how many vices can one girl have?

I wanted to blog yesterday. I was going to post after we watched disk four, season one of Lost last night, and I should have just so you could have seen the timestamp. It would have read 3:00 am. That's A.M. as in middle of the night, melly shouldn't be doing anything but sleeping. A.M. After Melly's bedtime, that's what AM stands for. But we're hooked. I wasn't too sure after the first disk.

I called the person responsible and said, "I don't think I like Lost." Funny. I don't usually spend ELEVEN HOURS doing something I don't like. Before you go off your rocker, I was also knitting. So much knitting I cannot type with my middle finger. We knitters call that a good day. :)

Sweater update:

It looks fine, doesn't it? Nice yoke decreases, even stitches, perfection. Not so fast. I know just enough about knitting to get myself in trouble. Just enough rope to hang myself, Clementine says. I know this comes as no great surprise to her but I should listen when she talks. It's not just random squawking. She's actually knit a raglan decrease sweater a time or two.

Shortly after this picture was taken, this sweater took a trip to the frog pond. For you muggles, that means I had to rip it all the way back to where the sleeves met the sweater. I didn't read the pattern carefully (15 times isn't enough evidently) and I did my first three rounds of decreases too fast. At least I had good television to keep me company. Lost really is everything everyone is saying about it - great cast, believable acting, clever writing and, of course, a couple of good-looking leading men. Great television. Thanks Rhonda.

On to culinary things:

This is the beginnings of an orange, date, cardamom tart currently cooling in my kitchen. It's the recipe I selected for my gourmet cooking group tonight. I know I did everything exactly as written but I'm not very pleased with the end result. First of all, the crust sides sort of melted down into the pan as it baked. The custard took a long time to set and it looks more like scrambled eggs than a creamy custard. I'm sure it will taste fine but it doesn't look as pretty as I'd like.

Most of the time when I cook for people the melly love is already established and the cooking is more like icing on the cake. Tonight, I'm taking this disaster to a group of people I've never met. I'm a little nervous about that. At least I know it will taste good. The layering of flavors in this recipe is phenomenal.

At least I'll look pretty. Which brings us to Vice #3 - the MAC counter in Nordstrom's and a good demi bra. Actually, the real vice here are blogs in general. I read on Melanie's blog the other day how she was looking for some new makeup and was asking for opinions. I shared my love of MAC which gave me the itch to head downtown myself. I totally enabled her (though I cannot be held accountable for her purchase) which somehow put a dent in my pocketbook. Funny how that works.

And the bra! First of all, the color is mojito. What's not to love about a bra that gives you great cleavage and it's named after a cool, refreshing beverage? I had such a good time Friday with the girls at the downtown Lane Bryant. The checkout girl was wearing this cute little, barely-covering-her-breasts cami. I laughed and put my hand up to shield my eyes from them and said, "I can't even LOOK at you! Your breasts are FABULOUS!" She said, "No, but my bra is!" I left with two. -lol-

So tonight, me and my new make-up will be going to this gourmet dinner group with fabulous breasts. Or at least a fabulous bra. Funny how I was completely confident about my dish in the beginning but questioning what I was going to wear. Now I'm worried about my tart but confident at least I'll be fabulous.