and 7 pm) so I'm standing and holding the bar while avoiding eye contact with everyone else, as is standard operating procedure for riding public transportation. The lady sitting down facing me apparently did not get the memo. She kept talking to me about the difference between my shoes and her shoes, and then my glasses and her glasses. She couldn't possibly understand how I could be wearing flip flops with "that thing between your toes" and she assured me in very passionate language that her shoes were a much prettier color when they were new (pink). Also that she can only wear very small pumps, but not real high heels, because her feet are too small. Also, her glasses are sort of similar to mine, but she has bifocals. She hopes they work great, but she's not sure because she won't get them until next week. I have friends that don't even give me that much detail on their lives. This didn't really bother me, however. I think the weird people on the train are usually pretty hilarious. There was the guy once who started serenading us during rush hour, the goth kids who had a contest to see how hard they could jump into the ceiling without knocking themselves out, the woman who had no shame about sitting practically spread eagle in a mini skirt, etc.

So we go along pretty smoothly, the chatty lady gets off the train and I'm just three stops away from where I get off to catch the bus. All in all it usually takes about 10-15 minutes to get from where I got on the train to where I get off the train. Then we come out of the tunnel on our way to the airport. And there's a signal problem. This happens quite a bit actually, and it'll slow you down for about 5 minutes or so. NOT TODAY. We would move forward a couple of feet and then stop. Then the announcement, "due to signal problems up ahead, this train is standing by." Repeated over...and over...and over.... There are also several small children in my particular train car who are starting to get more than a little antsy and progressively louder. I did manage to keep pretty calm and zen about the whole thing until the THIRD time we stopped for a signal problem and then I was feeling motion sick from all the lurching to go and stop all the time, I was tired because it was the end of a long day and I just wanted to go home, and these kids were really starting to give me a headache. Not to mention all the other commuters who started to get loud and yell at the announcement every time it came on, as if that was going to help. And of course everyone has to get on their cell phone to complain to everyone else they know that the train is delayed. At long last, 40 MINUTES after I got on the train, we finally pulled into the station.

Now to the bus. The first thing I will say is that they unveiled all new buses today, which was pretty exciting. However, the bus that was there when we pulled in was labeled as though it was my bus, so I got on it, only to find out that the driver hadn't quite figured out how to work the signs yet and it was the other bus route, so there was 75 cents down the drain. I get back off the bus and sit on the bench to wait for my ACTUAL bus, and then loud cell phone girl decides to sit next to me and yap away to make sure that she would have a car to do her shopping with tomorrow. Lord help whoever was on the other end of that phone if she didn't get a car. Anyway...

I'm happy to say that when the correct brand-new bus pulled up it was my favorite driver (I have them all ranked from best to worst based on braking habits and accuracy in hitting the stop where it's actually supposed to be) and all things went smoothly from there on out. I managed to make it home all in one piece, and now I look forward to a relaxing night of watching Gilmore Girls and going to sleep early.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes more smoothly!

A Little Change of Pace

So I thought I'd change it up a bit and update the format of el blog-o. Whatcha think? I like it... I also noticed that I was still listed as living in East Lansing, which is clearly not the case, unless they suddenly got an ocean in Michigan. Somehow I doubt that. :)

In knitting news... I seem to have somewhat of an attention span disorder at the moment. I keep starting projects, working really well on them for about 2 days and then I lose interest and either leave it sitting around or rip it out and start over. For example, I'm currently working on the 4th version of a sock. The first version got halfway through the gusset, the second version made it past the heel and the third version only made it about two inches. The current version is actually a recreation of the 2nd version, which is mildly irritating, since if I hadn't ripped it out, I'd probably be on the 2nd sock by now. Oh well.... here's my progress so far:




Next, I started a baby sweater, which I thought was SO adorable (I still do) but then I hit a little snag on the front that was going to require some math, so this is the work that took me 3 days and has now been sitting for about 2 weeks because I just don't want to think.


And finally, I realized I had this old yarn sitting around forever so I thought I'd make another very simple yet wildly popular seed stitch pocket scarf. Again, I was extremely productive for about a day, and now...not so much. But it could materialize into a Christmas gift I suppose...we'll have to see. And, pay no attention to the clutter all over the floor. My filing system is in progress.


Oh! And I almost forgot...the most pitiful of the bunch: The dish cloth I started the day I moved here and worked on for the span of one movie before I got really tired and put it down. It has not moved since then (that was July 29).


Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll get around to finishing things. And in a related topic, maybe one of these days I'll finish unpacking. You know, one of these weekends when I'm not doing anything else... whenever that is.

