A couple of things that have nothing to do with one another, but are compelling to me nonetheless:

I’m cutting my hair tomorrow.  I have no idea what to do with it.  It’s too long, too heavy on the bottom, and my bangs are an all-around hot mess.  I want an actual “hairstyle,” but I want a magic hairstyle that doesn’t require daily styling, hides my fivehead and gives the illusion of actual bone structure.  Of course, I always say that and never actually do anything about it.  Here’s what I look like today:

Now that I look at it, I kind of look like a shiny frog in this picture.  But you get the idea.  My hair is currently crap.  Wish me luck.  (And share any actual suggestions with me in comments.)

I have become obsessed with the show Ruby, but I think I’m the only person who watches it.  It’s about a 500 pound woman from Savannah trying to lose weight.  It’s really terrible reality television, but since that is one of my favorite genres, it’s kind of natural that I’m hooked.  Has anybody else even HEARD of this show?

I’ve been bugging Mike to bring me home sparkling water from work because he gets free drinks there and since I gave up Diet Coke 4 months ago (I know, I know, I’m like a freaking alien walking around in an Aubrey costume), there is a giant carbonated hole in my heart.  Then yesterday he brought home an entire gym bag full of Microsoft-branded sparkling water.  This is so much better than flowers.

Mike’s dad is coming to visit us tomorrow for three days.  It’s going to be in the mid-60s and rainy.  How do you entertain an engineer who doesn’t really like anything and used to communicate with his kids through inboxes and outboxes?  Again, suggestions are welcome.

This blog post title doesn’t only go out to the 4 people who read this and are probably rapidly losing interest because of my lack of posting lately, but also to my friend Rita, who is leaving Seattle in a few weeks and moving to San Francisco.

Technically, I think I’ve known Rita longer than anybody else in the entire city of Seattle.  The first month we lived here, I was running around with my robot arm, which precluded me from knitting and made it kind of hard to go out and meet people- it’s hard to strike up a conversation with somebody when you have a titanium rod sticking out of your arm.  So when it finally came off and I could knit again, I practically ran to the next meet-up of the Queen Anne knitting group, armed with some granola and praying that somebody would actually talk to me.

Rita was the first person I saw with needles in hand when I got to Kerry Park that evening, and thank GOD she was sweet and friendly and totally wonderful.  I immediately felt comfortable around her.  Other people showed up that evening, but if Rita hadn’t been so wonderful and engaging, I probably would have run away and never come back, and therefore never met the rest of our amazing little group of knitters, and thus never have actually made friends anywhere in this city.

But now Rita is leaving.  Which blows.  I mean, it’s good for her, because Rita will probably fare much better in San Francisco, where there is much more sun and a higher caliber of burritos and green mango salad, but it’s bad for me and everybody else who loves her here.

Even though we’re still boycotting her leaving, the QA Knitters gathered last weekend for a farewell meal in her honor.  We knew that we needed to celebrate with things Rita loves.  And since Rita loves two things- pastries and tea- the choice was pretty easy.  So we met for high tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room.

As soon as we sat down, we were picking out tea and pulling out knitting.

If you can’t tell, tea rooms tend to be a bit heavy on the floral wallpaper.

And then I looked down at the table and fell in love.

I don’t even PUT sugar in my tea usually, but it was freaking sparkles.  How can you pass up the chance to drink sparkles?

If we ever had any doubts about this place being right for a Rita-centric celebration, they were dashed as soon as the complimentary sorbet palate cleanser came out to START the meal.

Raspberry, Peach and Coconut.  And a cookie.  Joy.

And then the server came out and told us that since they were running 15 minutes late for our reservation, they were throwing in “fancy drinks” for whoever wanted them.  Fancy drinks = champagne cocktails.  I have a very strict “never pass up free champagne” policy, so I was in heaven.

And then the tea towers came.  And life was good.

Seriously, the food was way better than I had imagined- sweet scones, pastries, meringues, fruit and sugar cookies plus savory tea sandwiches (cucumber chevre, almond chicken and lox and cream cheese), potato salad and BACON freaking cheesecake.  We chatted.  We chowed.  We sipped.  We knit. And Rita took home copious amounts of leftovers, which was good, because she’s too damn skinny.

I was super happy that our farewell tea was a success, but I’m still pissed that Rita’s leaving.  Who ELSE will Mike bitch about the weather with?  (Next to Rita, Mike is practically a drooling fanboy with respect to the weather here.)  Who will take amazing pictures that I can steal and use on my blog?  Who will carry around gas station donuts in her pockets and talk lovingly about sleeping pills with me?  RITA, you can’t leave!  You just can’t!

Thankfully, we still have a couple of RIta-tastic weeks before she leaves.  She’ll even be staying with us for a few days before she leaves.  That will make it a little better