Well, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my evening, and to remember what it is I've been missing in the last few years of not having a home phone....people calling all evening asking for money for various things...ugh. Luckily I remembered to register on the do not call list tonight, so I can only hope this'll be a short lived thing. :)

Back in business!!

At long last I have internet service in my apartment! It took a month (almost exactly) and it was a big hassle, but at last I am again connected to the rest of the world. So hello again!

I'm having a good time in Boston, it's a great place. :) I have two jobs, I'm enjoying both. During the week, in my "real" job I work as an administrative assistant for a property management company, and it's pretty interesting. On the weekends I'm working in a custom handbag shop in Cambridge, selling purses. Not a bad gig. And when I come home at night, it's to this view:



I think you'll agree, nothing bad about that.

I've been a busy girl this last month or so, working a lot and getting settled in. Now that I've gotten my phone/internet situation straightened out, maybe I can move on to tackling my cable situation. We'll have to see.

From now on I hope to be able to keep you posted on my adventures, since I have the ability to do so.

one down, one to go

So, I have managed to find myself a place to rest my head, which I will be able to move into August 1. I'm very excited, it's a cute little place, I can see the ocean from it and there's a very cute little back porch/balcony thing that I plan to spend a lot of time on. :)

The job search is in progress.... not much news there, I'm just interviewing and applying like crazy, and hopefully one of these days something will come of it.

That's about it, I don't really have picture capabilities at this point, but soon I hope.

Today we're finally getting a nice little break from the heat so it's at least bearable....well, I think I'm off to go sit by the ocean for awhile. Have a good one!

Well, I'm here

So, I guess I'm a resident Massachusetts now, for about a week. I still sort of feel like I don't exist, however, as I don't have a job or an address. I'm currently working on both of those things, fear not.

Thus far my time here has been well spent... when not looking for a job or a place to live I have been experiencing what Boston has to offer (which is quite a bit). I am quite enjoying that on any day it's not raining I can walk about 5 minutes and sit by the ocean and just look at the water and enjoy the scenery. I am also enjoying that the actual city of Boston is a 10 minute subway ride away, which should come in handy for when I actually get a job.

It did rain here today, quite hard. In fact, I'm not sure I remember seeing rain quite like that in my time here on this planet. It was like an instant flood. We walked into a store and 10 minutes later we walked out into a giant storm and flooding all over. We did manage to make it home safely so don't worry yourselves on that count, but MAN. That was some rain.

Now, as long as I can manage not to get trapped under a falling tunnel or be involved in a major subway derailment, I'll keep putting every day in the win column. :)

I hope everyone in Michigan is doing well, and I hope you miss me as much as I miss you!

Pictures!

The camera cord has been located! It was put away, which is a clear indication as to why I had trouble finding it. :)

Anyway, here are pictures of the socks (well, one of the socks). Now the recipient's foot is a little bigger than mine so if the toes look a little funny, that's why.


Also, I finished my dad's vest today, after much seaming and end-sewing. The finished result was well-received and it looks excellent! He'll be very stylish this fall on the golf course.


That's all for now, I'm leaving pretty early tomorrow so I need to see to some last minute packing details. Happy 4th of July!!

The success of JessFest

My birthday last weekend was a rousing success... I would say that I managed to ring in 25 with a bang (or at least some really really terrible karaoke). We went to Crunchy's here in E.L. and a birthday is just not a birthday without matching t-shirts. Here are a couple photos for ya, and then a little game:

The shirts, as you may or may not be able to tell, contained some movie quotes that I really like or that seemed particularly good for the occasion. I will put them here for you, and see how many of them you know. Any non-pg words have been abbreviated or substituted so as not to offend anyone's sensitivities. :)

If anyone gets all 10 I will be hugely impressed (and if you were there and I told you what they all came from, it doesn't count):
“Austin? Austin, Massachusetts?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m kind of a big deal. People know me.”
“This one time, at band camp….”
“Earmuffs!”
“Goonies never say die!!”
“Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m a schizophrenic, and so am I”
“There’s no crying in baseball!!”
“Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts!!”
“Yippee-kay-yay, mother-f*&^*r”
“Every now and then say, ‘WTF.’ ‘WTF’ gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.”

On the knitting front, I just finished a pair of CMU socks that I was asked to knit for a woman whose daughter is going there right now. I really liked the way the striping went along the socks, I just hope she does too. I would like to point out, however, that it's quite difficult to take a picture of one's own foot while getting the proper angle and lighting, etc. Either that or I just made it harder than it needed to be. Which is probably much more accurate. And on that note, a picture will have to wait because my camera cord seems to have wandered off somewhere...I can't find it. Oh well, a picture will be forthcoming.

Finally, the move date approaches. I am leaving Michigan on Tuesday, July 4 (Independence Day....irony? coincidence?), I got a one-way ticket to Massachusetts and some of the most wonderful friends imaginable who are allowing me to stay with them for a short time until I find a place of my own and so I say farewell to all of you in Michigan, I will do my best to keep in touch and hope you will do the same. Check ya later. :)

So THIS is where I left my blog....

Would you believe I've been looking for this darn thing for 4 months? It was my unicorn, the thing in my life I simply could not grasp. Always slightly out of my reach. But I persevered, I pulled through and in the end I am able to savor the sweet flavor my victory.

Okay.

I admit it.

Absolutely none of that is true. In reality I had a mental block about this, I didn't have anything ineteresting to say, I didn't have anything interesting to show, I was simply not interesting.

Suddenly, today, it all changed. Who knows why these things happen really, but today I feel really REALLY interesting. Hugely, in fact.

First, a quick recap: In the last few months I decided to move to Boston with nothing but my smile and stunning personality, sooo I left my job and am now furiously looking for employment out yonder in Beantown, as well as a place to rest my head at the end of the day in order to leave on my scheduled date of July 1. Does this crazy move scare me at all? Oh, I'm freakin' terrified, but it seems that to me a thing just isn't worth doing unless you can procrastinate it long enough to put yourself into fits of anxiety wondering what the heck you were thinking in the first place. It'll all turn out fine, I'm sure. Like they say in Shakespeare In Love:

"It will all turn out well in the end"
"How do you know?"
"I don't! It's a mystery!"

Words to live by. Words that will probably give my parents strokes, but what are children for if not to add to the number of gray hairs on their parents' heads, right?

Anyhow, I appreciate all thew well-wishes and tips/tricks/contacts I've gotten from people everywhere since the news that I'm going and I'll surely keep you posted on what happens to me on my adventures out East.

Moving along, I'll throw in a couple of pictures here, since if it was me and I came across a post with no pictures I'd keep right on moving, because what's the fun in that? Exactly. There is none.

First: I made a pair of socks for my good friend Jessica awhile back...it might be hard to tell from the picture but there's a cabled fabric on the top to make them a little more interesting. The second pair of feet in the picture are her son Cameron's, sporting a pair of socks made for him by their neighbor Kathy. The color may not be that true, but alas...it was the color or the pattern.


And next, a picture of a cow. :) Last weekend I was in Boston (I know, who decides to move somewhere and then takes a vacation there two weeks beforehand? Some crazy person, surely) there were these cows everywhere, and it was never fully explained to me as to what their purpose was. However, this obliging little friend set a nice little scene for a picture (from L to R, me, Toni, Mihai).


And I'll leave you with that... as well as a question, I'm sure, as to how long it will take me to post next time????

Update

Not that anyone has actually read this in the last 45 minutes or so, but lest you think I spent an extended period of time tearing apart my apartment searching like a crazy person for my camera, rest assured. I found it. Not before going through my bedroom on my hands and knees, searching my car, my roommate's bedroom and a couple of the kitchen cupboards. Where did it finally turn up? Well, it's funny you should ask. It was here:



Yep, sitting right at the corner of my bed. However, in my defense, my comforter was completely covering it until my mania reached a new level and I started just tossing it around. Although I still had to leave the room and come back in to ACTUALLY find it. Long story short, I got it back.

And now, the picture show!

First, we have a new member of our apartment. Introducing Harvey/Marcus/Lewis/Jerome/Bob. Yea, so far we can't come up with a name that sticks. All we know for sure is that he's a boy. He's a very pretty shade of purple, which is a little hard to capture through the bowl. He lives in a margarita pitcher in the kitchen, I think he likes it here. And you know, it's only the coolest fish who live in margarita pitchers.


Next, I've been working on a pair of socks. I'm "virtually" through with Sarah's Toe Up Sock class (haha - see, because I'm taking it as a virtual class and I'm almost finished) The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Glenwood. I love love love the colors, I would knit everything in these colors if I could. And you know, if it wouldn't eventually get really boring. Grace is modeling them because they're gigantic and my feet just look ridiculous in them, but they're actually for my sister-in-law. You may be thinking, "Jessie, you crazy person, why don't you knit them for yourself if you love the color so much??" and my reply to you is this: I do love the colors, and I enjoy knitting socks, but I really don't like to wear knitted socks. I don't like to wear ANY socks. So there you go. I'll keep knitting socks but they will always be for other people.



And now my newest project. The Barclay Vest from Simply Shetland. My dad has been wanting a vest or a sweater for quite a few years. Pretty much since my mom started knitting when I was still in high school. However, my mom has very little to no interest in knitting sweaters. So here we are. I'm knitting it with Jo Sharp DK. It's very gorgeous and lovely to knit and so far it's going pretty fast. We'll see how I feel about it once I've finished the back and have moved on to the front. :)



Welp, that's it for now, catch ya later! And I'll be keeping EXTRA close tabs on my camera. Rest assured.

melt-down

It's question/answer time:

Have you, Jessie, been EXTREMELY neglectful in your blogging?

Yes, Blog, I sure have.

Have you been pretty much an all around slacker for the last month or so?

Yes, Blog, I sure have.

Have you actually done ANY knitting or ANYTHING worth showing?

YES!! Yes I have!!!!

So, what's the deal, you big slacker?!?!?!!?

WELL.

All this time I thought that I hadn't posted because I just didn't really feel like it, I couldn't think of anything clever to say, all the things I was working on were actually top secret and therefore I couldn't show you pictures.

However, it turns out that was incorrect. This evening I find myself feeling rather verbose and ready to sit down and compose a good, long entry. Complete with photos. I go to the top shelf of my handy yarn bookshelf to grab my camera....only there is no camera there. Or in my armoire. Or on the coffee table or the kitchen or the dining room or any other surface I can find. Now, my apartment is NOT that big and yes, I'll admit my room is less than spotless and there are clothes covering most of the floor but I'm officially FREAKING OUT.

Where is it???!?!??!?! Has anyone seen it? Little Coolpix, my handsome friend... I will not rest until you have been recovered!!!!

And now, off on my quest to find my little buddy. Send positive thoughts my way so karma will be on my side to find him soon.

Phew! I just FINALLY finished the baby blanket I was test knitting for Lynn ( www.colorjoy.com/weblog ), who has been waiting EXTREMELY patiently for it. Way more patiently than I would have been, that's for sure. But I finished. See, you're thinking "baby blanket. Babies are small... why are you so slow???!?!" but in reality a blanket is still a blanket which is a lot of stitches and a lot of time. However, I can tell you now that it's finished that it is a luscioius, gorgeous blanket, and I really really love the yarn! Hand dyed by Lynn herself, and machine washable. Do yourself a favor, go over to her website and look at all her great patterns and yarn. Wait, what's that? You want to actually SEE this blanket? Yes, I thought you might, so I took the liberty of taking a picture. The color is FAIRLY true, it just took me awhile to realize that I need to take all my pictures in my bedroom on the white comforter with the overhead light and a small lamp turned on with no flash. Very delicate conditions, let me assure you.


So the next question becomes, what did I do in celebration of completing the ONLY project I had on needles? (wait, did I just say that I only had ONE project on needles? I can't even remember the last time that happened) The answer to this question is that I immediately started two new projects and planned two more after that. Because that makes total sense, right? In my defense the two I've started look to be fairly short and I like to be prepared.

New project #1 should look fairly familiar (if it doesn't go check out archives...November I think):



New project #2 is a teaser:


What's in the bag?? What's in the bag?? This is the yarn for my super secret bag exchange buddy for Guild. Go ahead, try and figure out what's in there. I dare ya. The secret shall not be unveiled until May. So you'll just have to be patient. But I'm confident that the wait will be worth it.

And now to settle in for my first weekend with nothing to do (except for going to work this morning) since Thanksgiving I think. I'm going to do nothing but watch football and knit and be lazy for the next 2 days. It'll be GREAT.

New year, thank goodness!!

Happy 2006, and good riddance to 2005, at least as far as I'm concerned. I have to say that on the whole, with the exception of a couple really great things (getting my braces off, my nephew being born) it wasn't my favorite year. But I have a good feeling about 2006, and I'm looking forward to whatever might happen.

The year started off the right way, with a trip to Boston and a rockin' NYE party at Sacha's house. Toni and I found the COOLEST balloons on the planet and managed to get the last set. We bought the display and while we were waiting for it to be reinflated, two other people came up and asked for them. But we won! They were ours! It was a great party and a great (but short) trip.

Now back in Lansing, I decided to look into some organization for the new year. We'll do a photo progression here:

1. My stash of yarn as it was this morning. Not very pleasing to the eye, and not very conducive to seeing what I have.

2. The new bookshelf I got on clearance at Target Friday night that maimed me Saturday morning when I bent over and caught the corner of it with my head (it was in a different location than it is now)


3. Stash + bookshelf = way prettier and less space consuming way to display what I have spent probably far too much money on in the first place.

Now I know that according to some yarn buying professionals this is merely a weak attempt at a stash but what can I say? I'm young and I have limited space and money. :)

Anyway, here's to a good year!